Are you and the kids in desperate need of some fresh educational ideas? I have a couple of things that helped Monkey enjoy learning a few things he wouldn’t have at school.
How it began.
My dream ever since I had my son was to be able to stay home with him full-time and homeschool. However, it just wasn’t feasible in our situation to do this on one income. Especially while trying to reach our goal of being debt free. I finally got the opportunity I’ve been craving for when we got a call over Spring Break saying that school would be closed for the remainder of the semester due to the COVID-19 crisis.
I think I was more excited than Monkey was about this news, but at the same time I was nervous, scared, and very much unprepared. I was nervous because I didn’t know if my job was going to understand that I no longer had somewhere for my son to go during the day with no other childcare option available, and now I had to stay home and homeschool him. I was scared about the COVID-19 issues we were facing, and my husband and I felt utterly unprepared for the new obstacles at hand requiring us to live on his sole income.
The school notified us that the kids would continue school work through distance learning on a computer.
They would be required to login on a laptop and view slides that mostly contained videos of their teachers going over lessons. Then at the end of the slides there would be links the kids could click on that would take them to learning sites like ABC Mouse and PBS Kids to play games (he is in Pre-K btw). That first day, Monkey and I logged into his school computer and did that day’s lesson. The entire thing from start to finish took less than thirty minutes. I remembered that I had purchased some Pre-K workbooks at the beginning of the year for some unknown reason, so I went and dug them out of his closet and decided maybe we should also keep up with our letter and number writing. This all went great…for the first few days.
Fast forward about two weeks.
As each day went on, it was the exact same routine when it came to the school work. All of the school’s slides were similar. All of the games were becoming repetitive. All of the worksheets were bland with content. The monotony was starting to wear on my little man. I was becoming frustrated because he all of a sudden didn’t want to do anything! There were a handful of meltdowns, lots of tears and some time-out sessions, and these were all by me. After a few days it was like a lightbulb went off in my head: he’s bored. I’m not talking about “mom there’s nothing to do around here” kind of bored. I’m talking about the school lessons were repetitive of the information he had already learned and he needed something new to discover. At this age, these little guys are sponges, and can retain information like you wouldn’t believe!
Let the brainstorming begin.
I don’t know about your kiddos, but mine likes to be hands on. We are blessed to have our home on 7 acres. There is always something that needs to be done around our home and this opens up many opportunities for learning.
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Tip #1: Look for opportunities in your home.
Since many people are self isolating and can’t go anywhere, look around your home. Do you have any projects that you want to do, or have started but not finished? What about that garden you’ve always wanted to start? Is there a recipe that has been handed down by your grandma that you’ve kept locked away in a drawer? Growing food, building something using basic tools, and cooking are wonderful ways to teach kids skills that are not always taught at school and are becoming lost.
- Starting a garden teaches many things like patience, simple life science, and how to use gardening tools. It’s hands on, which gives your kids something to do while being outside, and they’ll even have an appreciation for the food on the table when they get to harvest what they grew themselves.
- Cooking and baking are not just fun, hands on activities to do to keep the kids busy. These are life skills they need to survive because everyone’s gotta eat, am I right? There is also math involved when using the measuring cups to add in ingredients, and science to know how certain things react. Please explain to them that vinegar and baking soda make a huge mess, and unless they want to learn to mop, too, JUST DON’T DO IT.
- If you have a hammer, a few nails, and some scrap wood laying around, use these to help the kids build something. It doesn’t have to be fancy, even just a box can incite some geometry. Show them how to use a measuring tape. Teach them about inches, and how many inches are in a foot, and that there’s three feet in a yard and there’s 100 yards on a football field. Look you’ve just combined sports and math!
Tip #2: Let them decide.
I don’t mean let them decide if they want to learn or not. Ask them what they’re interested in. Ask them is there anything they want to know more about. Take these topics and make a couple of small lessons about them during one week and at the end of the week try to make a project centered around said topic. For example, this week Monkey wanted to learn about volcanoes. Why? I don’t know, we live in Oklahoma where everything is flat, so maybe it’s becauce he likes the mountains. I know very little about volcanoes. I decided to have 3 lessons during the week over volcanoes and on Friday we would build one (and this will be the ONLY time I will combine vinegar and baking soda on purpose!). Would you like to know what I did for our very first lesson about volcanoes? We watched an episode of Storybots on Netflix where they explain how a volcano works. That was it. He’s a little kid, Storybots is entertaining and on his level, and guess what? He can now tell you that the hot melty stuff inside the volcano is magma, but when it comes out the top it’s lava. My work here is done! You don’t need to have poster board shipped to you so you can make a giant diagram to have an educational lesson. Find a show that is relatable and enjoyable. Look for a free e-book. Do a project over it.
Here are a few subjects your child might be interested in:
- Solar System: Help them to learn the names of the planets, talk about the moon, or how the earth rotates around the sun.
- Dinosaurs: Teach them about some of the more recognizable dinosaurs, and explain which ones are herbivores, carnivores, or omnivores.
- Animals: Maybe your son or daughter has a favorite animal they would like to know more about. There are tons of animal documentaries on Netflix right now, and even YouTube has some channels that are dedicated to teaching about animals.
- Reading: Maybe your kiddo knows all of their alphabet and has started sounding out small words. If your child wants to start reading, but you aren’t sure where to begin teaching them, this amazing reading program is extremely helpful! https://0837dnnajbway97mdaj7lqk0pn.hop.clickbank.net/
Tip #3: Have fun.
These are scary uncertain times. You may be worried about unemployment, finances, and not being able to feed your family. Maybe you’re like me and feel like you’re not doing enough to help your kids grow in their education. If there is one thing I know for certain, it’s that this time home with our babies has been given to some of us that wouldn’t have had the chance otherwise. Use this time to show your kids a little extra attention, be silly with them, and remember to have fun!
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There are things that we may think are simple, but the kids will cherish them as the fondest memories when they get older. Turn the music on your phone and have an impromptu dance party. Everyone will get a few good laughs at the most ridiculous dance moves (cue the Sprinkler!) and some exercise out of the deal! Pick a day of the week and make a theme out of it. Wacky Wednesday is a personal favorite of ours, where we basically dress as crazy as we possibly can. Whatever suits your family, use this time to love and laugh with each other.
How has homeschooling for your family been going? Are there some more tips or ideas you’d like to hear from me, even if they’re not school related? Comment below, I would love to hear from you!
Okie Momma 