I wanted to post this sooner, but let’s be honest, it’s been a weird week. Even though my children haven’t had the disruption of school closures, they have had every other activity and event in their schedules canceled. No therapy, no music lessons, no church, no going anywhere. Monkey is having a hard time with the idea that food isn’t free range. This is a bad habit I’ve been meaning to tackle for a while now. We have enough food, but with store shelves empty, I want it to last more than 2 days! This Mama has been on poop patrol because SOMEONE decided to swallow a dime…..worst treasure hunt ever! Needless to say, we’ve been pretty unmotivated.
I wanted to share a few things with those who find themselves home with their children all day and aren’t sure what to do with them. First, remember, when homeschooling there is a period known as deschooling. This is a time of transition between school and homeschool. Learning at school is entirely different than learning at home. Let’s be honest, how many kids actually respond well when Mom wants them to do work? Most likely, they will fight you. They will whine, complain and turn on the tears. We’ve homeschooled for two years and we still turn on the tears regularly.
More than likely, if your district isn’t supplying work or online classes, then the students will be required to make up this missed time. So don’t feel you need to teach them everything they would do at school. Instead, focus on reviewing what they were learning so they don’t forget. Practice spelling, read, review math facts, watch documentaries, and read more.
But my kids are bored and stir crazy!? 
Allow them to create and tell stories, build with legos, cook (so much can be learned in the kitchen). Play board games. I cannot stress enough the amount of learning that happens through board games and they don’t even realize they are learning!
It’s also important to keep in mind that a typical day at school is FULL of interruptions, transitions, and disciplinary moments. It will not take you 6 hours to do a day’s worth of work at home. Please don’t try… you will burn out your child quickly. Schools typically move at the pace of the slowest child. Teachers have to wait for everyone to get on the same page before continuing. When you only have your children, things go much faster. Remember, most homeschoolers only do a few hours of work a day. We are almost always done before lunch.
Remember to give yourself grace and your children patience. None of you were prepared for this! Today, it’s 3:00 and I am still fighting my kids to finish their math. Yes, it happens to the best of us. What have we done today? Mr. Man spent the morning reading to Monkey. He read him the entire first Press Start book. Then, we took turns working on our new Osmo Detective Agency app. and worked on our Timberdoodle Smart Cookies logic game (I will be posting a review for this shortly). After that, we spent some time working in the garden and playing outback with their new bunny, Oreo. Will we get to the math? Eventually. It just didn’t seem that important today. Remember, it’s important to look at the big picture. Think about what’s important, TODAY. One step at a time….we want to emerge on the other side of this and still enjoy each other.
Please take a look at our page of things we love for more ideas.
I am joining in with Timberdoodle‘s blog hop, take a look for more great homeschooling activities and tips.
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MamaBean Az 