Tag Archives: homeschooling

The Underestimation of Homeschooling: Week 4

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Week 4 and still learning, no seriously both of us are still learning!! No matter how many tweaks I make; no matter how much I plan; something will always happen that requires an immediate reaction. I’m not as uncomfortable with those situations as I originally was so I guess there’s that to be happy about. I realized my son loves movement and hands on activities so I’m hoping our routine is solidified enough for me to add in more puzzles without overexciting him. That will take another two to three weeks of testing. I’d originally thought about adding in some science experiments but decided we do enough science when we’re baking. I also want to incorporate more into our Nature Walks but I’m not sure how or what, this is something I’ll need to explore. As for his socio-emotional learning, I still haven’t figured out how to carve in a block to teach him about that. If you remember https://chroniclesofasinglemom.home.blog/2020/03/28/the-underestimation-of-homeschooling-part-2/ I talked about having him watch “Daniel Tiger” for socio-emotional learning, however during week 2 I found out that was not a good idea. I take his meltdown moments to explain things to him but we have no set time for primary learning instead of tertiary learning. All in all I didn’t change the structure of the lesson plans from last week so let’s see how things went:

Day One: Mondays are always rough, lol!!!! The first lesson I learned this week. For some odd reason I only thought of Mondays being rough on adults, you know not wanting to work; not wanting to be present; wishing there was another day to sleep or lounge….turns out Mondays are that way for children as well lol!!! My son wasn’t off the charts behavior wise, we still accomplished quite a bit BUT it certainly took more time to make transitions. Unlike adults he wasn’t necessarily sluggish and lethargic, quite the opposite. He was full of energy!! Bursting, unconstrained energy!! I had to quickly figure out how to use his energy to our advantage. Good thing Mondays are music days at daycare. We did got through our normal morning routine then went for a walk; and had music before having lunch and bed. Music was thirty minutes of a stomping good time. I found a nursery rhyme playlist on YouTube and we danced and sang along. Having music directly after a twenty minute Nature Walk tired him right out. He was certainly ready for lunch and a nap. Somewhere in the midst of all the wackiness of Monday I realized he was able to recognize and point out quite a few letters; more than the two previous letters of the week! This made me very happy as it’s another testament to our hard work .

Day Two: In my opinion Tuesday of week 4 was a great day!! Not only can I see and feel the increased comfort level of both my son and I in our new found homeschooling situation but I also see him making more connections. In these connections he’s learning and beginning to gravitate towards things that I may or may not have had planned….or he wants to do whatever is planned in a different order than what I originally wrote out. Neither of those is bothersome, in fact I follow his lead and allow him to explore. I allow him to learn things his way and in his timing and I must say this is not stressful!!! Day 2 of week 4 we began to do a lot more hands on activities. For example we had a Scavenger Hunt to find things that begin with our letter of the week. We used his lego blocks to count and to review our colors. We used other toys of his to enhance the color review and to add into learning of shapes. For me today was the literal sense of learning while playing. Because today was another good day it also made another question of mine resurface; do I really want to put him into the school system or do I want to home school him? Not necessarily something that needs an immediate answer but certainly something to continue thinking about.

Day Three: If ever there was a screw this moment during the homeschooling stint today was the day. Not because of anything my child did not because I was sick or didn’t plan; and certainly not because there was an emergency. I was over homeschooling today because Mother Nature called. Today she was completely unforgiving and utterly merciless so I was moody, and in pain the entire day. On a normal day I can fight through this to get my career work done.Of course with the Stay at Home order in effect there was no outside work to do. I knew that and mentally took full advantage. My child’s “school day” started about an hour late; he wasn’t dressed for success and as a result for the first time in a week he needed a timeout during school. If I’m open and honest I did not care. My mind and body were not into this, nor were they up for it; and I couldn’t fake it. I don’t know how to fake a role I’m literally learning everyday. What I’m most proud of myself for is not getting down and depressed about my perceived setback! I’m proud of the “oh well we’ll just have to reroute tomorrow spirit I had.” Today (this doesn’t happen too often) I understood that wasn’t a spirit of mediocrity; I understood I was giving myself grace. You know what I’m thankful for? My mom, the career teacher who stopped loading her students up with online work to step in and educate my child for the day. I am incredibly thankful for her willingness to see I wasn’t into it and to take measures into her own hands. Not only did she have a good day with him; she even used my lesson plan. A thirty year teacher using the lesson plan of a 3-4 week teacher is a humbling thing lolbs!! Day 3 was definitely a reminder that failure when learning something new is inevitable, but it’s on you and how you choose to deal with it that counts….AND it’s how you indirectly teach your children how to handle failure and setbacks.

The Underestimation of Homeschooling Part 3

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If you’ve been following this mini series you know this particular blog will detail days three through five of homeschooling under my new plan. If you need to catch up refer to https://chroniclesofasinglemom.home.blog/2020/03/28/the-underestimation-of-homeschooling-part-2/ and then meet us here for the conclusion of week one under my new plan. As mentioned in The Underestimation of Homeschooling Part 2 my mom decided to model “teaching preschoolers” for me. Her input was invaluable as she’s a thirty-four year veteran teacher who got her start teaching Headstart (3-5 year olds). She has patience that I won’t have in a million years; and the whole high pitched, excited voice thing is all her. I definitely couldn’t wait to watch her in action.

Day Three: Other than the recess switch and taking Daniel Tiger and Sesame Street out of my Lesson Plans I didn’t make any other edits. With that said he and I got up, got dressed, had breakfast, read our Bible Story, prayed, and then went into our daily curriculum. I read the first alphabet story to him, went over our alphabet flashcards, then we reviewed the letter of the week. After I was done with him I passed him off to my mom and she went through “a” words; letter “a” recognition; his “a” coloring sheets; and shapes and colors before recess. She was amazing!! He was so engaged the entire time; he answered her questions; and excitedly showed her his work for praise. He was eating out of the palm of her hand. She had circle time with him and incorporated his stuffed animals into the circle. I thought that was nothing short of brilliant; and he loved it because having his animals in the circle made him feel as if we were in actual school. We went out for recess which because of the great weather lasted about an hour. He had lunch and took a nap. Wednesday was totally different from both Monday and Tuesday. Yes, the calm music helped BUT her voice, energy, and creativity made all the difference. I felt as though for the first time in a week and a half he enjoyed the process. Wednesday was an all around productive day.

Day Four: Allow me to say I’m not my mother lol! I’m creative but not in the manner in which she is; I also am not a perky person nor do I have a high pitched voice; I’m nowhere near patient; I loath continuously repeating myself; and I’m extremely sarcastic. In a normal setting this works just fine for my son and I however in our homeschool setting my personality is not conducive to teaching preschoolers. However, I didn’t want to ruin his new found adaptation to homeschooling so imitating my mother was the only viable option. I couldn’t do exactly what she did so I found other methods that worked for me. For example I used the round of applause for him where we clap in a circle; I did the Arsenal Hall bark which my son loved; we sang the “Good Job” song; and I offered him choices. Things went very well for us. Because of his ideal behavior and superb listening we were able to incorporate more hands on activities to work on our weekly objectives. I was proud of myself that these hands on activities did NOT include any electronics. They were bored puzzles, matching cards, and arts n crafts, as well as baking. My son was learning and having fun and I loved it!!!! I didn’t copy my mom but I found what works for me and utilized it to enhance his homeschooling experience. For the second day straight not only did we successfully work on my lesson plan BUT more importantly he enjoyed it. Enjoyment meant retention which is exactly what I was looking for. (inserts fist pump)

Day Five: I gave him an abbreviated day on Friday; not because we didn’t have a good lesson plan but more because I felt he deserved the break. Yes we did our letter “a” activities; yes we counted but I only schooled him til 1pm(really 11:30 if you exclude recess, lunch, and his nap) instead of 4pm like at daycare. Friday was a review day and more hands on activities. We also haphazardly missed music on Monday so I gave him a short dance party to make up for it. Again he had a great day where you could tell he was learning and that he enjoyed it. Circling back to Day One and transitions these got better as well. In theory I didn’t change anything; he was still given ample warnings but I added two different things; one, I downloaded the Daniel Tiger Parent app and played the transition song around the two minute mark before the expected transition. He’s used to Daniel Tiger so that song told him exactly what to do, and because Daniel Tiger episodes have modeled what to do on several occasions he was with it. The second thing I added was his typical choice, for example “Do you want to move to the next fun activity or do you want to go timeout?” Well, he certainly doesn’t go to timeout willingly so he chooses to move to the next fun transition…..at which point I restate the instructions and we move on.

In closing the last three days of this week were a huge success. It proved to me homeschooling is possible and it works, while also showing me I have what it takes to do this. On the days that didn’t go so well it gave me more to analyze and look for answers and assistance. The routine and schedule are fairly set, it’s up to me to continue drawing up plans and to prepare before the school week starts. We’re going to continue to keep electronics out of the lesson plan becasue anything electronic throws him off. I also learned that homeschooling means I need to stay off my phone. I’m used to texting/emailing throughout the day so only having certain times where I answer text/emails is a challenging new mindset. Yet it needs to be done. .If you’re reading this and you have tips that will help improve our plan please feel free to drop them in the comments. I’m totally open to listening and further enhancing his homeschool. Thanks for reading and I’ll try to document any new experiences next week.

The Underestimation of Homeschooling Part 2

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Last week I discussed how my first unplanned week of homeschooling went and detailed some changes I needed to make as well as why. This week I decided to document how things went; not necessarily because they went so well but because I wanted to share the journey. As I continue on the parenting and life journey I’m finding out that a lot of people go through the same things or at least similar situations, however few people are transparent about their struggles. When I started blogging I vowed to detail my struggles as well as my triumphs because I want(ed) my audience to have a full understanding and maybe even acquire some hope while reading. In keeping with that promise here goes:

Day One: hmm mm, well it went lol! It wasn’t the worst but it wasn’t the best either. For the most part we stuck to my/his daycare’s schedule which was great. There was story time; coloring; counting; shapes/colors….curriculum wise it wasn’t a bad day. I noticed our challenges were transitions; for example if I allowed him a certain allotment of playtime or YouTube (I made a playlist of the ABC’s, counting, shapes, and colors per the recommendation of one my good friends who is a kindergarten teacher) he would throw a tantrum mid transition. This was confounding for me because I always give him ample warning. It happened every. single. time. Because of his tantrums during transitions I decided to eliminate the playlist or any type of electronics. That meant no virtual storytime; no Daniel Tiger for socio-emotional learning; no Sesame Street to reinforce our lessons…none of that. This theory was tested the rest of the week so you’ll read how that went then. Nap and meal times weren’t so bad, those were actually pretty nice. There was a minor deviation from his daycare schedule and that was the early morning walk. Usually he and his classmates go for a walk before they start the day. We tried this on Monday and it does not work. Taking him for a walk and expecting him to settle down afterwards to learn was a rookie mistake at best. Therefore I moved his recess (usually playing in the backyard or a nature walk around the block) to thirty minutes before his lunch. With that new order he goes to recess; eats lunch; and then takes his nap. That was a heck of a lot more functional.

Day Two: I’ll call this the day of rebellion. I don’t think we got anything accomplished. My child ended up in timeout three times before 10am, clearly with that sort of morning I knew it was going to be a rough day. I tried rerouting several times several different ways, and I was defeated every at every turn. Even our morning walk was disastrous. He insisted on being carried for the duration of the walk instead of walking and I refused to grab the stroller so you can imagine the standstill lol! I tried baking coolies with him to calm him(we were going to do it anyway but I used it as a redirection) that didn’t work. I tried allowing him to cook with me-negative. If I’m being open and honest I even gave him his tablet. I had to handle something pertaining to my car note and needed him to be quiet so I purchased ABC Mouse; set it up; and gave him his tablet HOPING that would work, sadly it didn’t. In my opinion Tuesday was a total loss of a day.

Tuesday night I needed relief. I prayed and talked things over with my mother (who is a veteran teacher-34 years in). I realized in our “new” routine my son and I weren’t able to get our daily podcast in; This is important because our podcasts are always biblical based. We also weren’t having our morning prayer because well there was no car ride. After our lack of prayer and Word was revealed to me in prayer I knew I had to add in a Bible Story from his Children’s Bible before our “day” started. Secondly, my mom gave me some great tips. She talked about adding in calm music in the background of our day, as well as making sure I was giving him choices. She even volunteered to step in on Wednesday and show me how to teach a preschooler. That’s when things changed! Before reading days three through five feel free to play catch up and read https://chroniclesofasinglemom.home.blog/2020/03/23/the-underestimation-of-homeschooling/This will give you some background information and bring you up to par.

The Underestimation of Homeschooling

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Much like most of America last week was the first week of me homeschooling my son. It wasn’t disastrous but I feel as though it could’ve went a lot smoother. I won’t lie I thought because he stays home with me two days a week that homeschooling wouldn’t be too much different; I severely underestimated. The problem is he’s accustomed to his normal schedule where the days he stays home with me are surrounded by days he goes to daycare. When he saw he was spending every waking moment with me he thought he could be spoiled and get his way….while I had other things in mind. This weekend I decided to take a hard look at where there was room for improvement and take it from there. 

1)My approach: I wasn’t taking homeschooling as “school” I was still in daycare mode. If he’s expected  to take me seriously as his teacher I had to take it seriously as well. With this new found perspective I immediately saw my flaws

2)Plan: unlike our daycare days I couldn’t rely on Pearachute; or a playdate with a friend. I couldn’t rely on running errands; visits with my elderly family members or even his favorite television shows to fill the hours between nap time. I needed a plan or else I was going to fail my son. However I couldn’t write a plan without setting some reasonable expectations for both of us as well as setting goals for the next month( I just want to be prepared) with weekly objectives to help us reach our goals. I also wrote a quick mission statement. 

Mission: I intend to use social distancing to enhance my child’s socioemotional understanding by helping him to de escalate  his tantrums; communicate why he’s frustrated (verbally/non verbally); and accept no (from my mom and I) more willingly. I also plan to use this time to further his counting skills; reinforcing the alphabet; adding more colors to his knowledge. Finally I plan to improve his motor skills through arts and craft, baking, and physical activities. 

Am I doing the absolute most?!? Yes, but can we do it; also yes. It sounds wordy but essentially I’m not trying to raise Einstein lol, I just want to continue building on what he’s learned and make sure he’s kindergarten ready when the time comes. My mission statement carefully lists all of my goals. Each of the goals is broken into weekly learning objectives. These objectives are what enabled me to write weekly lesson plans. Now I know what I’m doing, when, and how I’m doing things. This gives me a much clearer picture and allows me to prepare before each day. I anticipate the daily prep work will make our transitions smoother. 

Do I think things will always go smoothly because I wrote out plans?!? God, no! I do however feel the plans will decrease my frustration level with homeschooling and possibly enhance my productivity in other areas. 

3)Dressing the Part: I work from home, and I’ve done so for a long time. In fact before my son was born I started and ran a small business from my house. Because of this I am very well able to work in my pajamas and still be productive. My mindset doesn’t change according to my outfit as long as I know there is work to do with a goal in mind. Unfortunately my toddler doesn’t quite understand that. It’s no wonder then why he thought watching PBS all morning was an option. He was still in his pajamas!!! Clean, bathed but we weren’t going anywhere so pajamas it was. If homeschooling is going to work I’ll have to change him into school clothes. For that matter I’ll also need to change(leggings and a hoodie will do). I need to preserve as much of his normal routine as possible, and that’s where I failed last week. 

4)Regular Schedule: speaking of routines and normalcy that includes work, specialties and most importantly snacks. For example I know at daycare he has Music class on Mondays and Show and Tell on Wednesdays. I also know his snack, meal, and nap times. I need to follow those times as much as possible if I want homeschooling to be successful. 

5)Expectations: I mentioned this earlier but didn’t go in depth with it. While the expectations are more for me some of them are for him as well. Do I expect him to be able to count to 50 by the end of the month; no. I do however expect him to be engaged; be involved; listen; and at least make attempts. I do and will talk to him about what’s expected of him because it matters. 

6)Communicate: I admit in the hustle and bustle of everything I didn’t actually talk to him about what’s going on. When the week started my son was kept home because he had a cold. I had to nurse and take care of him so it’s a lot harder to communicate the larger scale of everything else when the main concern at that point was him. Now that he’s feeling better and it’s the start of a new week I need to sit him down and have the COVID-19 discussion with him.

7)Be patient and give yourself and your child(ren) grace: This is a brand new situation, one in which many of us are still adjusting to. Even if you made great adjustments last week this week may be about improvement and fine tuning. As parents that just how we operate. While yes you want to use the time you’re spending with your family wisely, it’s important to remember everyone is doing the best they can, and that includes you. Yes, enjoy your family but also remember to take some time for yourself. It can be quite daunting realizing you can’t escape the madness that is your family lolbvs! Slow down, pray, recharge, and then go handle it!! 

In closing I hope this blog helps you prepare to homeschool your children. It’s not fool proof but maybe some of my ideas can assist you and help you come up with things of your own! There are so many free virtual resources available right now. Tune into those, they’re extremely helpful. 

You got this!