Thursday, October 1, 2020

Homeschooling

Here I am, now a homeschooler! Thanks, COVID. I mean that both sarcastically and sincerely. I am homeschooling Phoebe and she is a dear little student. Our school district is currently totally virtual, and it just did not make sense for Phoebe to enter kindergarten on a screen with me trying not to chew my arm off beside her.

I am grateful that I have a flexible schedule and some years of parenting under my belt. The skills that I need are not really the skills I gained as a high school English teacher, but rather the skills I learned through parenting: patience, cheerful matter-of-fact firmness, calmness, and capacity to enjoy my child and enter into her world. 

For curriculum, I queried the homeschool parents I know who have taught their children kindergarten. I read some websites in the manner of surveying the landscape. Our state uses the Common Core standards and since we intend for Phoebe to return to in-person schooling in the future, I read those standards and chose curriculum aligned with them. 

We are using:
Explode the Code Book 1

DK Geography, Kindergarten level

some partially used kindergarten math books from a friend in the district because the Argoprep Introducing Math! Kindergarten book I bought is too advanced.  


Daily, Phoebe draws in a journal and writes the date. We go over the days of the week, the months and seasons, and do some counting as we ascertain the date.  I read out loud to her; currently we are devouring the Little House books. We spend about an hour on homeschool every morning.


Then she plays her heart out and talks our ears off the rest of the day. She keenly misses peers as her older siblings are so much older - another reason we want to send her back to in-person school. 

As for Genevieve and Ben, they are doing their virtual school thing with their district-issued iPads. Each class has two Zooms a week and the rest of the work is asynchronous. Fortunately, they can still play their sports because these are outside and can be mostly socially distant. I'm grateful they have that fresh air, exercise, excitement, and teamwork. 


12 comments:

Beth said...

Love hearing how it’s going for y’all. Love your hair!

Jennifer Jo said...

Look at you go!!!

Becky said...

You go!

This really is so hard on the kids, isn't it?

e said...

What a strange time we are living through. The key word there being 'through'.
Phoebe looks happy, so it must be going along pretty well. That being said, there is no real substitute for in-person school for youngsters.
Stay strong!

Nancy In Boise said...

That's great that you're able to homeschooler with your experience. My one grandson is on the autism spectrum and we were really thrilled that he can go back to school part-time in person oh, you just can't get the same Services over a screen. Great that sports are allowed to get outside and get some exercise and fresh air before it gets too cold anyway

Margo said...

Thank you! And thanks for your helpful advice.

Margo said...

It is! I wonder when you will be able to teach cooking to students again :/

Margo said...

"through" -thank you for that hopeful word. I will keep that in my heart as encouragement for the other side.

Margo said...

Yes, so glad your grandson can get back in school. Our district is bringing back the higher-need kids first who benefit from the most services.

Jean | DelightfulRepast.com said...

Margo, Phoebe is such a darling! I would so enjoy that homeschooling and devouring the Little House books, and I'm sure I'd throw in a little baking!

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