You CAN Teach Online and Homeschool Your Own Children!

Last week was my first week of distance learning. I was required to meet live, using Zoom, with my homeroom class and all 5 of my social studies sections! My husband, who is also a teacher, had multiple professional development sessions each day, as his district prepared to begin distance learning this week. On top of all that, we have a 5-year-old daughter. Needless to say, our house was CRAZY! My Zoom sessions suffered multiple interruptions, as did my husbands PD sessions. My daughter was crying out for attention that we couldn't give her. We downloaded a learning app we thought would help and, while she loves it, she is not used to having that much screen time and we experienced some major meltdowns when it was time for the iPad to be put away. Before the week was over, I was defeated. I felt like a bad teacher and a bad mum. I was convinced that I couldn't teach online and homeschool my own child.

My husband and I had a heart to heart on Thursday evening. As I sobbed, his brain was working on a solution. We are both middle school teachers, so figuring out how to homeschool a 5-year-old has been a challenge for us. We know her attention span is significantly shorter than the students we work with, so she would need multiple things to do during the time we have to meet with our classes.

So, my husband came up with a list of activities and organized them into STATIONS!

I don't know why we hadn't thought about that before.  We both use stations in our classrooms and I know my daughter's teacher does too. We gave her a timer she can set for each station, no more than 5-10 minutes per station, and then she can to move on to something else. The new stimuli at each station helps hold her attention long enough for us to teach a class or listen to a PD session. You could also include some physical education between the stations. For example, hopping, bear crawls, or frog jumps, to the next station.

Below is a list of the stations we put together:

Letter Practice:

In preschool, they had been working on writing upper and lowercase letters. So, we wanted to continue with that. You can find some print and go worksheets here: Letter Writing Practice A-Z

Number Practice:

Number recognition is something my daughter excels at. She has surpassed pre-k and kindergarten benchmarks already, so we decided to include word form too. You can find some print and go worksheets here: Number Writing Practice 1-20

Building:

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For this station we used Paul Bunyan Logs , but you could use any type of building toy you have. Building toys help with your child's fine motor skills. 

Art: 

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This little girl just loves to be "creative", so we included multiple opportunities for her to do that. She really enjoys making patterns with her Spirograph, drawing pictures for us, and making Play Doh food. We spaced these stations out with letter and number stations in between.

You could also add in a technology station. After the problems we had last week, we decided to take a break from technology. After we have a chance to discuss parameters for technology use, we will probably add this too. As we continue with distance learning and homeschooling, I am no longer terrified of failing my students or my daughter.

The Importance of Routines for Families

It's easy for families to stay in a routine when parents are working and kids are going to school, but what about the times when that doesn't - or can't - happen? Routines are important for families, especially during times of uncertainty.

Having a routine doesn't mean that everything happens at the exact same time everyday, but it does ensure the important activities that bring a sense of stability to your lives continue to happen. Below is an example of a daily routine.
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Breakfast

If you're not rushing out the door for school and work, breakfast might look a little different.  You could make pancakes or waffles together, measurements for recipes can be a great math lesson!


Wash up, brush teeth, and get dressed

The process of getting ready for the day may also be different if you are staying home. Ladies, you probably won't need to curl/straighten your hair, or even put any make-up on! It is still important for your family to practice personal hygiene though.


Learning time - no electronics

If you haven't stepped foot inside a classroom since you graduated high school, the thought of trying to make sure your children are learning from home can be daunting. Luckily, there are so many ideas and resources online to help you. Pinterest is a great place to start. Reading with your child and playing strategy games can take the place of a traditional worksheet. Although, if you are looking for print and go resources, Teachers Pay Teachers has a wealth of resources. Check out the links below:


Early Childhood Resources
Math 
Social Studies
English
Science


Chores

The everyday chores around the house will still need to be done, maybe even more so, if you are home all day! Chores don't have to be boring though. Make it a race for your children to sort their laundry or have a dance party as they tidy their rooms. This might even be the perfect time to get some extra chores done, sort through the toy box, the game closet, or the dreaded cupboard under the stairs that is the proverbial dumping ground during busy work weeks.


Free play time

This is time for your children to play however they want, with whatever toys they want. I prefer to keep this a technology free time, to encourage creativity and imaginative play. During this time, my 5-year old daughter LOVES to dress up and play with Barbies. Coloring is another great option for this time, whether it is a coloring book with popular characters, or just a blank piece of paper.


Lunch

This could be a great time to  allow your children to have some autonomy. Provide choices for healthy lunches, but allow them to chose and maybe even make it themselves. My daughter always enjoys the sandwiches she makes herself more than the ones I make her! This can be difficult for parents who like to keep a clean kitchen though!


Rest/Quiet time

If you have young children, this is a perfect time for a nap. Older children can still benefit from a little rest or even just some quiet time. This quiet time should be alone, if possible, in their room. Reading a book is a great activity for older children during this time.


Family exercise time

Take a walk, run or bike ride, if the weather allows. If not, open some windows, put on YouTube or GoNoodle and have fun exercising together.

Game time

This a great time to break out all those old board games and card games. Some can be educational, like Scrabble or memory with uppercase and lowercase letters, some can help teach critical thinking like Go Fish, and some can be just for fun like Silly Street. If you are looking for some new games to play, Amazon has a ton!

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Learning time - with electronics

Check out this extensive list of online resources. Teachers and businesses all over the world are banding together to help students and parents where they can.


Dinner

Sitting down to eat dinner as a family should definitely be a priority when everyone is busy with work and school, but keeping that tradition even if you are staying home maintains consistency for your kids. Reflect on how the routine worked for your family that day. Do you want to make any changes for tomorrow? Ideally this time should be free of electronics, for children AND parents.


T.V.  or movie time

Watch a movie or t.v. show together. Animal Planet is a favorite in my house. My daughter LOVES animals and can learn a lot from these shows.


Calm down activities

Taking some time to wind down before bed is an important step for your child. Coloring, reading a book, or a little yoga are all technology free ways for your child to relax before trying to go to sleep.

Brush teeth and change for bed

There probably isn't any need for you to change whatever routine you already had inplace for bedtime. If you didn't have one in place, now would be a great time to create one.

Bed

Try to keep you children's bed time consistent. This will make things easier when everyone has to go back to school and work.
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Now, this is just one example of what a day at home could look like. What works for one family might not work for another. A schedule can be as flexible or as rigid as your family needs it to be.