Homeschooling Tips for COVID-19

Today I got an email from a public school teacher asking for advice. Homeschooling is new to many, and I feel our teachers are really going through some trial by fire here.

Being that I’ve homeschooled, here are MY tips for success. As always, your mileage may vary, but I see a need, and I want to help. This is my wheelhouse.

First, throw out the idea of the quiet private cubby of school concentration desk. That’s some throwback Quaker stuff. It makes school seem really punitive and children are social creatures. If you put a child in a cubby, they will squirm and wiggle right out of it. Put them all around the kitchen table or sprinkle them in the living room. Put them where you are, where they are. Earbuds are recommended.

My kids get online by 8:30 am, breakfast done, teeth brushed, water bottles filled and next to them. Just like with work, this gives them time to orientate themselves to the day, check any messages, turn in anything forgotten, and get in the mode before the 10 am check-in time of Portland schools.

Around 10 am, there’s snack set out for grazing. Nuts, grapes, etc. We have realized we are going to be in close-quarters, quarantined together, so are not practicing social distancing within our family. It’s just not possible. More on that later.

By noon we break for a brief, half hour lunch.

Afternoon, older kids likely still have scheduled classes. They do that until done, then do a physical activity before free time.

Elementary school child does her class assignment of a “Diary of a Whimpy Kid” style journal, then physical activity before free time.

Physical activity options in our house:

1. 1. 1.  Go for walk or bike ride. Many of your local bike shops are still open by appointment. Get a tune up or a bike. A bike is the perfect length for social distancing and a great grocery store runner. Here’s my favorite shop in PDX.
      2.  Hullabaloo. If you can find one not $124 like this one on Amazon, it is the ultimate sanity saver. I’ve had mine for over 10 years and it’s still going strong. I have friends who’ve made up new spots from fabric in their stash!
      3.  Switch Ring Fit Adventure, Just Dance on Xbox – any number of physical game console options.
      4.  Put on tunes and have a dance party.
      5.  Cosmic Yoga on YouTube. Almost a half million subscribers for a good reason.

Free-time options – Screen-free and Not:

1. 1. 1.  Have group drawing/art while listening to an Audible book. I recommend the Little House series as it’s perfect for now, great for all ages and genders.
      2. Libby is also a great option for audio books and links with most libraries. Many counties are now allowing people to sign up for a card online to get digital books and audio books. Here’s Multnomah County’s sign up page. 
      3.  Science Kit: This usually involves vinegar, baking soda, and food coloring on a tray. Or making slime, etc.
      4.  Planting a garden is science AND math. I’m a firm believe LIFE is ALGEBRA. You’re always solving for X. For example: How many seeds fit in a line when spaced 5 inches apart?
      5.  Plant a seed in a cup to bring back to class after quarantine! Make it a class project.
      6. Get out the food dehydrator. Make fruit leather & dehydrate nuts. It’s both good quarantine sense and science. There’s all kinds of information about there about why you should soak your nuts, then dehydrate them (phytic acid y’all) and it makes for a great science study. Same with fruit leather – how long do the grapes last vs. how long does grape fruit leather last? (for grown ups, check out Brad’s It’s Alive if you really want to geek out with me.)
      7. Planet Earth. Need I say more?
      8.  We love LOVE BrainPOP Jr. If your school hasn’t opened up the app completely for online learning, MAKE IT HAPPEN. There’s even a section on Coronavirus on BrainPOP now.
      9.  Bill Gates just posted a tweet for Khan Academy being bolstered up for your use. That man never ceases to amaze. Khan Academy, if you don’t know, is the most used online resource by public schools. Your math teachers LOVE it.
      10. Make a sourdough starter. I love the entire King Arthur website. It’s a practically no-fail place to start.
      11.  Use Ms. Jue’s Diary of a Whimpy kid idea and journal/art through it all. Bonus points for using those gel pens you have drying out, that stash of washi tape you’re “saving” and all those stickers and glitter.
      12. Teach to sew/crochet/knit – math, art, AND functional life skills. Look up the history of encoding messages in knitting. Look up the history of human strife & racial inequality in quilts, and current art and human strife in quilts. (I refuse to call these “politics;” that denotes a choice to make it this way.)

Right, so this seems to lean heavily on STEM/STEAM but I believe they’re all intertwined. There’s no math without music and vice versa. Gradients and vectors are math and art. Ratios of oil paint, drying time of watercolors… it all intersects in my mind. A kid baking cookies is learning math and science. Working out a garden plan with the kids figuring out the size of the planting box is both art and engineering. What is the cubic feet of soil for X sized planting box? This is applied learning. This is how we learn to apply worksheets to life. You got this. And you got me. AMA.

Love to you all.