Since moving to Washington and even a little before then, I had been homeschooling my 5 yo daughter. In lieu of the recent COVID-19 outbreak, our schools are closed for the next six weeks, which means my 8 yo son will be home with me as well.
I have created a homeschool itinerary that has worked well for my pre-k child and I plan to use the same schedule with both children while they are home with me.
Math
First thing, after breakfast, we get started with Calendar and math. This is normally what I did when I taught 1st-3rd grade. I use workbooks that I had from teaching. However, workbooks can be purchased at any local store, i.e. Walmart, Target, Dollar Tree or you could always order from Amazon or Lakeshore Learning (sign up for Lakeshore coupons and you’ll save more). I have also been able to find gently used books at Goodwill.
Phonics
Phonics is the associating of sounds with letters, this is mostly needed for my 5 year old. My 8 year old is beyond this concept but we will review blends and digraphs. This time will also consist of practicing the first 100 words for my Kinder and making sure my 2nd grader knows the first 1,000 words. You can find a list like that here.
Movement/Creative Arts
If you notice I only have them working and sitting for sometimes 15-20 minutes before they move on to a fun or kinetic activity. This is how I ran my classroom as well. Little people (and even sometimes big people) have a hard time sitting for long periods of time. The way I organized my itinerary, is so the children don’t lose focus and I can make sure they are learning in their various learning styles. Knowing a child’s learning style is as important as knowing their love language. I plan to write more on that later.
Tech Time
There are so many technology educational programs out there. Some of them are even offered by school districts. For my preschooler we like Starfall and PBSkids. PBS also offers printable resources and lesson plans that go with most of their shows.
Science & Social Studies
Mystery Science is offering free lessons during school closures. In addition to utilizing their website, I also have quite a few non-fiction science books and I plan to do at least one-two science projects a week (that I’ve found in books or on Pinterest). For Social Studies, I have kid-friendly atlas books and my 8 year old particularly enjoys reading about figures in history. Both of my children enjoy watching Xavier’s Riddle and the Secret Museum
It’s a show that teaches important figures in history.
Games
Games like UNO, Chutes and Ladders, Connect Four, Operation, these are just a few that I have in my house. And I got them all at Goodwill. Games are a great way to not only build bonding but they also teach skills such as counting, color recognition, patience, sharing and much more.
Writing
For my 5 yo, she needs practice writing her name. She’s a lefty and I feel like it’s taking her a little longer. She is still writing her name backwards or in all caps. For my 2nd grader, he needs to focus on paragraph writing and conventions such as capitalization and punctuation.
I hope this helps someone out there. Let me know what you’re doing for the school closures. Ideas are better when everyone shares!
