Home School Happenings

The joys of parenting include having to parent while you are unwell. This past week I suddenly developed vertigo. In a nutshell, it feels like the world is spinning, you're dizzy, nauseous, extremely tired, and it lasted almost 2 weeks. Not a fun time. This meant I took a few sick days from homeschooling, but luckily due to a strong routine system I was able to continue with teaching even while unwell. This week I'm going to dive into our daily routines for learning. I'm also going to touch on the notion of 'falling behind' and how to eradicate this fear for yourself and children.

My teaching is mostly centered around a strong foundation of reading, writing, and number sense. Assuring this foundation is solid will allow my children to become independent learners faster. This means we spend the most time on language arts and math on a daily basis.

I always start with a morning worksheet which is a mix of language and math. Next we work on a math sheet that centers around what we're currently learning. As of right now that's adding/subtracting and learning different counting strategies. Next we work on writing. Sometimes this looks like a prompt or sometimes it's a free write. Illustrations are always included in writing to assure that she is able to fully express what she is trying to articulate. Calendar is next on the list. We sing the days of the week, and the months of the year with hand actions to understand which months are cold or hot (this helps build a connection between seasons/temperature/months as well). We talk about what the date is, what day of the week it was yesterday and what day it will be tomorrow, we discuss the weather and graph it. Next we do a lesson from the book: Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons. Then we read a book together and discuss beginning, middle, and end. Last we work on our sight words by reading flashcards, practicing writing 10 different ones a week, and having her read BOB books.

This routine makes each day predictable for both of us, but also allows me to spend less time planning and prepping- and it allows me to take 'sick' days without affecting her learning. This is the similar approach I took in being a classroom teacher. This routine has been my savior over the past few weeks as I was unwell.

That's all for this week folks, hoping I recover fully soon and we can continue on this fun homeschool journey in kindergarten!