Now You Have to Homeschool the Girl
The schools are closed. You can’t go to work. You can’t go anywhere except the grocery store or the pharmacy. What a world! And now you have to homeschool the girl – or the boy – your darling grands. You don’t know anything about homeschooling. You’re not a teacher. Or maybe you do; maybe you homeschooled your own kids (like me), but that was twenty years ago in another lifetime and not on your current radar at all. Either way you’ve got to take on your grandchild’s education right now in these crazy and trying times.
STOP! Relax. Breathe. You can do this. As little or as much as you want. You’ve got options. One, you can throw yourself into homeschooling (perhaps you have fond memories of those bygone years – or you’ve always wanted to give homeschooling a shot). It may not be as onerous as you think. Two, you can just do a laid-back version to keep the mind active (yours and hers!) – hunt up educational activities and fun projects to do each day. Or, three, you can just spend time together as a family doing things you all enjoy doing.
1. Homeschooling. Many school districts are having their teachers connect with parents and kids, providing activities and lessons for their students to do, so a lot of this may be taken care of for you. But if not, or you want to add your own flair, read on. There is a lot of information out there on the Internet and, if this is your first time, you may find it overwhelming. Since we are (hopefully!) just looking at a few weeks of learning at home, I’d recommend just focusing on basics and what’s fun for your family. Don’t lay out a bunch of money on a fancy curriculum. A nice variation is the Charlotte Mason method or philosophy. It uses “living” books (rather than text books) and short lessons. I found a concise explanation here at The Joyfilled Mom. And Ambleside Online has “a minimalist approach for families homeschooling in the midst of emergencies or crises”. The Kahn Academy has a parent resource page for online lessons. They even have a suggestions for a daily schedule.
Basically think “the 3 Rs” plus 2: reading, writing, and math plus history (or social studies) and science. You can add art and music if you feel so inclined. And definitely throw in “P.E.” in the form of lots of physical activity – walking, playing tag, dancing to music.
One of the lovely founders of Ambleside Online and longtime homeschooler wrote: “[T]he more ‘extras’ I tried to add, the more disorganized and non-living our schooling became. … Try just reading, narrating, discussing in small bites. Sing together… Just sing. Don’t turn poetry into a formal school lesson. Just read it. Rinse, repeat. Go for a walk. Enjoy nature. Get out coloured pencils and sketch something, anything, a few times a week…. Don’t make big, elaborate plans. … You need your books or the computer or Kindle, music and a way to play it, paper and writing utensils (or salt in a cake pan and a finger). … Use Beanie Babies, Legos, dolls, or paper dolls your kids create to tell the stories. Lighten the load.”
2. Educational activities. Again the Internet can come to your rescue. The challenge will be finding projects that call for materials you already have on hand since we’re sequestered at home. What is your grand interested in? What does she like to do? What do YOU like to do? Look for quick and easy science experiments, seasonal craft projects. Set up an obstacle course, make paper airplanes, build a birdhouse, create a musical instrument out of recyclables, go for a walk to see if you can spot signs of spring. Here’s a fun list I found to spark ideas: https://familyeguide.com/boredom-busters-110-fun-at-home-activities-for-families-kids-2/ See if you can come up with three or four of these each week to keep your grandchild’s brain (and body) engaged in a fun and creative way.
3. Or NOT! Certainly, it’s a good idea to keep yourselves occupied in fun and constructive ways, but you don’t have to make a big deal about it. You can invite your grand along with you as you go about your day. See this as an opportunity for developing some life skills. Time to teach him what it takes to run a household, to learn a new chore and take it over as his. Teach her how to set the table. How to sort laundry and run the washing machine. How about some cooking or baking lessons, if that’s something you enjoy? Sewing, knitting…. Teach him to thread a needle and sew on a button. (Mostly likely, his eyes will be sharper than yours!) And take time for playing together, too. Pull out the board games. Teach her how to play the string game Cat’s Cradle. (If you find a good way to do that with just two sets of hands, let me know!) Color together. Read together. And, if you can, go for a walk together.
Whichever approach you choose to take – homeschool lessons, fun educational activities, or just doing life together – remember that a daily schedule will help combat that feeling that everything is too weird and out of control. We know that children feel secure and thrive when they know what’s happening next, what to expect. And we do too! You don’t have to schedule every minute. That’s unrealistic anyway. Just create a routine based on time blocks: decide what time of day is best for sitting down for lessons, for accomplishing chores and/or household projects, for meals, for getting outside (if you can), and for downtime/free time. And don’t forget to set aside time for working on your novel or doing whatever it is that you love!
We have chosen to keep Evie to her regular school bedtimes and morning wake up times (though she wakes up on her own – no alarms are set for her!). After her morning tablet time (thirty minutes) and breakfast, she dresses, brushes her teeth, makes her bed – just as she has been all school year, though on a much more relaxed time frame since she doesn’t have to be out the door by 8:20 to catch the school bus. I throw in a load of laundry and am usually ready to start lessons by 9:30 or 9:45. Then we “have school” for about two to two and a half hours. We include both computer time (teacher-assigned activities) and pencil work and crafty projects (my ideas). Snacks and a run in the yard or a walk around the block happen in between activities. By then it’s lunch time and “school” is done for the day. Afternoons are much more flexible. That’s when the grands play together (without squabbling on a good day, on a VERY good day!) or help us with house or yard projects. Sometimes hubby has a baking project (he’s the cook in our house!) and that’s always a hit with the kids. After dinner, we continue with the regular family time/bedtime routine we’ve been following all school year (minus packing lunches for the next day).
Just a note: we only “do school” four mornings a week. I use Fridays for my own office stuff and planning for the next week.
Sooner or later life will get back to normal and the outside world will take over our schedules. We’ll be back to work, back to school, trying again to squeeze in chores and projects and quality family time. Take this gift of time we’ve been given now. However you choose to learn at home, just be sure to relax, take your time, and make some memories. Make it fun!