As the whole world knows at this point, the COVID-19 virus has changed life as we know it. It has brought thousands and thousands of traditionally schooled children home from their brick and mortar schools. It has caused panic and anxiety. It has changed lives.
On March 16, 2020, I began posting daily lessons plans on Facebook to help some of those families now faced with having to figure out how to teach their children at home. As a homeschooling mom, I have some experience with 'learning on the fly" or without a solid plan. I also have experience with making plans and turning most experiences into a learning opportunity.
A bit more about me. Here are my credentials, if you will.
I'm a mom to three boys. My oldest son is now 23 years old. Our homeschooling journey began when he was only five years old. He was speech delayed and had some learning delays so, he had attended developmental preschool for a couple of years. Homescholing was never on my radar. At all. In fact, I had even planned on becoming an elementary school teacher at one point. During my training I deemed I wasn't "flexible" enough in my lesson plans so changed career paths vowing never to teach. Yeah, I'm sure God was laughing at that one.
When my oldest son was almost five, I discussed with his various therapist our educational plan. We decided it was best to delay his start into kindergarten. He continued therapy at the local elementary school and I began to hear rumblings of something called "homeschooling." It was at this point that our second son arrived and I quit my job to stay home to raise my boys.
I did some math and realized my oldest would be spending close to 40 hours a week at the local school. I had just quit a job I loved to raise my sons. It didn't make sense to me. So, I decided to try this homeschooling thing and see how it went. After all, we weren't planning to put him in public school until he was six anyway. This would be my bonus year. If it worked, great. If not, no loss as he would start school as planned in the fall.
I can't say we loved it. I can't say we had wonderful days full of laughter and fun. What I can say is we liked it enough to continue. What I can say is we had many tears (his and mine) around that kitchen table trying to learn to read and write. What I can say, is I've never regretted our decision.
There were definitely some hard days when no one had fun. But there were many days filled with learning and laughter and loving. Homeschooling, to me, is about building relationships more than learning facts and figures. My boys enjoy each others company (most days). Our relationships are solid and strong. It's not all about the fact that we homeschool, but it has certainly helped.
As I mentioned above, my oldest is now 23. He has one semester left at college after which he will be graduating with a degree in creative writing. He will be a traditionally published author sometime this spring. He is one of the grocery store employees working during this crisis and he's an introvert. So, be kind please if you see him out and about.
Our second son will be 19 in a few weeks. He is in his first year of college. And yes, I may have laughingly looked at him when it was announced all his college classes would be moving to an online portal, "Welcome back to homeschooling." He's my extrovert. He didn't find it as funny as I did. He works for a local restaurant as a dishwasher and thankfully, as of now, will continue to work a few shifts a week even though dine-in options are now closed.
And our youngest son is now 16. He's my last one at home. He is now a sophomore in high school here at home. He's not so thrilled with having mom's complete attention on him though so I think he's glad I'm spending some time writing lesson plans for others.
I'll be working over the next few days to upload the lesson plans I released this past week while also getting new content ready for the upcoming weeks. In between I'll share some homescholing tips and tricks as well. The lessons plans for March 16th-20th are below this welcome post. Please scroll down.
This is just a season. We can get through this together.
On March 16, 2020, I began posting daily lessons plans on Facebook to help some of those families now faced with having to figure out how to teach their children at home. As a homeschooling mom, I have some experience with 'learning on the fly" or without a solid plan. I also have experience with making plans and turning most experiences into a learning opportunity.
A bit more about me. Here are my credentials, if you will.
I'm a mom to three boys. My oldest son is now 23 years old. Our homeschooling journey began when he was only five years old. He was speech delayed and had some learning delays so, he had attended developmental preschool for a couple of years. Homescholing was never on my radar. At all. In fact, I had even planned on becoming an elementary school teacher at one point. During my training I deemed I wasn't "flexible" enough in my lesson plans so changed career paths vowing never to teach. Yeah, I'm sure God was laughing at that one.
When my oldest son was almost five, I discussed with his various therapist our educational plan. We decided it was best to delay his start into kindergarten. He continued therapy at the local elementary school and I began to hear rumblings of something called "homeschooling." It was at this point that our second son arrived and I quit my job to stay home to raise my boys.
I did some math and realized my oldest would be spending close to 40 hours a week at the local school. I had just quit a job I loved to raise my sons. It didn't make sense to me. So, I decided to try this homeschooling thing and see how it went. After all, we weren't planning to put him in public school until he was six anyway. This would be my bonus year. If it worked, great. If not, no loss as he would start school as planned in the fall.
I can't say we loved it. I can't say we had wonderful days full of laughter and fun. What I can say is we liked it enough to continue. What I can say is we had many tears (his and mine) around that kitchen table trying to learn to read and write. What I can say, is I've never regretted our decision.
There were definitely some hard days when no one had fun. But there were many days filled with learning and laughter and loving. Homeschooling, to me, is about building relationships more than learning facts and figures. My boys enjoy each others company (most days). Our relationships are solid and strong. It's not all about the fact that we homeschool, but it has certainly helped.
As I mentioned above, my oldest is now 23. He has one semester left at college after which he will be graduating with a degree in creative writing. He will be a traditionally published author sometime this spring. He is one of the grocery store employees working during this crisis and he's an introvert. So, be kind please if you see him out and about.
Our second son will be 19 in a few weeks. He is in his first year of college. And yes, I may have laughingly looked at him when it was announced all his college classes would be moving to an online portal, "Welcome back to homeschooling." He's my extrovert. He didn't find it as funny as I did. He works for a local restaurant as a dishwasher and thankfully, as of now, will continue to work a few shifts a week even though dine-in options are now closed.
And our youngest son is now 16. He's my last one at home. He is now a sophomore in high school here at home. He's not so thrilled with having mom's complete attention on him though so I think he's glad I'm spending some time writing lesson plans for others.
I'll be working over the next few days to upload the lesson plans I released this past week while also getting new content ready for the upcoming weeks. In between I'll share some homescholing tips and tricks as well. The lessons plans for March 16th-20th are below this welcome post. Please scroll down.
This is just a season. We can get through this together.
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