Homeschooling in a Pandemic

Two days before spring break the schools in our area shut down for the Coronavirus pandemic. March 16th we got the notification that our district would be closed through at least April 3rd. Yesterday our Mayor gave the “Safer at Home” order meaning we are supposed to stay at home as much as possible. So today is supposed to be our first day (in a different world) back at school. My daughter is a senior in a public school so education is taking a turn for her at the moment. She expected to be back in her routine today. The last week she has been meeting up with her school friends through Google Duo and being creative. Actually she and my son did their first Youtube video together. It is called Tiny Food Fight.

Since we were already homeschooling our son the major difference for him is that his tutorial class is taking place on Zoom instead of in person. Last week he only did Spanish and Science since those are his tutorial classes. This week we are back on track with the rest of his subjects.

My daughter has always been very self directed and very organized. She has excellent study habits which she must have gotten from her daddy. She has heard from three of her teachers so far. Her AP English teacher is actually really organized and has a schedule all ready for the kids. Her AP Econ teacher from last semester has loaded information to the library so they can study. And her band director has posted some good resources and has been in touch. At the moment my daughter is working on AP Lit homework and will work on AP Spanish weekly work in a little while. She is also planning to help my son with his Spanish vocab later today. Then she has some reading to do.

I am really thankful for technology as that has been a lifesaver. It is pretty amazing that the kids can stay connected with everything they need to do!

For us and homeschooling, our district requires so many specific types of classes to graduate. For my son we have our curriculum for the year and have been happy with that. I have already started looking at curriculum for next school year and only have a couple to choose as he will take Health, Spanish 2, Biology, and Drawing through his tutorial. That leaves English, Geometry, and Bible.

For younger kids things are much more flexible as far as what you teach goes. Here are a few resources that we like:

Brave Writer for writing skills
Cathy Duffy for reviews on curriculum
Virtual Field Trips
Museum Tours
Lunch Doodles with Mo Willems
We always love Rhett and Link
Of course there are a billion documentaries on Netflix, and you can never go wrong with just reading a book and letting imaginations run wild.

I hope those resources are helpful and that things go well for you as you homeschool your kiddos!