Well, this pandemic sure is a crazy thing, isn't it? One day you're living life and the next day you're confined to your home with all the members of your family just trying to survive. Oh wait, that is my normal. Well, since I have some experience in this, may I offer some of the new "homeschool" families some advice?
First off, it is very unlikely that you are homeschooling your children. So stop saying it. Honestly, I'm a tad offended by it. You think that someone else deciding what your child needs to know for two weeks and you have to make sure they get those pieces of work done is homeschool. Ugh. You're a tutor. You're a teacher's aide. Trust me, you don't have the behind the scenes work to do, you'll be fine. Secondly, I've seen these cute little schedules all color blocked telling us what we should do. 8-9 is wake up time. Get dressed. Eat breakfast. 9-10 is education time. No screens. 10-11 is creative time. Let's build and paint. 11-12 is outside time. 12-1230 lunch. 1230-2 is quiet time. Hahahaha idiots. No clue. 2-3 play time. 3-4 education time with screens. 4-5 family time. 5-6 dinner. 6-7 TV, pajamas. 8 bed. 830 if you didn't throw a fit. Come on people. You're on your fourth day of this. You know good and well that the schedule that you saw on Facebook is crap. You should have a schedule. I agree with that. But let's actually make it work. What time do your kids go to school? That is when your education time needs to start. Because after a few weeks of mommy schooling, it will be a nightmare for all involved when they go back to school and actually need their brains to function before 8 am. Follow the kids' schedules. If you have upper elementary and up, this should be a breeze! Let's say this is the schedule for your 11 year old: English 8-845 Math 845- 920 Special area 925-955 Reading 10-1045 Science 1045-1115 Lunch 1120-1150 Social studies 1155-1225 Recess 1230-1 Computer 1-130 ILT 130-2 I say, keep this schedule as much as possible, modifying in one of two ways. Option 1: Jenny finishes her ELA work for the day before 845. Give her tomorrow's ELA work. See how much of the week she can get done. Do that for each subject. Option 2: Jenny finishes her ELA work for the day before 845. Move straight onto Math. See if she can finish her school day before 2:00! Both of these options will allow your child to finish the total amount of work before the due date. What if your child doesn't finish the work before the designated time? Keep the schedule. Keep it on point. At the end of the day, it's their homework. You know, those are those assignments that come home in their backpack and get brought back in the next day. People are doing their children a disservice during this time. Parents are using this as family vacation time. There seems to be this mindset that they have forgotten that their children would normally be in school for 8 hours and it is okay if their work takes all 8 hours and then a little extra afterwards. The goal is not to corona-party with movies and popcorn while glancing at some flash cards. Teachers are working from home to create these lesson plans. They have set up zoom and skype videos to see and help their kids. Administrators are monitoring classrooms and handing out food. Bus drivers are going to neighborhoods to provide. Yet you, PARENT, deem it too difficult to hold your student accountable so that WHEN they arrive back at school, the same teacher doesn't have to reteach the lessons that should be under their belts. Step up. Be the boss. It will be okay. You'll still have plenty of play time with your kids since there is no team sports, dance classes, music lessons, etc to rush off to. Be a parent. Help your kids. Help the teachers. Do your job.
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AuthorI have a lot to say about a lot of things. Archives
May 2023
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