So we are all homeschoolers now, right?
Well, not so much. From what I understand, homeschooling is this interactive, delightful initiative where we can saturate our children’s minds with all that is good and beautiful and true.
E-learning is all of us (teachers, administrators, parents, students) doing our ultimate best in a very difficult situation to do right by our kids. To keep them learning, keep them growing, keep them connected and engaged. All while staying far apart for the safety of those nearest and dearest to us.
I cannot thank the teachers and staff and my daughters’ school enough for the truly beautiful work they are trying to accomplish in the most difficult of situations. Now through video and live videoconferencing, I can see just how much they pour into our children everyday.
They love them. And for that, I love them. Dearly.
But e-learning still isn’t the same. I’ve been thinking over the past few weeks about how I can take the best of the e-learning world and the best of the homeschooling world to make this situation the best I can for my children.
My ideas aren’t foolproof, and I can’t promise they aren’t foolhardy, but they are what I have.
I’ve realized that for certain subject (cough, cough, math and science and anything that would fit into the STEM acronym,) our teachers are my children’s saving grace. I cannot do better than them. I will not try.
But I do know language. And I know literature. And I know religion. I also know holistic learning and critical thinking and delving deep.
And those are the areas we are going to shine in.
My children have been writing, per their teacher’s directions, from the beginning, so we are going to keep up with that. I’m a big fan of journal writing. My oldest is also working on a book with a friend and my middle two love writing stories.
Literature is handled differently for the different grades, but it’s also an area that we can always add on to. We have been reading Strawberry Girl as a family for the past week or so. This book teaches them about Southern Florida life in the 1800s as it engulfs them in a truly beautiful and literary story. There’s so much richness there.
After this, we decide to move on to a different story in Lois Lensky’s American Regional Series, Indian Captive: The Story of Mary Jemison. I’m a proponent of literature for literature’s sake, but I also love that they are learning about different people and times in these books. After all, one of the things that literature does best is teach us in a way that doesn’t feel like we are learning. It also helps us grow in empathy as we delve into the emotions of people who live in worlds that are greatly different from ours.
The other area that my children’s school does very well but that I think we can supplement during this time is religion. All of my children are studying different topics right now, so I found that instead of trying to center any activities around their topics, we will use the built in liturgical calendar. We are primarily focused on the lives of the saints. I like this approach because even the youngest of children enjoy great saint stories, and my older girls can learn as much about them as the web and print provides if they should want to.
A book that proves very valuable for this is The North American Martyrs Kids Activity Book. We were lucky to receive a review copy of this book a few months back, and it is growing ever more useful. My daughters love coloring, and in this they have a treasure trove of beautiful pictures and activities, and I don’t have to scour the web trying to find them.
The book has many activities. Favorites of ours include the word searches and make your own bookmarks. It also gives great background on the saints. This book is loved by both my first grader as well as her older sisters.
I know there is a lot flying around the internet these days about how to best spend your quarantine time. I hope this isn’t taken in the same vein. I’m not working. I have time to spend adding things to my children’s days. I also struggle with structure, and my mental health requires me to add some added structure into our days. So please, if you are not doing these things, please trust that that is okay. And while I may be adding “enrichment” to my children’s schooling, my house is a mess, my bed is unmade, we are eating way too much delivery, and I’m wearing old ratty sweats. We are all doing the best we can.
Below are links for the resources we have used. All links are affiliate links, so this blog will receive a slight commission on any purchase you make through these links. We appreciate your support.