Week2 2021; every shot is a power shot

 

With each new week, we cover a topic the kids choose. We are also covering a new life skill each week.

Tennis wasn't an easy topic to get anything for when it comes to little kids. So I made do with what I could find.

Week 1: C's choice Tennis. Life Skill: Helping Set the table

Day 1: Workbooks, Tennis video, book, Tennis worksheet, game, reading, sight words, writing book. 

Day 2: Work Sheets, Tennis video, book, Tennis craft, game, reading, sight words, learning application.

Day 3: Workbooks, Tennis video, tennis worksheet, book, game, reading, sight words, writing book.

Day 4: Worksheets, Tennis video, book, game, reading, sight words, learning application.

Day 5: Workbooks, Tennis video, book, game, reading, sight words, writing book. 

Games we play vary between letter sound bingo, math bingo, puzzles etc. 

We use a few learning applications and they alternate between them. Homer, Khan Kids, adventure academy, and ABC mouse.

The packs of worksheets I use come from different sources, Pinterest, google, teachers, pay teachers, Canadian Curriculum books that are subject-based.

 

 

 

New year, new homeschool plan!

 We homeschool all year round which means that September means not much around here.

For me, it means I start planning homeschool trips and activities for the kids with the other homeschool parents. Last year Covid put a huge damper on any trips that we were going to take. This year Covid is still putting a damper on things for a few reasons.

1) Limiting the number of people we can have on each trip which means less of a discount for those who are attending. Some we had to even do as individual families because many of the families were too large to even group with another family.

2) With the vaccine passport up in the air we are not even sure when the trip time comes around that those who are signed up to go can go because if they are not vaccinated and they put the passport into place then they can't come most are paid for ahead of time.

What that means for this year is that we are taking things slow when planning trips.

With Sept 7 comes the "Not Back To School Homeschool Picnic"
This year I was shocked the number of parents and children has tripled compared to 2019. It was amazing! My kids even made new friends and I made a new friend too lol.

We have a couple of trips planned and are working on planning more but slowly. I will like always, post about our trips.

I like to think in my head that all my plans are going to work out for homeschooling and we are going to learn all the things but not always is that the case because well, kids. If it wasn't for them the homeschool plans would go off without a hitch LOL!

Like all homeschool moms, I have in my head these plans and ideas but not always are they what the kids want and what they want to learn and do comes first because after all, it is their schooling, not mine.

I wish you all an amazing school year be it in the classroom, virtual or fully homeschool!  I am excited about what this year is going to bring.

Dancing on Rainbows

 Did you know no one sees the same rainbow? How about that it's round? I sure didn't!

H picked the topic of rainbows this week. I enjoy when it is her turn to pick what we learn about because I always end up learning something new.

How our days went for Rainbow week

8 am breakfast, get dressed, hair put their dirty laundry downstairs.

8:30 am Now that it is milder in the mornings we have gone back to walking in the mornings. One of the mornings we did a rainbow walk and the kids loved it so much that once we finished the sheet they started it all over again!

9 am either workbooks or worksheets. I alternate each day so the kids don't get bored with doing the same thing every day.

15-minute break. On this 15 min break, I get everything ready for the next activity, put laundry in, hand wash the dishes that need to be washed, empty and reload the dishwasher.

930am Journals and a letter sheet. (These are great for H learning her letters and the other children to keep working on letter sounds.)

15-minute break outside. I empty the dishwasher, answer clients and make their snacks.

10:00 am Snack While they eat their morning snack this month we are reading about one women in history from the book 101 Women in History

We talk about how things were, how things still are for many women in the world and how far we still have to go. 

10:30 am Rainbow activity or video (If its a video then fold and put away laundry while they are watching a video.)

11:00 am They have free time to do whatever they would like (this amount of time depends on how long things took us.)

In this "free time" I work on client orders and make lunch

12:00 pm LUNCH

12:30 pm reading. They each get to read their book with me and do the sight word cards as well as the sight word wall. (The books and the sight word changes every three days)

1:00 pm "Online learning" They each get a turn using the learning app on my phone called Khan Kids. They each have a profile and play what I consider one round. One round is playing until they get a prize.

1:30 PM They have until snack to free play. I sweep, clean up and work on client orders.

2:00 pm snack. I start dinner at this point.

15minutes outside.

Then they have until dinner to free play.

4:30 pm Dinner

5:30 pm walk dogs

6:30 pm start baths. When I start baths I get out the painting I have been working on and work on it while each child gets to play in the tub for 10mins.

7:15 pm snack, stories, teeth and bed.

At about 8:45 pm everyone is asleep, which means I get to work on client orders, cleaning, folding laundry and getting everything ready for the next day's schooling.

Here are links to the videos and activities that we did.

Activities

This one is fun and edible! 

We didn't frame them but we made these 

Colour page  

Rainbow walk 

 

Videos 

I love this guys videos!  

This one wasn't great for kids but I liked it. 

This isn't a video about how rainbows are formed because you can only watch the same information so may times but it is a book read on video about rainbows. 

Women's History month videos we watched

1

2 

 

 

 

Let's go at 34

Yes, I had to google game quotes to get a title for this blog post because I have never played this game in my life.

We don't own it so the kids have never played it but they have watched gameplay videos from their favourite YouTubers.

How our days went for Fornite week

8 am breakfast, get dressed, hair put their dirty laundry downstairs.

9 am either workbooks or worksheets. I alternate each day so the kids don't get bored with doing the same thing every day.

15-minute break. On this 15 min break, I get everything ready for the next activity, put laundry in, hand wash the dishes that need to be washed.

930am Journals and a letter sheet. (These are great for H learning her letters and the other children to keep working on letter sounds.)

15-minute break outside. I empty the dishwasher, answer clients and make a snack.

10:30 am Snack

10:45 am Fortnite activity or video I fold and put away laundry if they are watching a video.

11:00 am They have free time to do whatever they would like (this amount of time depends on how long things took us.)

In this "free time" I work on client orders and make lunch

12:00 pm LUNCH

12:30 pm reading. They each get to read their book with me and do the sight word cards as well as the sight word board. (The books and the sight word changes every three days)

1:00 pm "Online learning" They each get a turn using the learning app on my phone called Khan Kids. They each have a profile and play what I consider one round. One round is playing until they get a prize.

1:30 PM They have until snack to free play. I sweep, clean up and work on client orders.

2:00 pm snack. I start dinner at this point.

15minutes outside.

Then they have until dinner to free play.

4:30 pm Dinner

5:30 pm walk dogs

6:30 pm start baths. When I start baths I get out the painting I have been working on and work on it while each child gets to play in the tub for 10mins.

7:15 pm snack, stories, teeth and bed.

At about 8:45 pm everyone is asleep, which means I get to work on client orders, cleaning, folding laundry and getting everything ready for the next day's schooling.

Here are links to the videos and activities that we did.

Videos:

1 

2 

 

Activities 

I loved these as a kid and still do as an adult. Mystery pictures! 

 Colouring page  

 Now I printed this from google and you couldn't read the writing but it worked for what we needed it for and the kids had fun making their own video game and telling me about it.  

Either you die a hero.....

 Or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain.

 

 Unicorns and mermaids were a walk in the park compared to;
Halo! Yes, the video game. Blaine loves it (no he doesn't play online).

I figured since there are many educational activities around other video games likes pokemon and fornite that it would be easy to find things. Not so much!

How our days went for Halo week

8 am breakfast, get dressed, hair put their dirty laundry downstairs.

9 am either workbooks or worksheets. I alternate each day so the kids don't get bored with doing the same thing every day.

15-minute break. On this 15 min break, I get everything ready for the next activity, put laundry in, hand wash the dishes that need to be washed.

930am Journals and a letter sheet. (These are great for H learning her letters and the other children to keep working on letter sounds.)

15-minute break outside. I empty the dishwasher, answer clients and make snack.

10:30 am Snack

10:45 am Halo activity or video I fold and put away laundry while they are watching a video.

11:00 am They have free time to do whatever they would like (this amount of time depends on how long things took us.)

In this "free time" I work on client orders and make lunch

12:00 pm LUNCH

12:30 pm reading. They each get to read their book with me and do the sight word cards as well as the sight word board. (The books and the sight word changes every three days)

1:00 pm "Online learning" They each get a turn using the learning app on my phone called Khan Kids. They each have a profile and play what I consider one round. One round is playing until they get a prize.

1:30 PM They have until snack to free play. I sweep, clean up and work on client orders.

2:00 pm snack. I start dinner at this point.

15minutes outside.

Then they have until dinner to free play.

4:30 pm Dinner

5:30 pm walk dogs

6:30 pm start baths. When I start baths I get out the painting I have been working on and work on it while each child gets to play in the tub for 10mins.

7:15 pm snack, stories, teeth and bed.

At about 8:45 pm everyone is asleep, which means I get to work on client orders, cleaning, folding laundry and getting everything ready for the next day's schooling.

Here are links to the videos and activities that we did.

Colouring page 

 

Videos we watched:

Video 1

Video 2



I "borrowed" this image from here. Because I am the horrible mom that forgot to take pictures of their Halo activities that week. OOPS

I scream, you scream Jan 2021

 

 Week 3 is B's week to pick what he wanted to learn about. He decided on ice cream. I figured for this one it would be fun at the end of the week to get a few small containers of cool flavoured ice cream and do a taste testing!

I remembered as soon as he came up with the idea that there are a few "How it's made" videos about ice cream and ice cream treats! I don't even know if it is still on the air. Anyone else remembers that show?

Our schedule for the week:

The kids get up really freaking early EVERY day. B knows to snuggle or quietly do something. The girls, on the other hand, I swear start bickering the moment they step out of bed at 5:30 am. If I am lucky they sleep until 6:00 am.

I am the world's meanest mom and will not make breakfast until 8 am. Pretty much you want to be up that freaking early find something quiet to do. Growing up, I would dare not wake anyone else up that early.

Breakfast at 8. Get dressed. I clean up from breakfast.

School starts after that. With either worksheets or workbooks. I alternate each day so they do not get bored with doing the same thing every day.

15-minute break.

Now is journals, art, or science which are alternated days as well.

15 minute outside break while I make the snack.

10:00 am (could be a few minutes later depending on how long the last activity took) Snack

Learning video, game or activity based on that week's theme ICE CREAM!!!

15-minute break.

Reading. Each child gets to read with me individually. This may or make not take place after lunch depending on how long the morning activities have taken.

Lunch

After lunch is me spent working, starting supper or finishing up our morning activities. If they have finished everything from the morning then they are free to play or do whatever they would like.

2:00 pm snack

15 minutes outside break.

Work, finish dinner, clean up.

Dinner

Walk the dogs

Baths, snacks, stories, teeth and bed

Then I work on anything I need to prep for school the following day, work on client orders and tidy.

When the kids are on their breaks I am either making food, answering clients, working on things I can in a short period of time or tidying. If it is a day they watch a video for part of their learning I fold a basket of laundry in the living room while they watch it.

Even with all that, my house is still never clean enough and the kids still complain they are bored in their "free time".

Our schedule stays the same 7 days a week 365 days a year. It helps C to emotionally regulate if we stay on a known schedule.

These are the video's we watched:
Video 1
Video 2
Video 3

These are some of the ice cream activities we did. 
Activity 1
Activity 2

On the last day, we did an ice cream tasting because who can have an ice cream week without that.


Goal: Make your dream ice cream snack

Virtual Learning...Sigh

 I have recently become annoyed with the term that all parents are using right now "Homeschool".

Pretty much everyone in Ontario is back to virtual learning. This means they log their children into a website each day where they watch their teacher teach the class.

That my friends is NOT homeschooling, this is virtual learning.

This might come as a surprise but homeschoolers do not log their children onto a website and have their children watch their teacher teach a class. Unless your children are attending an online high school where they have to attend some lectures online.

Homeschoolers plan, prep, and teach their children the lessons. They spend hundreds of hours a month getting things ready for their children's learning.

I know it may seem like I am being overly sensitive about something that really doesn't matter in the grand scheme of things.

For me, the issue is that there is so much more to homeschooling children than logging them into a website.

Yes, it is hard right now for parents who are not used to having their children home suddenly having them home all day again. I 100% sympathize that it is a lot of work to have them home all day long, but it's still not homeschooling when someone else is doing the prep and teaching.

Deciding to homeschool was the best decision I could have ever made for my son and the girls in our care.

The girls have come leaps and bounds with their skills and learning and my son rocks being homeschooled where in a classroom he would regress from all of his senses being overwhelmed.

Homeschool isn't for everyone and it isn't for every child either. Virtual learning which is what schools in Ontario are doing right now isn't great. They apparently haven't had enough time to perfect it over the past 10 months, but it is what it is and most families are making due.

Being in a lockdown and stuck in the house while trying to navigate a broken system isn't fun for anyone at all and honestly, I would think doing workbooks and print out pages and other learning activities at home until school is allowed back in might be the better way to go for those who are really struggling with it.

Will it screw your kid up not doing the virtual learning while in the lockdown? NO!! I know lots of parents who "unschool" their children as their choice of homeschooling and they go onto lead full, productive and educated lives. "unschooling" means that there are math books, English books etc (unless the child wants them). They learn through real life experiences and all the things around them.

Our brains are built to learn and grow and adapt to the ever-changing world.

Will they be behind everyone else? Nope.

The school system is broken to start with and most children are "behind" because they don't teach in a way that each child can learn, they teach in one way only and for those who learn it great and for those who don't they are pretty much on their own.
Maybe them being home will show you where they actually are, where they need improvement and maybe you can figure out what works best for their learning styles.

Don't force your children. If they are fighting logging in to virtual learning, maybe talk to them about it. Ask them questions without judgement and listen with an open mind and heart.

We all want our children to succeed but forcing them isn't going to do that.

I wish all the families doing virtual learning the best of luck and all the patience in the world. We are in a high-stress situation and our kids are too!