So, your child’s school is closed and you find yourself unexpectedly homeschooling. He used to be up by 6:30, getting ready for school and staying late for extra-curricular activities, but now, he is now slowly getting up by 9:00 or 10:00 am, begging to play video games all day, and eating out of boredom. Let’s be honest…he is probably driving you crazy. If you have multiple children…you’re probably close to insanity by now!
Take heart, Mom! You can do this! For those of us who homeschool our children, this hasn’t really changed much—and maybe we can help you—because believe me! Even though this is our normal, our kids still drive us crazy some days too. I really do sympathize with what you are going through. Nevertheless, this has the potential to be one of the most meaningful times in your family’s shared life. Yes, let’s do that!
Take advantage of this time and utilize these resources to help you flourish in your new-found role as homeschooling parent!
But first things first, get your kids on a schedule! This is not the time to be catching up on sleep or watching extra television. There are far better things to be doing with this time! Get them up early and expect them to complete their chores and morning routine before 8:00 or 8:30 am—or really whatever time their public school classes begin. This will help them wrap their heads around the fact that they are still “doing school.” It’s just at home instead.
Then, if you’re looking for ways to supplement your child’s learning—because completing the work her teacher sent home may not take very long at all (Hello! This is why half of us are homeschooling in the first place!)—here are a few great resources to help!
Five Six Educational Resources to Help You with Homeschooling:
- Easy Peasy All-In-One-Homeschool—This is….drumroll please…COMPLETELY FREE! You can choose your child’s courses based on his or her needs. For example, my oldest son struggles with comprehension. He reads well, but does not comprehend well. This year, he has taken a course to help with that and he claims it really has helped. He also has gone from F’s on comprehension quizzes to B’s, so we’ll take that! It is the perfect homeschooling curriculum to compliment your child’s public-school education that is now happening at home.
- Teachers Pay Teachers—You can find a lesson about ANYTHING on this site and most of them are incredibly affordable, if not free. Allow your child to do some self-guided learning. What topic is she really interested in? Find a lesson on that topic and allow your child to complete a project based on what she learned.
- Goodtyping.com—This is another FREE resource to help your child learn to type properly. It’s a great program that my children have used for several years now.
- DuoLingo—Another free program dedicated to the foreign language learning of your choice. This is not the BEST foreign language program out there, but for the price, it’s a good place to start!
- LingoBus—Do you know that your child can have face-to-face, one-on-one classes with a native Chinese speaker? My son did this program for around a year and it gave him the foundation for tonal pronunciation of Chinese so he has been able to switch to a less expensive program. This program is not cheap—It’s around $20 per 25-minute lesson—but you can get a free trial class to see if you like it before paying. (They do run sales once in awhile too.)
- Books—If you’re like me, you probably have books that you have purchased for your children, but have been too busy to get them working on them. Now is the time! You can spend extra time reading as a family; kids can spend time reading independently; you can work through those “summer” workbooks that you thought your child would be eager to complete…and then wasn’t; or play games like “Math Facts Survivor.” Directions: write down how quickly your children can complete a time-test (younger kids can practice their addition/subtraction facts, while older kids can practice their multiplication/division facts). Write down their times each day. If your child gets faster, he stays in the competition. If he gets slower, he’s out of the competition, but still gets to do the test every day. You can make it as cutthroat as you wish—they could compete for a legit prize, or just bragging rights. To make it really fun, have your child compete against you and your spouse! (You might be surprised at how out of practice you are on your math facts!)
There are so many resources out there to support homeschooling! Many don’t cost a penny! Some cost very little. Schools closing doesn’t have to equal brains rotting. Remember how when your children were very young, you seized the day because you knew you were your child’s first teacher? It’s time to re-claim that! You can make this so good that your kids will dread going back to school! (For more ideas for activities to do while you’re home with your kids, check this out!)