CHM122:Homeschooling During COVID

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Despite homeschooling during COVID, families, we can be encouraged that all will be okay! In this podcast, I share encouragement and practical tips to help you through this trying time we are going through. These are tips I’ve been using the past few weeks to help create structure and order out of chaos.

Table of Contents

This month’s sponsor–The Homeschool Boss Mama Goal Planner

If you’ve asked yourself any of the following questions, then this course is for you:

Why and how exactly do I plan my homeschool this year?
How do I choose curriculum with all the choices available?
How do I decide on a homeschool philosophy that works for my family?
How do I make homeschooling a lifestyle that is a perfect fit for my family so that everyone is happy?

Now, let’s talk about this week’s topic: homeschooling during COVID.

Create Structure

If your kids had co-ops before (which is now off the radar), you may want to try online classes. I personally like Outschool and not just because I teach there, but my daughter loves taking classes on this platform. Last week she took a class about Saint Patrick’s Day and she has taken several art classes online.

Try to keep a sense of a school routine going, but include lots of flexibility for free time and pleasure also. It’s what you would normally do as a homeschool family, but if you are new to the homeschooling scene you might be tempted to replicate school at home. (If you are a school parent listening to this, you’ll need to fulfill your requirements for your school and find a way to make it work at home, and you can most definitely do it.)

But there is no doubt that the flexibility a homeschool environment brings without outside school pressure allows room to be creative and free in your school day- so if you’ve been thinking about homeschooling for the months to come…this might be your time to truly consider what homeschooling might mean for you in the future.

Give yourself breathing room

This simply means take breaks. Go do what makes you happy and let your children have some free time of their own. Don’t be so concerned with getting 10 lessons per day or covering five subjects in one day. Focus on the basics and necessities and allow yourselves room to enjoy life.

You deserve a break.

Keep in touch with your community

Again, connect with other students and friends via Zoom and Hangouts. It is important during this time to become an even more interconnected people as we reach out to support each other.

Call to check in with friends. Don’t forget to stay connected.

Free activities while homeschooling during COVID

Go to the park
Take a walk in the neighborhood/ walk your dog
Create fun activity zones and centers at home. For littles, you can do some of the following: create an art center, provide sensory bins (polymer clay, sand buckets, water play), cooking, crafts, building with legos, story center, music corner. For older kids create a routine that allows for time for the arts, building, crafts, cooking, creating, listening to and creating music, exploring science, as well as entertainment that they love so much (gaming, movies).
Play family games. Break out board games. We like to play Life and Monopoly on my husband’s iPad by screen-casting it to our big screen.
Have family movie nights.
Cook together.
Exercise.
Connect with other homeschoolers on Zoom or Hangouts.
Read books together aloud. Listen to audiobooks. Listen to podcasts.

Suggested podcasts & apps while homeschooling during COVID

List of 25 best podcasts for kids

Among some of these are:

YouTube app for kids -Arts and crafts, toys and play, learning and hobbies, shows and cartoons with stronger filtering.

Listenwise- Podcast lessons from the best non-fiction storytellers.

Right Now Media

Ebooks

Ebook Reader Services:

Overdrive
Global Digital Library
Kanopy
Hoopla
RBDigital
Libby
Beanstack
Axis360
Loyal Books

Storyweaver -has more than 19,000 storybooks in 230 languages which you can read online, on your phone, download or print PDFs, all for free.

AfricaStoryBook.org– Open access to picture storybooks in the languages of Africa.

Educational Resources:

PBSLearningMedia.org- direct access to thousands of classroom-ready, curriculum-targeted digital resources. Includes videos and interactives, as well as audio, documents, and in-depth lesson plans

Readworks.org – FREE content, curriculum, and tools to power teaching and learning from Kindergarten to 12th Grade

For children’s literacy, enjoyment and imagination.

DigitalLibrary.io– The GDL will collect existing high-quality open educational reading resources, and make them available on web, mobile and for print. … The GDL’s initial purpose is to support access to high quality early-grade reading resources.

ReadTheory.org – a powerful educational tool that offers online reading activities for all ages and ability levels. The custom web application adapts to students’ individual ability levels and presents them with thousands of skill building exercises that suit their needs.

Brainpop.com– BrainPOP is an essential engagement tool that allows both students and teachers to be involved in the learning process and the variety of supporting material (concept map tool, activity sheets, quizzes, and even GameUp) provide students with additional ways to connect to the concept.