Impromptu Homeschooling: getting crafty amidst crisis

My son’s daycare is still open. In these times, under these circumstances — he’s not going.

In the thoughtful practice of self-distancing and quarantine, we have to get even craftier, scrappier, and more imaginative in our habits and in how we parent / teach our little humans.

I have the privilege of staying home, staying employed (blessings up for my boss/my job) and homeschooling my son. We’ve just begun this homeschooling journey this week, but I’m determined to find a rhythm in our current situation and make it fun!

For those who are stressed out at the thought of being locked in your houses with little outside interaction, or are panicked at the idea of being at home with your children without a fun educational plan… I want to share the very rough guide to homeschooling I’ve put together and am attempting/adapting over the next several weeks.

Take what serves you. Leave what doesn’t.

Morning Routine (pre school time) — For me, it’s important to keep some semblance of normalcy for him so we are sticking to our normal wake up/bedtime routines, and I’m scheduling in some things we both need (daily yoga/exercise/meditation/prayer and dance)
- Wake up and share a gratitude (another day is never promised)
- Sing our good morning song
- Bathroom (hoping my kid will be convinced to leave pull ups behind post-‘rona)
- Read a book in bed
- Morning yoga, exercise, meditation + prayer
- Eat breakfast
- Brush teeth, wash face, get dressed in fresh comfortable clothes, brush hair
- Dance Break (our family likes to dance daily so I built in a few actual dance/music breaks)

In the Woods | Nature Adventure
Bring a backpack, notebook, pen/pencil to document, build glossary of nature terms / words learned on the adventure
Each day, we will explore a new way of seeing / being in nature:
- Hike to a new place
- Art with nature - collect things found in nature to use in afternoon art projects
- Color / shape search - look for different colors and shapes in nature to use in afternoon art projects
- Language in nature - name things we find (learn the words in Spanish and Vietnamese)
- Photo walk
Lunch - I’ve recently gotten into playing Jazz/Brazilian music with meals. Test it out.
Lo Básico
- Numbers (English, Spanish, Vietnamese) - we are only up to 20 in all languages. Hoping to get to 50 by the time ‘Rona is over
- ABCs (English / Spanish) - spelling out words he’s excited about — mainly superheroes, animals and musicians names
- Days of the Week / Months of the year
The Quiet Storm - we both read a story on our own and then read one together
Dance break #2 / Jam session - Again, we love music so we have a ton of instruments and jam out for awhile. Right now my son is addicted to Post Malone ‘Circles’, Carlos Vives ‘Robarte un beso’ and ‘Gota Fria’, and “La Llorona” and “Remember Me” from the movie Coco.

N-A-P (I love you, now please GTFTS, son. Hope for 2 hours, but take what I can get with a 3 year old)
Self-care / Get ish done - I try to knock out a bunch of work emails, shower AND take a quick nap during his rest time because how in the world are we supposed to keep up with these little people without a bit of rest!?? This is an emotionally stressful time so we need self care, too! Yes, even in the middle of the work day!
Grumpy human wakes up / Snack time
Freestyle Storytime - My son loves when I make up “Once Upon a Time” stories — so this allows for one during the day

Art / building station - We are incorporating the words we’ve learned on our nature adventure in art projects and building cars, rockets, and castles with magna tiles. I made up some themes:
- Paper airplanes
- Everyday things (art with random things we find at home)
- Upcycled things (taking our recycling bin and storage closet to new heights!)
- Graffiti for inspiration - (basically the works 3 year olds do) with watercolors, acrylics, markers (going for board, easel, canvas art — more likely to find wall art though)
- For the Culture - (art inspired by other cultures) make mudcloth print, paper plate masks inspired by different cultures, clay/play doh spirit animals, origami (talk about and celebrate the countries / cultures that created these beautiful traditions and art)
Outside time (in nature, away from all other people that don’t live in our house) We are lucky to have a lot of green space where we live so we are using this homeschooling time to go for long walks, learn to ride a bike, perfect our unique soccer celebrations, and get our arms ready to play ultimate frisbee

After this — we are back to regularly scheduled programming — being superheroes, playing music, dinner, bath time, PBS Kids — shout out to Wild Kratts and Xavier Riddle and the Secret Museum and MORE books!

Working During ‘Rona:
I’ll share what I do to make sure work is done and my son feels heard, seen and connected with me during the day. Although it’s not ideal, my trick is to go to sleep at my son’s bedtime and wake up early to get all of my work done while he sleeps. The days your work load is light or when you just know you need it — allow yourself some Netflix (and chill if you have a partner to do that sort of thing), books, a bath, reading, journaling, etc. it will save you during the day when you’re back into homeschooling / homemaking / stop-the-child-from-destroying-the-house mode.

A “Real” Homeschool Resource:
A friend of mine that homeschools her three children uses Wild + Free as a resource. For those of you who want to hunker down, get outside of the current rat race that is the current state of K-12 Ed and have the funds to pay for some new tools / resources for learning / teaching — check them out.

++ A love note from me to all of you:
Moms, Dads, Grandmas, Grandpas, Uncles, Aunties, Foster Parents, etc. — YOU’VE GOT THIS!
You are doing the best you can with the cards you’ve been dealt and that is enough! Breathe deeply, have patience with yourselves and your little humans, and remember that at the end of the day, children just mostly care that you love them and show up for them!

Keep trying, keep caring, and keep breathing!

I hope this helps!