Wow...I bet you didn't see that coming! The Bright side of Homeschooling! #Quarantinelife #homeschooling #homeschool2020

Wait!....What? This house arrest doesn't end this week? Did I hear someone say FIVE more weeks? I also heard someone say months... UK said something crazy like 12 - 18 months!  Dr. Fauci said expect this to be seasonal! How?? I made it one day short of a week before I went out Last Saturday. I had gloves and a mask but still...I still went into public to get a few things. I don't have kids at home that I need to entertain or homeschool so I am sure the blow is much harder on you parents who are doing this and reluctantly Homeschooling. I do understand that this is not the Flu...this is something other, much more contagious and much more dangerous. I, foolishly, read some nurse's account of how COVID-19 kills and this is NOT a virus I want to play Russian Roulette with telling myself it is alright to go out. I wish I had read the article first...I would have STAYED HOME!!

So...what if we are in this for the long haul. What if you are NOW a homeschooling Parent for the rest of the year?!!?

THE BRIGHTSIDE OF HOMESCHOOLING!

        Well, that changes everything!!  I homeschooled for 26 years, (age gaps) K-12, And I will tell you the bright side. It means you get decide what to teach and when and how! I know the school system wants you to do it their way but their way is the classroom way with a heck of a lot of seat work! Homeschooling is different from School at Home and a heck of a lot more fun for all.  I know there are many who are struggling with Core Math but if you are the homeschool Parent now...you can teach your kids the math we learned. And the benefit is that your children will actually understand it because it makes sense. Even the State of Florida has gotten smarter and abolished Core Math. 

You can decide to teach them subjects you were interested in! Parts of History you thought was great and teach it the way you want...through real books instead of text Books. Teach Chemistry, fractions through baking a cake...which also gives the kids life lessons. Teach Writing through having your kids write a story that they have creatively put together. As you read the story out loud you can show them why we use punctuation...like Periods to know when to stop. Capitals to signify the beginning of a sentence or a Proper Noun, commas...oh commas...so many reasons we need to use those when writing to get our ideas across correctly.

Homeschooling is Great when you have the freedom to do it your way. When the school gets to dictate the HOW, you are merely doing school at home as if your kids were in a classroom with 30 other kids. THAT is not homeschooling. Perks of homeschooling...is that you can usually, get done by lunch time if you start at their regular school time and the rest of the day is off. That is the carrot I always put in front of my kids to get the work done. "As soon as you are done...you can go outside and play, or video game or whatever is their favorite thing" And then YOU are done also. 

Why? Because you don't have to create busy work for the kids that "got it" while they wait for the rest of the class to catch up. Once your kid understands the concept or formula, you merely have to review to keep it fresh. The other good thing about that is that if your kid is an Ace at reading or Science or Math...you don't have to keep them at the same speed as 20+ other kids...he can fly through the subject as fast as he wants and if there is a subject that he gets lost in and tends to fall behind in school, you can spend that extra time to make sure he understands before moving on. In a classroom a lot of kids get lost because they don't understand, they don't ask questions, because they are kids and raising your hand to admit that is embarrassing, so they struggle alone.  The teacher also has time constraints, They need to move on to get through the book by the end of the year...THAT is NOT your problem when you homeschool. 

Once you understand that NOW you are in control instead of the school system you and your kids will flourish!

You can bring back subjects that the school didn't want to pay to have taught anymore! Art was once a week, as was music! Art was anything from painting, block printing to collages to Macrame'. Music we learned the notes on the scale and what all the littles signings were...we learned how to read music!!! And we sang. I remember a song I learned in 2nd grade about coffee to this day. 
🎵 C-O-F-F-E-E coffee is not for me 🎵 Actually I drink it every morning but moving on.
We learned history of Art and music...names of famous Artists, Famous Paintings and their styles. We learned about Composers and their music. The internet is such a valuable tool for ideas and to hear music, there are virtual walk throughs of famous museums right now for Art. We learned about the Orchestra and the different sections by watching Tuby the Tuba!  I actually found the one we watched on YouTube Watch Below...so great!

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Once a week...after lunch...in middle school. We took a bus to another school and the girls went to Home Ec and the boys to Shop. 

You can of course, cross the gender lines today that were solidly there in the 1960's. But we learned to cook, sew, knit and crochet. The boys learned how to work with wood, repair things or car repair like oil changes how to check oil etc. This is so sadly not there anymore. But you can bring it back to YOUR homeschool. You can teach your high school students how to type, lots of free online instruction and invaluable going to college. College kids actually make extra money by charging other students to type out their term papers. Teach your high schoolers how to handle money. Do Banking, how to write out a check (yes every once in awhile you need to do that) Show them how much they actually pay for something when taking out a loan with interest etc.

Everything is on your time schedule...no longer having to wake up and rush to get kids ready...eat breakfast, making sure they have all their paperwork, whether homework or notes that needed be signed or permission slips etc. Another perk is once school is done it is done. No homework to wrestle them to do. 

It really isn't that bad at all...and you can make it fun and it will be a wonderful memory for the kids and you. I promise. Just laugh at all the mistakes you make as you try to get into a schedule and learn how to do this...let the kids laugh with you too. 

Pretty soon kids will be back at school and learning the way they are required to and you will again have a long separation every day from the kids,  but this little break from that will show them that learning can be fun, interesting and make them want to actually learn more. And you will know your kids on a different level than before, and they will know you better too...it just happens when you are all together a lot. It isn't a bad thing. You are going to look back at this time with your kids and they will too, as one of the best times in your lives.. 

You Can use their curriculum...but add some fun stuff instead of the tedium of the books...or not. Do what will make you and your kids happy in this very crazy time we live in right now!

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Be Safe!