As a country, parents everywhere who have never homeschooled are now doing so. This unprecedented move to close schools to limit exposure to the COVID-19 virus in our community is different from anything most of us have experienced. As a military family who has lived around the world, we have had a week or two of closures due to Typhoons or snow days, but this is a month off.
To mark and remember this period, the daily “lesson plan” will be posted here. Both for my accountability and remembrance but also in case someone else is interested. Let’s be a community that helps each other by staying home as much as possible and support each other virtually.
Day 1
8:00am – 9:00:am Color recognition: scouring magazines for items of the the red, yellow, blue and green variety, then using fine motor skills to cut and glue the items. The seven year old already has this skill, so it is really practice for the preschooler but it was useful.
These color books were purchased at Daiso in Okinawa, Japan 6 years ago and have been slowly getting filled with the coordinated color objects since that time.
9:00am-9:30am Exercise: Dancing to the music of Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker
Animal Science Field Trip #1: 9:30 am PST – LIVE virtual visit to San Diego Zoo (this was more like 9:40 – SEMPER GUMBY (always flexible). Before the visit, the kiddos thought about and asked questions (which I entered) on the SD Zoo Instagram platform for submission. This increased their excitement to watch because they wanted their questions answered! You can watch the video here.
Animal Science from Scholastic: Preschool reading and activities and 1st/2nd grade activities (Choose your grade level here) – These are not device free activities. The oldest did hers on the computer and the little did hers on the iPad so I could take bones out of the broth we made last night.
Lunch: Hubby picked up a chicken taco plate from Costco last week and the kiddos ate the rest of the tacos. While the kiddos ate, I deboned the turkey carcass that was boiling for broth/soup and started to prep the turkey soup for tonight.
Chores: The kiddos ran laundry up and down the stairs while I continued to fold. They made it a game which was unexpected, their attitude about time at home together is awesome.
Virtual Field Trip #2: 12:00 PST (3:00 local time to Cincinnati Zoo) – on Facebook again for a Home Safari at the Hippo Cave. Again, we were able to send in questions and hear answers. Both the preschooler and first grader were captivated by it. The video above will be available to watch on their Facebook and from their Facebook page they will have daily videos during their closure.
Creative Time: Bead Animals! From a clearance shopping trip at Michaels a year ago, I dug out these Bead Animals to make to go along with our animal themed day. We made the butterfly and dragonfly. The preschooler couldn’t get the beading down, but she did count out bead colors for me as I strung them along. The first grader did make hers, but with some help. This craft would probably be better suited for kids 10 and up, but it worked out well and we really had fun. It took us about 90 minutes to make these two creations. All the while listening to John Williams and the kids guessed which movie it was from.
Math: Using worksheets from school and from the preschool book, we did about 15 minutes of math. The first grader did a “math minute” for two minutes completing 30 addition problems since speed and fluency are skills we are working on.
TV Learning: Thank goodness for Disney Plus! because there are so many National Geographic documentaries available for streaming. Keeping up with our animal theme, the girls asked to watch a documentary on Sharks while I prepped dinner (adding he final touches to turkey soup) and did some cleaning.
We ended “school” around 4pm. Yay! We did out first school day, and everyone made it! And learned a little too! So grateful for so many free resources available currently as we all tackle this school at home thing together, most of us for the first time.
Now to introduce the kiddo to Star Wars: A New Hope, and create lesson plan day 2.
