The following story is from the home of Hannah (Mrs. Nelson’s class) and Robby (Mrs. Blinzinger’s class) and tells us what is working for them during this home education time. (Thank you Chelsea (Mom) for putting this together for us!)

First of all my kids have such LOVING and awesome teachers that it has really made this at-home learning doable. They miss their teachers and miss their classmates but this has really helped. Both teachers connect with the class via zoom every day or every other day, which has been great. Both are really good at communicating and considering the amount of work they are giving as well. Both teachers have made lists of required and optional tasks for each day/week. For us it hasn’t been too much because I think the teachers understand this time is just weird for the kids and hard for the parents and they are so understanding. It’s been really helpful.

Because this time is already a big change for them, I’m trying to make the most of it in other ways and for us that means not sticking to a schedule. They get extra sleep and they get flexibility in doing their school work as long as it gets done. They have their dad home all day every day, instead of traveling M-Th so we are taking advantage of that by making family time our biggest priority. I also am not usually willing to break up their playtime with each other or bring them in from playing outside unless they haven’t done much work and it’s getting to be later in the afternoon. Having said that, We have gotten into a natural “routine” and our day usually looks like this: They get up and start on school stuff on their own. They are freshest in the morning and they get a lot more done first thing. The days we wait til mid afternoon or afternoon, they don’t get their work done as quickly. I always make them take a break after doing some work mid morning- sometimes a break after each task. Sometimes that break lasts through lunch and beyond, but usually they come back and finish most of it just after lunch. Sometimes we end up doing something and they don’t finish until bedtime. The most important thing for us during our school work is that they are getting good breaks and not spending too much time at the computer, that they get plenty of playtime and time to read or relax, and that they aren’t feeling overwhelmed by their work. I’ve seen lots of strict schedules floating around but for us the flexibility seems to be helping them adapt to this change. I think for us a schedule like that would make it so they aren’t able to find as many positives from this hard situation where they’re separated from friends and everything that they were doing before. Luckily, the lack of pressure from home and school has made them naturally want to get up and get going so they can get all of their work done and learn.

The picture at the top is of the kids doing an Art For Kids Hub lesson- this is one of the favorite assignments that Robby’s teacher gives each week.

Great Work Hannah & Robby (and Mom)!  Keep up the GREAT WORK everyone!