Don't feel the pressure

Hi all! I hope you made it through this second week. I at least hope some of you did. I thought about posting on here, but I was focused on getting into a good rhythm with the family.

We start each learning day around 9 a.m. We follow the schedule and not putting times on things has proven to be helpful because while my 2nd grader might need 30 minutes on Math, my 5th grader might need 1.5 hours. As we take an hour break for lunch and PE, we finish up the "school day" around 2 p.m.

But here is what I cannot stress enough---- please don't worry about getting everything accomplished that the teacher has sent home! A regular school day looks different than a COVID day and I shared that with my child's teacher. I also suggested that Friday she doesn't assign anything so that that day can be our catch up day and she loved the idea.

There is education in everything you do as a family: cooking, taking walks, playing board games. But the learning that takes place is new for everyone. Please give teachers a moment to figure out what that looks like but be in contact with them. I found this website site that talked about what continuous learning should look like.

As an educator myself, I didn't do every assignment given to my children daily and I didn't feel bad about it. We are about 3 days behind and I am ok with that. It will get accomplished. We are learning.

Preparation for school at home

Tomorrow will begin the first official day of school at home for many around the country. I know the key to a successful day is preparation and setting expectations. A few things I am aware of:
1. Many students won't have a parent at home
2. If the parent is at home, they will have to try and work from home.

I fall in both categories. Right now, as an administrator, I have to report to work to try and figure out how I am going to help families in my District get in some Distance Learning. Our State announced the school closures on Friday at 4 p.m., so it left us scrambling a bit.

Here is how I am setting up our Homes School. We had a homework station that looked like this and with a checklist for them to get through. It helped me get dinner ready and created some independence:

But let's be honest, I will not come home to a neat house if they are in my living room. So I moved them to the unfinished basement. And our set up and schedule is ready to go! I didn't assign times to the activities because some might take more than others (we hope) and let's be realistic, school at home will NOT be able to hold to the rigorous schedule that a real school has (unless you have been in the real, real Home Schooling business).  I also did an important thing: I included the kids in what they want to be in charge of so it is not left to me. If they feel ownership of leading the others with activities, they will stay engaged longer and take it more serious. 

Welcome to Lovely Day Academy!!