At-Home School Ramp Up
95% of my thoughts lately have been about school and the education of our kids. If I am being honest, this has been at the forefront of my mind since last March as I know it has been for many families. We are very fortunate to have options this fall where many families do not. However, because we have options doesn’t mean that we haven’t agonized over them and will probably continue to do so for foreseeable future. These decisions are just hard for everyone involved and there are no easy answers.
In the spring we had two school aged children but now in the fall we have three which makes everything just a bit more stressful. It became very clear during e-learning in the spring that one of our kids were able to adapt better than the other and neither of them wanted their parents to be their teachers. As the school year starts next week we are going to send our kids to in-person school, for now ( I feel that most every decision sounds better with this after it because I know everything could change). We are bringing greater risk into our lives (which is scary) but have worked so hard to be cautious to get to this end point. Two of them will be in-person for a couple of hours every day while our oldest will be following a hybrid model of two days in-person and three days virtually. I am so grateful for our school and the community around it that has spent countless hours developing procedures to keep the staff and students safe. It’s going to be an adjustment but we are up for the challenge.
Despite all of our gratefulness there is still a lot of anxiety and a loss of a sense of control that washes over us daily about this decision. If you’re new here organizing and planning is often how I attempt to regain that sense of control. I know it’s really a false sense of control but it still makes me feel better! So with that being said, I am trying to mentally prepare myself for a time when all of our kids are back at home e-learning. Living in the Midwest with colder temps and a looming flu season I fully expect this to happen so I have been collecting loads of supplies (especially for our pre-schooler) to help prepare us for a time when the Wilson School for Wayward Children is fully back in session. Back in March I shared our Homeschool Cart so the new tools will be able to complement what we already had in the home. Read on for my TAKE on ramping up your school supplies at home!
Pre K + Kindergarten
1st Grade and Up
During the past six months there have also been a lot of great ideas shared across Instagram and my favorite accounts for ideas and encouragement are as follows: Days with Grey, ETST, The Workspace for Children, Busy Toddler and Jordan and Co. I love the idea of learning through creativity so aside from some flashcards that’s what we will be attempting to focus on this year. If you have found something that works well for your family, please share I’m always looking for new ideas!
Best of luck to all of you on this school year and stay healthy!
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