Coronavirus Homeschooling: Here’s Our Plan
We have one more week of Spring Break, and then it is unclear what will happen with school. Our school tries to follow the lead of the Austin Independent School District whenever possible. I hope they do pause school to help slow down the transmission of the virus. This article explains how it helps. In case they do close school, I want to have a plan for coronavirus homeschooling and a plan for our days together.
Before I jump into the nitty gritty details, I want to stay at a high level. What are my goals for coronavirus homeschooling and what do we want to be true about our schedule?
Coronavirus Homeschooling Vision
- I don’t want my children to fall below grade level in reading, math, or spelling. I care about other important subjects (like science and social studies), but I am most worried about grade level expectations in the key content areas.
- My hope is that we don’t start to feel claustrophobic.
- I want us to get daily exercise and exposure to sunshine.
- I don’t want screen time to take over my children’s lives.
- It’s imperative that I have enough time to be able to get my work done (I’ll still be working full time).
- I want Matt to be able to take care of his needs so he doesn’t devolve into complete crankiness. His primary need is to run at least five times per week.
With all of those considerations in mind, here’s what I’m thinking for a tentative schedule:
- 6:45am-7:45am = Playing
- 7:45am-8am = Breakfast
- 8am-10am = Homeschool
- 10am-12pm = Choice screen time
- 12:00-12:15pm = Lunch
- 12:15-2:15pm = Outdoor activity (away from people): hiking down in our creek, playing tennis, riding bikes along the Eastside trail, riding bikes at the lake, finding dinosaur tracks, hunting for fossils, etc.
- 2:15-3:00pm = Documentary time
- 3:00pm-5:00pm = Play time, online math game time (Prodigy), quiet time with audio books in separate rooms, if necessary
And here is our curricular plan for homeschool:
- Lexia for reading (20 minutes)
- Zearn for math (40 minutes)
- All About Spelling (20 minutes)
- Writing workshop (20 minutes)
- This book for history (with accompanying documentaries from Curiosity Stream)
- This book for science (with accompanying documentaries from Curiosity Stream)
For science and social studies, I will read ~1 page per day and then find a documentary that corresponds to what we talked about. We will alternate between science and social studies.
I think that’s a good, tentative plan for now! I’m sure we will make adjustments as we go along. I also need to make sure to build out the schedule collaboratively with my children. Henry, in particular, needs to feel like he has more control over his day. I’ll sit down with him and work through it together. (It still helps me to have a sense of what my thoughts are before going into a negotiation!)