Figuring it Out

I’ve been absent from this site for a few weeks, and mostly that is because I’ve been getting the hang of school! I think I’ve figured out what works for us and what does not.

My main struggle was figuring out what to do with Strawberry, now 20 months old, while Raisin and I do school subjects together. I tried doing school down in the play room so Strawberry could run and play unobstructed. This did not work because Raisin was too distracted by the playing and the toys! He’d whine about everything I asked him to do and not respond well. I don’t blame him:  seeing and hearing trains and cars all around him does not provide a good learning space.

We moved back upstairs to our school room. While Raisin does his math pages, I sit with Strawberry and direct her in an activity: drawing on the doodle pad, stickers, and so forth. Then, I try to distract her with a certain toy (rotating through them over the course of the week) so I can give Raisin direction.  He has some subjects he can do independently, and others we must wait until Strawberry goes down for a nap or definitely gets distracted by a book or toy. It is not easy but it works.

Mondays, Thursdays, and Fridays are days like this. We try to finish long before lunch so we can go to the library for a break. Other times we eat and then go to the library. On Tuesdays, we school in the morning, and then after lunch, we have a park district homeschool P.E. class (swim and gym). We return at dinner time. Wednesdays we leave by 9 a.m. to go to co-op. We won’t return until mid-afternoon.

On Fridays, I’ve been trying to make sure we’re finished in enough time to have a fun time at the end of the day. Last week, we had Raisin’s birthday party with friends! It was a blast to pull it together (it had a train theme) and it was lots of fun to see the kids enjoying themselves so much.

And that’s a week! I’m still constantly revamping our curriculum choices…but more about that another time!

How does your homeschooling week typically look? How do you one-on-one teach with little ones underfoot?