Our Quarantine Homeschool Process

Like pretty much every other parent of school aged children in the world right now, we are homeschooling.  I have a deep affection for homeschooling since I was myself for 5 years and I LOVED it.  When I was sent back to private school for 6th grade (a rough year to reenter school, for sure), I remember repeatedly asking my Mom if she could homeschool me again (and she did for 7th and 8th although my constant asking wasn't her reason).  I really think deciding to homeschool (most of us, my youngest sister was only homeschooled for preschool) was one of the best parenting choices my parents ever made (key word there: choice, most of us currently homeschooling didn't have a choice).





There were a lot of things about homeschooling that appealed to me when Luke started to get close to school age, mainly the schedule.  I really resisted having to follow a school schedule, which was a key factor in deciding not to send him to preschool.  When I was homeschooled, if we focused and did well on our work we could usually be done by lunch (we also started earlier than I ever start with Luke now).  We could then spend the afternoon playing Legos or Playmobil or outside.  It was wonderful.  And probably my few years of elementary following a normal school schedule made me more resistant to it when Luke was younger.

I did do some preschool work with him which went so-so until we got Sam (every time I link to that post I end up rereading it and I cry EVERY TIME.  I didn't even cry when I lived it!) in March of that school year and then school went out the window for a good month.  But by that point in the year I had also figured out that homeschooling wasn't for me.  My Mom has a Masters in Education, taught in private school for a total of 15 years and was good at it.  I have a business degree and did not inherit any of her teaching skills.

He got through 1¾ school years before we were back to homeschooling.  He went to school on Friday, March 13th.  Starting Monday, March 16th we did homeschool 5 days a week for two weeks.  I don't know of any other schools that started immediately and as intense.  Those two weeks were VERY hard.  Especially with so many unknowns and Matt being at the hospital, it was a ROUGH time.

I try to get the balloons in so many pictures.  They make even quarantine homeschool so much more festive.

Then we had a week off for our regular spring break and then started back at only 3 days a week (and only two days a week for the first two weeks after spring break because we had Good Friday and Easter Monday off as scheduled).  FOUR days of homeschooling in 3 weeks (including spring break) after 5 days a week the two week before, it was like a mini vacation, except we barely left the house.

We've done a total of 23 homeschool days (by my best count) and finish up next week.  It took some trial and error (a lot of error) but we finally figured out a decent routine that works for us.  For now.  In the current state of the world.  I'm writing about this because I, for one, appreciate seeing how others handle this.  Secondly, in case traditional school can't resume in the fall, I want to document our process so I have a starting point for picking this up again in August!

First, I only have one student so all the Ts & Ps (thoughts and prayers) to all the parents out there with multiple students to teach.  Although, hypothetically, older kids are more independent?  I do have a 2 year old though who, especially those first weeks, did NOT like losing attention so I could help Luke.  So, only one student but two kids that require a decent amount of hands on attention during our school time.

Second, Matt's been on a 4-10s schedule since the beginning of March which means he gets one weekday off every week but works longer days when he does go in.  That one day off has been a lifesaver for my sanity and for my attempts at doing my (few hours) job every week.

ALSO, my lovely retired teacher of a Mother has been doing Facetime lessons with Luke almost every day we do school since the beginning.  I e-mail her worksheets, she pulls them up on her mini iPad and then talks to Luke over her phone.  Sometimes she texts me supplies (colored pencils, flashcards, etc.) he'll need for her lessons.  Sometimes she uses a white board.  Obviously my Mom is a MUCH better teacher than me because I do zero planning besides reading the instructions on worksheets.  There is a reason she did this for her job for so many years.  She has taught Luke almost all his phonics and some of his reading this whole time.

Luke is supposed to do 3 days of school a week.  His teacher sends some videos but none of it is over Zoom or anything like that.  All of his work is done on paper and we've had 2 turn-in days with one more coming to turn in finished work and pick up more worksheets and such.  His teacher labels her lessons for Monday, Wednesday and Friday.  He also has things for all 4 specials (music, PE, computers, and art).

Our current schedule is to do regular school Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday and then work on specials on Wednesday.  We aim to get it all done before lunch but that rarely happens (his getting screen time during Sam's nap is largely tied to how school went in the morning, this is hugely motivating for him).  Pretty much every regular school day (not specials), he does Facetime school with Grandma for 30-40 minutes.

I keep all his school books, both finished work and not finished work, in a white basket from my craft storage.   Figuring out a home for all this took me a long time but has been really helpful once I did.  I usually pull the basket out on Monday mornings and leave it out until we're done with school on Thursday, then I get to put it away for the long weekend.

There are paper copies of his lessons plans so, every morning, I go down the list for the day we are doing and pull out every worksheet, reader, flashcard, etc. that we'll be using.  I lay them all out on the table so it's obvious what still needs to be done.  This makes it easier for me to see and easier for Luke to pick what he wants to work on next.

We keep a folder for all his finished work that we will eventually return to his teacher.  At the end of the week I double check all his finished work against the lesson plan again, to make sure we got it all, and then paperclip that week's work and label it with his name and the week of lessons it covers (we also put his name, his teacher's name, and the date on every piece of paper).

I have another folder that we got at a pick-up with new worksheets from his teachers on one side (she stapled each week's lessons together) and papers for the specials on the other.  This makes it easy to find what we need to work on when I'm pulling papers each morning.

Order we work through school depends on moods and my Mom's availability (she's also helping some of Luke's cousins over Facetime).  Luke and I both prefer to knock out some of the more challenging things first but spreading subjects out (I don't have him read two different things to me in a row).  I also keep a few things that he can do mostly on his own for him to work on while I make lunch or am putting Sam to bed.  Largely coloring or practicing math facts worksheets.  Sometimes we save reading to have him do with Matt in the evening, depends how the day is going.

It rarely goes smoothly all morning.  Sam is great at making messes while I work with Luke and he usually wants up at the table to see what's going on.  Since we got the date of our last day, I've been counting down the days until we're done.  Especially on nice days when I just want to let Luke play outside instead of corralling him inside for schoolwork.

If you had told me on March 13th that I'd be homeschooling him (with serious assists from my Mom, Matt, and obviously his teacher) the rest of the year, my brain may have exploded.  At that point, two weeks of homeschooling felt overwhelming.  The idea of doing this for 2 months would have felt like A LOT.  But, I am surprised at how much I've almost enjoyed it, at times (definitely not all the time).  I have a much better idea of where Luke is, academically.  I finally understand some of the worksheets that have been coming home all year.  It gave some structure to our days when, especially in the beginning, we didn't have any yet.  Sam has adjusted to not getting all the attention and the boys are playing together better now than ever before (Sam's growing up certainly helps too).  Have I been confounded by 1st grade math?  Yes.  Do I understand all his phonics?  Nope.  (And I have a college degree!).

This is really my ideal homeschool situation - someone else is doing the planning and the pressure to learn A LOT is really off.  We're all just doing the best we can right now.  This has been a weird period of life but someday, in the distant future, I think I'll mostly look back fondly on it (actually, not that distant, as our state-wide restrictions are starting to lift I'm already a little nostalgic for this time.  Have I mentioned I'm an introverted homebody?  You guys, I have had so much energy lately since I'm using very little of it to talk to people outside of my family!).  I certainly think it's brought the 4 of us closer.  It's brought my boys closer.  I get a break from being concerned about what Luke's been exposed to at school (WHHHY do I have to know about Mindcraft and Fortnite and Pokemon and a whole host of other things.  I miss the days where he pretty much only knew about the things we showed him).

I am very much looking forward to our summer break, to someday, hugging my parents again, to going to Mass AT church.  To going places like the zoo and inside the library and seeing people up close.  But we've survived almost 2 months of quarantined and I learned how to homeschool during a pandemic.  Not a skill I ever thought I'd need but now I have it!  Fingers crossed we don't have to use that one again past May!