Well, that was a lesson in humility and I don’t even know what else …
After my first full week of homeschooling my kids (Wednesday through Sunday), I’m realizing it may have been an exercise in self reflection and recognition. I think I may have to categorize myself as a Type A personality lady with a penchant for lazy DGAF-edness. Now that I’ve got that settled, I think next week will go more smoothly.
Backing up a bit for those who don’t know my situation – I’m a single working mother (working part time overnight outside the home and part time at home) with 50% custody of my two daughers. They are in first and sixth grade. Because of COVID and not really thinking that either of the two options provided (full time in-school or full time remote) will work for us, their dad and I agreed to un-enroll them from school this year and go full-on homeschool. Not gon’ lie – when I thought ‘homeschool’ in the past, my head danced with pictures of churning butter and darning socks. After a week, I’m thinking it’s more sibling rivalry regulation and spontaneous alcoholism. My hope is that it ends up being something in between.
I made the mistake of starting “school” on their first day back to me, after I had worked until 7:30 am and got literally two hours of sleep. Ended up being a delayed start that day. We ran anywhere from 1-2 hours behind until all three of us were over it. We got through roughly half the work I had planned. I didn’t anticipate the side projects of cleaning blue marker off my younger pupil’s lips or that my students would fight over which seat at the table we sit at for all meals and always sit in the same spot would be their’s for learning. My favorite part was the outdoor escape room-esque field trip that afternoon. Super nerd mom loved the brain work, the kids were interested for about half of it – until we ended up at the park for some clues and they opted to throw themselves a spontaneous phys ed class. Whatever, decided to just roll with it at this point. The day didn’t go entirely as planned, but could have gone worse.
Day Two (Thursday) was relatively uneventful. The kids requested pancakes for breakfast so I got up before they did and prepared the batter, got their books set out on the table (luckily for our half day yesterday, lessons were already planned), made my bed & my coffee and got myself dressed. I’m hoping the routine of getting up at a certain time, completing a simple task (making bed) and putting on clean clothes will help us mentally prepare for a productive day. Before any learning could be done, both girls took a trip to the dentist. The tried to hide in the trees while I was talking to the hygienist. Ultimately, we all need to floss better, I’ll call that a health lesson. That’s our takeaway for today, moving on …
Day Three (Friday). I’m starting to iron out little issues. I decided to plan “Free Time” for each child into the schedule so that I could focus on answering questions the other one had and avoid the incessant wails of “maaaaaa!” for three straight hours. It seemed to help a bit. I conducted my first spelling test for Grade 1 – A+ “nailed it!” It was September 11, so I had a quick chat with the girls about how to battle hatred and show love. Highlight of the day had to be Ria’s social studies lesson on “Changing Roles & Responsibilities.” Since she is just learning to read and write, it was mostly a discussion, but basically she had to tell me about a change that occurred in her life that prompted a change in her responsibilities. In the back of my mind, I’m thinking – my parents separating, moving to a new house, being homeschooled because of COVID, etc. Nah, she blurts out “getting my period” and then starts rattling off the new responsibilities she will have at that juncture. I’m glad she’s prepared and she clearly understands the lesson, but . . . I suggested that she choose something that has already happened, she settled on “my hair growing.” Not exactly the life altering change I was thinking, but she explains how she has to brush it more and wash and use conditioner in it, which she now does on her own. Gotta say, kinda digging her outside the box thinking.
I snuck in a lesson or two during the weekend. Calling it “life skills,” I had the kids find a recipe, write it out and make a grocery list, accompany me while I shop and then cook with limited help. They chose Turkey Pesto Meatballs. Shopping trip turned into a punch me in the face reminder of how it’s been so fabulous to hit the grocery store by myself during COVID. Jules pushed the cart while Ria rode on the front for a Tokyo Drift through the aisles. I don’t understand how relatively well-behaved kids in the parking lot become loud and fast stunt shopping cart drivers when they see the not-so-open laneways in front of them. Girls – it’s Saturday, not like there’s nobody else here! Their recipe execution was admirable. Dinner was delightful. We have to work on the cleanup, perhaps that’s next week’s lesson.
We are all still pals and there were no nervous breakdowns. A successful first week!
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