Skip to main content

Hybrid Learning - Home Day 3

Wednesday Learning Challenges


Today was a bit of a mess. I didn't exactly plan for school work, other than L had his first Google Meet with his half of class. M's Wednesday work was one page of Math Facts (100 addition facts) and reading for at least 30 min. I had blocked one hour of time from 9-10 am to help the boys with anything they needed. Of course, I worked 12 minutes into that time and then had to 1) scramble to get L to change out of PJs before his Google Meet at 9:30, 2) convince M to relinquish the computer so L could have Grid View (I don't know how Google Meet works on the iPad yet), 3) convince L to do his meeting at his desk and remind him the rules of the meetings, and 4) realize at the last minute that I'm still in my PJ pants and may be seen on the screen, so change into actual pants. We made it and L had a successful meeting!

Google Meet with L's Kindergarten

Math Facts Time!

Then on to M's work. He had a sheet of 100 addition facts. At the bottom was a chart with Minutes and 1-5 listed in boxes. As soon as M started and I timed, it was apparent that 5 was not enough at this point. It was fascinating to watch how both boys worked (I copied the sheet for L, as he loves numbers). M did the first row and a half and then skipped to do all the easy ones. L slowly did each row and completed through row three (30 problems!) before skipping to all the +0 and + 1 facts. At this point, we were 9 minutes in and I realized I was going to be late for my 10 am work meeting. Oops! Finish your work and bring it to me when you are done (and mad dash to sign back into my computer)!

A couple more items checked off L's list of things to do at home and creative play at the LEGO table (didn't I JUST clean that off?), and the boys were begging for screen time. Not yet. Hold your horses. You need to eat lunch. Then you need to either have quiet reading time for 30 min or go outside. Preferably both. If you have on your Bingo card "Kid interrupts development meeting with manager", cross that one off. 

Thursday Plans Will Be, Well, Actual Plans

Fast forward to tonight. Tomorrow I have Baba coming to help. She asked how she was going to know what to do. I told her I would have a plan (in my spare time that is so available these days). First she will have to make sure they complete their Seesaw work. At this point, thankfully M is a pro at Seesaw and can probably show her what to do. He has had two short things per day at home thus far, so I have been adding extra items. 

Last week, I supplemented school work with a Kid Create art project I bought from our Community Ed late Spring. We never got around to it, so we made clay owls. I also added a "Book Comprehension" page for M to do after he read a book (he chose a short one - Are You My Mother by P.D. Eastman) and an Animal Report (pick an animal from National Geographic Kids and write a report on it's habitat, what it eats, etc). So what to have her do?

I Googled "Writing Prompts for Second Grade" and compiled a list from several different lists, selecting ones that I thought would interest him the most. This he will do every home school day. I figure both boys can do it and if L can't write, he can draw pictures. M decided he would prefer to blindly pick so I cut and folded up 40+ prompts for him to pick. He will have to write at least three sentences and can only redraw once per day. As I come up with more prompts, I will add them. Ideas based on current events, topics that come up in school, etc.

For Math, they can play Top It with Baba. Or any other math game. I fully expect her to come with another bin (sorry N) of activities to do, which she will leave here, and which will likely gather dust until she takes it out again. She taught First and Second grade, so she will have something from the dozens of boxes that are still in her garage. And she can teach him cursive (do they still teach that?), which she told me she found her worksheets and can I scan and copy them. 

Round out the morning with reading and outdoor time. With a little creative thinking, we are set. Thank God for Babas!

Writing Prompts

Also, if you have "wasting time instead of making up work you missed due to helping kids with school work" on your board... check that one off too. 😆

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

The Protection of the Theotokos

The Cathedral's Patronal Feast St. Mary's Orthodox Cathedral - at the start of Vespers (courtesy Fr. Benjamin Tucci) Tonight was just what I needed - a calming evening in church with the boys to celebrate the Protection of the Theotokos. "Calming" and "with the boys" don't often go together, but tonight they were both so well behaved and the singing was a balm for the soul. M decided he was going to stand the entire service. I told him he could sit during the Old Testament readings, but he refused and stood the entire time. L worked on crossing himself correctly and pointed out each of the plagues on the Egyptians in his Children's Bible.  Throughout the chaos of the world today, I just wanted to go to church. Yes, it was our feast, but something just drew me this evening. As we were driving down, we could see the storms rolling in with the lightning streaking across the sky. The first drops began as we raced into church. Once we settled in, a peacef

First Day of School

Second Grade & Kindergarten I can hardly believe that my baby is in kindergarten! My lands, they are growing up so fast! Yesterday, we made a last ditch run for haircuts, which turned out awesome!  Seriously... a car that runs on toothpaste? Eventually I’ll let him know maybe he would want to consider “alternate fuel sources” 🤣 Deciding to do the hybrid model for school this year was a happy medium for us. I don’t think that school full-time for us would have been ideal, given the class sizes. For them to be able to go two days a week, this would allow them some social interaction as well as safety in smaller class sizes. M has 12 kids in his class, L has 9. We carpooled to school with a neighbor friend, and it was so chaotic at the drop off that I didn’t even have time for tears. I got a little emotional after I got home, but these COVID days are not the same. Any other year, I would have been a blubbering mess! School Prep Has anyone ever mentioned how challenging it is to get o

Senselessness and Atrocities

I have struggled with the senselessness of this past week. I have not had the words to express my sadness, anger, frustration. How can a man be dead when he complied with officers? How does NOT ONE officer in attendance step in and say, "Enough?" How does one who has so many complaints against him still patrol the streets? What has allowed this behavior to continue? How does it take so long to arrest the offending officer? I have so many questions and no answers.  And then the rioters. I believe in peaceful protest. Yes, Ma rtin Luther King Jr said, "A riot is the language of the unheard." But he also said, " Man must evolve for all human conflict a method which rejects revenge, aggression, and retaliation. The foundation of such a method is love.”  How does burning down local businesses, restaurants, and looting further the cause? Rather than focusing on the truth of what happened, those who are violently protesting are distracting from what happened.