Homeschooling Part 1

Last night I joked with Sophia that I was going to have to start homeschooling her.

The kids in our county have not had school since last Tuesday, January 25th. A full week. Snow, ice, the threat of snow, sleet, freezing rain, the threat of snow. Oh, and a Professional Day for Teachers thrown in there too.

Today our forecast is calling for .25 to .5 inches of ice. Oh boy.

So...Sophia woke up this morning and packed her backpack for home school. And so...we did it!

First up: Reading. Sophia chose Franklin Wants a Pet and read it to Eva. Jonas climbed on chairs, threw pencils, and was shhh'ed by his sisters at least fourteen times. But we did a retelling of the story and they both actually knew what had happened!


Writing was next. We made cards for our grandparents.That's Eva's hand. Right before she fell backwards off her chair and hit her head on the wall.

Time for P.E. I don't know about you, but my all-time favorite P.E. activity as a kid was always the parachute. So we tried to recreate it. Jonas wanted to participate but couldn't quite grasp the concept of holding onto the corner of the sheet. So we rolled him up in it and swung him around the room. He was quite pleased to participate in that.

Next we did some aerobic exercises - jumping jacks, mountain climbers, jump roping. Eva and Sophia crashed into each other. Jonas rolled around underfoot and got stepped on. Everyone ended our exercise session with crying.

My favorite subject came next: Science! Since we have an abundance of snow, that was our theme. First we experimented with colors. Using medicine dispensers, the girls mixed various colors on the surface of the snow. We learned some fun things.
And Jonas finally got a chance after repeating "Want some!" at least forty-five times and trying to eat Sophia's snow. Mmmm....yellow snow!



Next on the Science agenda: Snow Ice Cream! Here's the (very simple) recipe!

2 quarts of snow (fill up a juice container)
1/2 cup white sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup milk (we used chocolate milk)

Place snow in a large metal bowl. Add sugar, vanilla, and milk and stir until desired consistency.


They all LOVED it!! Especially with red sprinkles. I loved it too until Eva dumped her entire bowl on the floor.

Finally - lunchtime and recess (aka quiet time for the girls and naptime for Jonas). I think I'll need a nap too after all of that! But I promised we'd do Math after lunch.

So here is what I've learned about homeschooling.

1. It's extremely challenging with a (VERY) active 2-year old running around.
2. I still love teaching.
3. I love it when children grasp a concept for the first time.
4. Very tiring.
5. Very rewarding.
6. Don't stand too close during P.E.
7. There is zero time for cleaning or any other household chore.
8. All my homeschooling friends deserve major props!

I'll be back to report on our post-recess schooling activities!