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sockparade · 4 years

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homeschool

I read somewhere that enneagram 7′s tend to become perfectionists when they are stressed. I guess that’s me with homeschooling the kids. I’ve been kind of throwing myself into it. Not in a panicky way but in a strangely enthusiastic and satisfying way? I’ve surprised myself with how gratifying it has been to teach my kids things. I did not really expect this to happen! I mean, I’ve always been excited about when they get to middle school and I can assign weird projects and essays. But they are still so little, 4 and 6. The upside is that their progress is super tangible and immediate at this age.

So yeah, I’m intermittently falling apart in my interior life these days but the homeschooling and homemaking is going really well. It’s maybe a good thing for me to be really purposeful from 9-5.

Oh! Also, I really don’t like schedules! I know it’s really helpful for some parents but I feel so restricted by one and hate the idea of having to check the clock to keep track of time if I don’t have to. Or to be constantly running late because of an arbitrary schedule that I made? Like why set yourself up for that? Haha anyway. I usually have a list of things I want to do for the day and a loose order but I’m often swapping things around depending on my mood and the kids’ attention span.

It’s technically Spring Break here so instead of the usual “work” I’ve been having them do the past two weeks I’m doing themed days instead and I’m trying to limit time sitting at a desk if I can.

Monday - Performing Arts

Tuesday - Technology/Engineering

Wednesday - Cooking & AsAm History/Activism

Thursday - Body/Spirit

Friday - Visual Arts

I’m really happy with how today (Performing Arts) turned out and I wanted to share it with you.

Write a poem and read it out loud. I warmed them up to thinking about poetry by reading a few funny poems from Shel Silverstein’s Where the Sidewalk Ends. I used “My Color Poem” as a template for the kids to write their own poems. I didn’t like the layout/fonts of the versions I saw on Pinterest so I made a quick version in .doc format. Lots of writing/spelling practice, creativity, and engaging the imaginary senses. My 6 year old finished pretty quickly so I had him copy the poem onto a clean sheet of paper and illustrate each line.

Learn a tiktok dance. My 4 year old is a great dancer but has a hard time learning choreographed dances from videos so after watching several renegade tutorials, we opted for a much easier hip hop dance tutorial video: Easy Kids Choreography - (Hip Hop Dance Tutorial AGES 4+) | MihranTV

Drum circle. We gathered random “musical instruments” around the house (electronic drumset, tambourine, cardboard box and stick, baby xylophone). First we took turns creating a beat and then seeing if everyone could hear and mimic the beat. Then we took turns starting a beat, then adding to the beat one by one until we were all playing together.

Put on a short skit. This was really challenging for the kids but I’m so proud of them for sticking to it and doing it! I first read this skit to them several times. (I stopped 15 lines into the skit so it wouldn’t be too long.) You could probably write your own, it doesn’t have to be fancy or anything. I was just too lazy to think up my own story. After reading the skit 3-4 times, I then assigned them roles and had them repeat after me for their lines. We did that twice. Then I had them try to say the lines on their own and add acting into it. I prompted a lot of their lines. Then I read the skit to them two more times. Then they rehearsed it 3-4 more times with me feeding lines as needed. Then they performed it and I recorded a video! Having the video recording made it feel like there was an audience which is great because both of my kids struggle with stage fright.

Improv games. This website has a list of really fun improv games that are great for kids. They are a great way to be creative in a different way and to just be silly together. The ones we did today were: “What Happened Next?” and “Yes, Let’s______! Both were a total hit.

Memorize a poem. What a lost art! Memorizing poems and reciting them? I read advice online that said it’s better if they get to choose the poem they’re memorizing. We first spent some time reading more Shel Silverstein poems. They decided they liked “Boa Constrictor” the best so we worked on memorizing it. I tried to vary my tones consistently and add some hand motions so that it’d be easier to remember. I thought this might be too challenging of a task for them but they really got into it. I also recorded their “final performance” as a video.

Play “pictionary”. Pretty self explanatory here. Although, it gets pretty repetitive when all the drawings are superheroes so we did several rounds where they had to draw a book that they liked that we’ve read together as a family and that was kind of amazing. My four year old tried to draw “Last Stop on Market Street”! It was so sweet and included a rainbow.

Sing some “repeat-after-me” songs on Go Noodle. Felt great to end the day singing these songs as loud as we could! Kids’ current faves are “Boom Chicka Boom” and “Great Big Moose”.

#lesson plans #homeschool #poetry #improv for kids #spring break #activities for kids

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