Home School 101 with 4 Kiddos

First of all I just want to say way to go to all the teachers and parents that have jumped in with both feet during this time. I am thankful to have a degree in education so I can't imagine going into this with no background of teaching/homeschooling. This was something we were thrown into and I have had to come up with lessons for Owen and Logan on the whim to keep them busy while working with Donovan and Landon on their daily school work. Also knowing we can't go out an about and are on a "stay home" order is another reason to find fun actives to do through out the day.

I have some great friends that have helped come up with some creative things for the little ones to do. We have made homemade playdough, we have decorated cookies with a cookie kit, water play outside and more. Every day has been different with some kind of challenge but we are making it work.

We have a daily schedule for Monday through Friday that we try to go by. I get the kiddos up around 8:00 am and they have breakfast and get themselves ready for the day. By 9:00 am we all begin our daily work. Donovan and Landon begin working on their daily Math lessons and I do some kind of learning activity with Logan and Owen. The big two get breaks in between their lessons to help break up their day. Owen and Logan are usually done by 10-10:30 am and we begin to play. We are pretty good about having Lunch daily a noon and hang out time after.

Keeping a schedule is helpful so we know what we need to be doing. Landon takes a longer break and finishes up the remainder lessons in the afternoon. Donovan likes to get all his work done in the morning and then does his workouts for athletics in the afternoon. Both are also doing 30 min a day of violin. Occasionally we are still getting some attitude but I understand it is frustrating to them to no be able to see their friends or be able to play baseball with their teams.

Owen is loving the different theme lessons that I plan for him. We have been working on rhyming and tracing our shapes and numbers. He says he loves going to school with his brothers. He is looking at this in a positive view.

We are also keeping it fun with our outside activities when the weather is nice. We have been thankful for some amazing weather this past week.

Playing in the sprinklers, having a snow ball fight, playing baseball, and doing lots of chalk. We have kept busy while staying at home and social distancing.

The four boys are loving playing with each other and are realizing having a large family is a huge blessing when we are at home for the time being. They all have built in friends. Love seeing their friendships grow daily.

Boys are silly and will always have a bat and a ball with them. Hitting and throwing has been a great pass time for all of them. Keep an eye out for a project we are doing for Donovan while we are at home.

As you can tell we have lived outside lately. There is always a lesson we can do outside just as well as we would inside. We are working on numbers and letters with chalk and shapes. We even did a fun obstacle course with the chalk for all the kids and it was fun to see how they each did it.

The lessons that Donovan and Landon are doing for school we have been trying to incorporate into daily life for them and it has been great for us too. We will be home schooling for at least another 3 weeks, but could be more. I will be doing weekly post of what we have been doing, what is and is not working, and tips and tricks on sticking to a schedule with all the kids at home.

Have a great week, be safe, and wash your hands.

-Amanda S.