Homeschool Quarantine Update

We almost died... thanks to quarantine stress. I kid but not really. 

The beginning of April was rough - the stress was coming from all sides (church ministry, homeschooling and life as a family) and suddenly, I just couldn't handle it anymore so we took a much needed break... it ended up being a two week break and it was definitely worth it. We did a lot of outside playing, spring cleaning, celebrated the twins turning three years old and had hours of reading for fun. The older girls did some drawing, composing and writing, too. Now, we are back at it and just have a few weeks left of our school year!

I feel much better but still stretched thin. I have been challenged to continue with our Charlotte Mason Children's Church Bible lessons via YouTube during the quarantine. I had no clue how to put anything together but after many hours and much trial and error, I figured it out and now create a new lesson each week and post it on YouTube for our church's children and any others who might enjoy it. The great thing about a Charlotte Mason lesson is you don't need much for the lesson to be effective! Here is a link to our church's YouTube page in case you are curious as to how this might work in your own children's ministry during this time.

I have personally found it to be a challenge to make "online church" meaningful for the younger kids. They don't quite get it and I don't know how much to push them to "focus" and "attend" online church. They see their daddy preaching but don't understand why he's on the computer or why we aren't at church together. I have continued to utilize their church-only-bags which contain special drawing supplies and quiet felt toys during "online church" time- at least this way, they are at the table with me and can hear the songs being sung and the words being said, even if they don't fully get it. 

Other than quarantine stress, we have been trying to continue life as normally as possible. I am getting a good start on homeschool planning for next year (including plans for my first kindergartener!).

I'm pretty excited about my new design for Year 7 for Louisa! (This is as fancy as I get.) With the above graphic, you can kind of see how she will have her week laid out. The week's work is laid out for her to choose from - the idea being that she chooses one reading from each box (they are somewhat divided up into subjects but not all). This gives her more freedom of her schedule and also helps her learn to figure out how long things take and then she can plan for her day.  I also plan to include the Bible memory verse for the week at the bottom of the page. The GREAT and FABULOUS thing about this was I really didn't do hardly anything for planning since it's mostly a repeat from Kailyn two years ago! :) Gotta love that.

Piano composition

Year 8: History notebook progress

Year 8: History notebook timeline progress

She has started practicing her letters and can't get enough!

I'll post my plans for Year 9 sometime in the summer... this is going to take a little more work and thought to make sure I am covering everything we need to! I am so thankful that Ambleside Online provides so many options and ideas for high school.

What about you? Are you getting a head start on planning? How is your homeschool year being affected by the pandemic? Feel free to share in the comments!