Well, here we are again with home learning. After 2 weeks of lockdown over the holidays, cases are still going up. Restrictions haven't been clear and this has meant that many people have been contagious in the community. Not helpful! Anyway, it has meant that we are doing home learning again.
This time I am trying to have a different approach.
-I'm trying to go with the flow. Lessons are still coming out at 9am the morning of, which I find very tricky and it broke me last time. This time I'm trying to just go with the flow, trust that the teachers are sending out work that the kids can do independently or with a little bit of guidance and try and organise activities for Alexander to do as well so that I can help the big kids when they need it.
-I'm trying to have an attitude of positivity. Last time I was focussed on the work getting done to a top standard. This time I'm trying to focus on encouraging the kids and helping them be proud of their work, not push them to where I think they can be.
-I'm Mum first, teacher 2nd. I need to show love and care to my kids first, then help them and guide them in their learning. To encourage this, I want to be aware of how they are feeling, and me too. I made a smiley face chart where the kids (and James and I) can move our pegs to show if we're feeling happy, ok or sad.
-We have set Goals for our home learning - the kids came up with their own goals and are working towards them. These areas are what I'm trying to focus on and encourage, not the bigger picture.
-We set rules so that I can turn to them if things are getting a bit much or out of control.
-We start each day with handwriting - paper and pencil. Something that is very important when they are sitting on their computers each day. This is also helping Daniel work on his exercises that he is getting with OT.
So, my reflections on the 1st week of home learning 2021?
-It has been pretty good overall. Each day the kids have finished with their pegs on the Happy face which is great. They have been able to speak about what they are proud of from the day which is wonderful to hear and see.
-Daniel is working hard on his writing and I am so very proud of him! We are using the sky, grass, dirt lines to help him with his letter height and I have also made a chart for him with the writing rules and we are just focussing on one a day. We have done capital letters and full stops and then letter spacing in words. We will continue to focus on this in week 2. I am seeing this time as a great opportunity to push him with his handwriting while it can be 1 on 1. Mrs Fearnside has been wonderful in helping encourage Daniel too which I have just loved! He wrote 4 pages of work on Thursday and said 'My hand isn't even sore!' at the end of it. What an achievement for him!! This was mainly because we have been working hard on not pushing too hard when writing.
-Alexander has done an amazing job at playing on his own! I am so proud of him. I do want to try and play with him a bit more in the day but at the moment he is enjoying playing on his own and it is a great skill to have. Then at recess and lunch times he has loved playing with Eliza and Daniel.
-Alexander has been working hard on writing the letters in his name properly. We have focussed on e this week and he has improved it a lot! Next week we will look at a.
-Eliza has had such a positivity to learning at home, even though she really misses being at school and seeing her friends. She is putting in a lot of effort and one day when she asked if she could just write 2 sentences, I told her she needed to write 4. She ended up writing 6 and was so proud of herself! She has even been editing her work when I have asked.
-The juggle of the different lessons at different times is tricky still. Eliza does PE while Daniel is needing to do Science, Eliza does Art while Daniel is doing Maths. Eliza's English is done in 30mins, Daniel's takes over 2 hours. But we are getting there. Alexander is loving joining in with Eliza's PE and art lessons
-iPads are ok. James and I have set up an iPad for Alexander to use at times - it has books being read, some play school games, drawing activities on it for him to use. This lets him feel a bit included too and gives me a moment of break.
-I want the teachers to see the work that the kids do. I could be guiding them a lot but I am trying to let them do the work, send it through and then talk with them about what they have made. A bit tricky but it is good to do.
-It's ok for me to type up some of Daniel's work. He has been working so hard on handwriting his work when I have told him to that he runs out of time with doing the writing task on the computer. He also takes a long time to type up his work so I feel it is ok for him to tell me what to write and I type it. At times I type it with mistakes and he needs to sit and edit the work before sending it off.
-I am waking in the morning feeling it is ground hog day, but once I get up and get going it is ok. But I do find it hard to be motivated at the moment. I just feel drained. I also feel a bit lost. I want to be a good teacher for my kids, but I also know that their teachers are doing that role and should do that role so I'm trying to take a step back. Kinda feeling a bit useless at times and then trying to work out what I do to be useful but not take over. Tricky balance for a Mummy who does like to be in control a lot of the time.
-Alexander has a theme each week. This week was Superheroes. It helps me come up with activities for him. Here are some activities he did.
- make superheroes
- play with his cars and carparks
- draw superheroes
- Zoom sessions with his preschool teachers and friends
- Handwriting
- Playdough
- Superhero homes, (that he kept working on with Eliza)
- Superhero masks
- Superhero chalk drawings and fun photos
- Design Batman's car
- Learn to draw Batman
So overall I am going well, we are going well. Home learning has been positive this week and I hope it will continue. We have 2 more weeks at least but I do think it will be longer. Only time will tell. To celebrate the end of Week 1 of home learning we made Donna Hay's raspberry and choc fudge milkshakes. They were amazing!
Here is the week in photos.
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| Preschool area ready |
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| Making superheroes |
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| Free Play |
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| Eliza's set up |
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| Daniel's set up |
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| Alexander's picture of Daniel, Eliza and Alexander as Superheroes |
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| Our family as superheroes |
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| Working on a puzzle for lunch breaks |
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| Alexander had preschool zoom on Wednesday |
Alexander joined in with Daniel's nature animal creation. Here he is explaining his creation.
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| All starting the mornings with handwriting tasks |
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| Writing his name each morning and working on some specific letters in his name |
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| Making Mr Potato Head people |
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| He and Eliza made some superhero homes for his superhero people |
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| Eliza encouraging Alexander with his amazing handwriting of his name |
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| Enjoying home learning (at this stage) |
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| Sending a message to their teachers asking if they wanted to visit the art gallery |
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| Doing PE together. This Active Kids program has been great. The kids have loved it! |
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| Daniel made a rhinoceros beetle from nature |
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| Eliza wanted to make a superhero mask with Alexander |
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| Some fun driveway chalk art for Superheroes (the idea came from some other preschool friends). Chilli came to visit |
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| Super Alexander |
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| Helping draw a car |
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| Super Alexander can even lift up cars |
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| Designing a new bat mobile |
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| Complete |
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| A lunchtime message from Mum |
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| Superhero Alexander and Super Eliza |
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| PE for everyone |
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| Alexander's drawing of Batman |
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| Working on his name and e's |
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| Donna Hay milkshakes as an end of week reward (thanks to another Donna Hay zoom cooking class) |
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| Choc raspberry milkshakes |
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| Hopefully this isn't how I'l look after home learning this year!! |
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