Homeschooling Tips from a Certified Teacher

Confession. I was forced into homeschooling this week just like everyone else.
I have no idea if I'm doing it right anymore than anyone else does.
But a few people have told me they enjoyed my homeschooling posts on FB, and I am a teacher, so I thought I'd share what I'm doing and invite you to follow along.

Here are my tips:

• Kids need structure. Yes, even right now. But that can vary from family to family and even kid to kid so do what works for you. Just be consistent. I use a daily checklist. She knows where to find it. She gets started on her own and checks in with me after each task. If you feel an hour to hour or even block schedule works best for you do it. Just do the same thing every day.
• Basics Focus on the basics right now. Unless you're the homeroom mom, chances are you're not quite sure exactly where your kid was in their academic units. (I'm a teacher and even I can't figure out where they stopped to just pick up there.) It's always a good idea to revisit basics, and you can usually find a list of standards they should know by the end of the year on your online. (For example, search 2nd grade common core standards. Some states will use their own lingo but they're pretty much the same.)
• Use your resources. I think this is funny because it's what we tell the kids. People are posting a ton of things online right now, and there is a lot of free or discounted educational content at the moment so take advantage of it. I'll even post ELF's daily checklists here and you can follow along with us. If you're going to do this, you should know my checklist is designed for a 2nd grader who is WAY above average in ELA/social studies/dance/art and completely average at math. Modify this to fit your kid.