School at Home Hacks: Routines & Tips for Those Families Affected by the Coronavirus

What a crazy few weeks we've had! I kinda want to avoid the news tomorrow, but know that's probably not the best idea. As of now, both of my upcoming speaking engagements have been canceled. I know it's for the best, but that was definitely a hit to my budget. I know so many people are affected in different ways by all that is going on. My prayers are with you all.

Never did I think that the whole nation would be forced to homeschool! I've been watching different printable schedules float around social media over the last few days. It took me back to my first couple of years of homeschooling and my attempt to make a school schedule work in my home. What I've come to realize is that trying to make school schedules work in your home left me frustrated after a few days. So, I wanted to share some of that wisdom with all the families out there who never thought they'd find themselves with all their kids home and expected to get school work done with them. (See below)

Fun Side Note: Happy Clover Day!

Most families were home to celebrate CLOVER DAY! Yay! I hope you had a fun day celebrating St. Patty's Day. :) Grant (my oldest) was at his Chick-Fil-A job for most of the day, so we missed getting him in the picture. We enjoyed yummy Lucky Charms Treats and our favorite Ham & Potato Soup. So, delicious! Both are great at any time of the year.

I went live on YouTube on Monday to share some of my best school-at-home hacks and to share about how to create an easy-to-manage routine for these days with kids at home. Okay, so you can watch the video on YouTube (unedited) or on Instagram (edited). However, give me some grace if you watch on YouTube! The feed died three times so there are three awkward smile-and-stare-at-the-screen moments. 🤦🏻‍♀️ As a heads up, I'll be going live regularly during this season of quarantine on YouTube to discuss sanity savers for time at home with kids, work, and more! My latest live video was all about activities to do with kids at home...when you've finished school work in record time. I shared about things from my fun list! Yep, I have a fun list! That shouldn't surprise you. Be sure to follow me on YouTube. You should receive a heads up when I'm going live if you subscribe and have clicked the bell to be notified.

School at Home Routine Video:

YouTube version

IGTV: (same video, but edited)

Here's the IGTV Video:

* You can get your FREE copy of the SCHOOL AT HOME ROUTINE printable I created here.

HOMESCHOOL HACKS TO HELP MAKE LEARNING FUN VIDEO:

ACTIVITY IDEAS FOR BEING AT HOME WITH YOUR KIDS ALL DAY VIDEO:

MORE SCHOOL AT HOME RESOURCES & HACKS:

I know many schools are sending out school work to get done during this crazy time of home isolation. I'm using that term because here in San Diego, that's what they are asking us to do. I wanted to share some of my favorite resources for schooling at home and a few tips.

• My Site: KristiClover.com/homeschooling and KristiClover.com/Homechool-Help -- both are filled with tips and hacks!
• My Homeschool Convention Workshops: I have three recordings from workshops I have given at homeschool conventions. I highly recommend my workshop called Simply Joyful Homeschool: How to Start Off Simply!! It is loaded with easy tips for teaching every subject. (I just had all three turned into mp3 downloads vs. CDs...so we aren't sharing cooties.) 😂Homeschooling Your Bigs with Littles at Home might be a good one to check out, too!
• IEW (Institute for Excellence in Writing) has created some free language arts lessons for folks who need some help schooling kids at home during this time. You can get those free lessons HERE.
• Math: We have used Math U See since the beginning of our homeschool years and have started using Teaching Textbooks for one of our kids. Both are great. Here's my homeschool hack for this season of school at home for math: Focus on math facts drills!! One of my favorite things to use for this is our Flash Master digital flashcards. You can set it up for additions, subtraction, multiplication, and division. (Great for all year round for math drills) I found this one online, too. I have a YouTube video about how to homeschool math, too.
• History: One of my favorite ways to study history and geography is to read a missionary story. Our favorite one is George Mueller. My other favorite Bible-history combo is SO fun and the perfect option for supplementing for any season of schooling: Drive Through History!
• Science: We love Apologia for our main science curriculum. However, for this moment, keep it simple. I wrote a blog post about some simple ways to teach science. I linked some of my very favorite books to use for this and some easy tips and projects.
• Read Alouds: Reading with and to your kids is one of my number one tips for families trying to navigate teaching their kids at home. For your younger kids, seriously, this may be all the formal schooling that you need to do for this crazy season. We use a reading-based curriculum called Sonlight right now with our three youngest kids. I have several of our family's favorite read-aloud books listed on my Amazon store. I also highly recommend listening to audiobooks.