A few weeks ago, you dropped off your child at their school and did your daily happy dance as you survived the morning chaos and had the day to yourselves. We know. We understand. We have seen the dance in car line. It’s OK. You have adult lives that need your focus. As you waived good-bye or more of a see ya, as you are the parents that are constantly on high alert. You take on the tasks of daily homework help, tests, projects, forms to sign, and lunches to pack etc. Frankly, that is enough as you are our partner not the teacher. Why? You are also in charge of raising a good human, working, cooking and cleaning and chauffeuring to play-dates and sporting events. Your plate is full and we got this teaching stuff down.

Enter a virus that seems to spread at a rate that boggles the mind and you are stressed, your kids are stressed, and worse yet you are stuck in your home without the release valve of adults at work or their little playmates. You are now the teacher along with all of your other daily tasks that now seem never-ending as working from home is no picnic as you never leave your work. Mix in kids and schoolwork and boom, you have your own mini-pandemic.

This blog is now here to help. No, not in the perfect homeschooling fashion that shows how easy it is to stay home all day and come up with exciting options that make you drool. These parents before the pandemic probably made you feel you could do the same. If they can, I can syndrome. No, no you can’t, as it is not that easy, those parents have made a conscious choice and weathered the storms to make it look simple as it is their calling for their families. It works for them. On day whatever with your kids screaming, a loss of how to do common core math, and crying over assignments. You know better, but you do need to survive and enjoy the process of learning together. I am here to save the day for those that have no desire to ever do this again but need a bit of humor and a lesson or two to incorporate or pass to others. For those that are pros pass this along to those in the minor leagues or in crisis. Those parents can be spotted day drinking. Just saying.

So let’s get started. My specialty is writing in the middle and high-school years. But in the spirit of this blog I will go through the various ages and stages as I have taught all grades sans fifth. To begin our writing journey we are starting simple with the little ones. Caution, mom and dad you are going to back off and resist wanting writing perfection you need to see where they are in their abilities so the focused lessons I give, over the weeks, are ones you can use to fit their needs. Also, please note these lessons are gap fillers, not new curriculum, as I do not know your child, their level, prior education at their school or any of their advanced or special needs, so you will have to accommodate.

Objective: Writing Can Be Fun

Kinder thru Second:

Materials

1. Paper, pencils, crayons, or computer
2. Two types of cookies, candy, chips, or ice cream

This writing will first allow your child to taste-test the products of their choice. If you recently baked, allow them to sample your baking and compare it to the store bought variety. If you do not bake, then just go to your pantry and dig out any tasty treats. After the tasting it is time to write. Well, wait a minute let them draw first. Fold the paper in half and let them draw both of the items they tasted making their best choice the obvious winner via stars around it, circling it, happy faces, stickers…whatever they want! Next comes the writing, you are looking for two solid sentences:

I Like ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________.

Because

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________.

Your child will be at a variety of stages. They might still be oral, thus telling you his/her likes and the why with you writing it down on the lines, with their copying the letters after. Perhaps, writing in complete sentences with letters reversed and phonetic spelling (don’t change and don’t panic). Or finally, using a full subject and predicate model (noun and verb) with adjectives or describing words either beginning or in full use. Your goal with this patterned writing is two full sentences or more with a noun, verb and adjective in phonetic spelling with the goal of finding the misspelled words and putting those naturally in your spelling practice without making their mistakes a big deal. You can use this I Like/Because pattern throughout the week with all different activities that do not require food. Play games, and compare, ride a bike and a scooter and compare, slide vs. swing. You get it. The goal is fun, art and finally the writing.

So give this a try and let me know your successes and/or other needs. Later this week I will write a lesson on B and D, give some spelling practice fun, and of course a more advanced noun, verb, adjective hands-on lesson that will guide their learning and take their learning to the next level inserting it in their writing before we tackle our next writing, the how to book.

Enjoy,

T