Friday, May 22, 2020

My 11 Favorite End of the School Year Things



We made it! 10 weeks of homeschooling and only three days left next week! I feel just as accomplished as the kids. If anything, the last 10 weeks have taught me/re-affirmed my knowledge that kids learn best through hands on activities and assignments. I've been immersed in learning with the kids and have watched them learn things that they wouldn't have otherwise had the chance to do if they were in school.

Since I've been spending my free time finding new learning resources, educational games to play, and so much time at home, my favorite things are a tad different this time around. It's a great look at how we've been spending our time learning (and our upcoming summer adventures):


1.) Education.com has amazing educational worksheets for all ages. We've been using their social studies worksheets for quick lessons each day. The kids love them, they're easy to print and find, and there's so many topics to choose from. I signed up for a year to use their worksheets and I've already got my money's worth!

2.) YouTube is typically a big no-no for my children, but since quarantine we've relied on them A LOT. From learning karate to nightly yoga to art tutorials, we've been using them for quick educational videos too. We found a great series that focused on the Roaring 20's and learned about DNA after I confused the kids with my teaching of it (turns out I need to go back to fourth grade science class, which I'm finding a lot during my homeschool teachings).

3.) The kids love watching baking shows in their free time. This week we held a cake baking competition and it was well loved by everyone. Cooking shows will be allowed all summer since the kids have agreed to take over lunches occasionally this summer. I could get used to this (although it may actually be more work for me in the end!). **the strawberry cake two children made pictured above

4.) I watched an old episode of CSI one evening and my children, playing in the other room, overheard the theme music and instantly asked about the artist. As a result we've been listening to The Who nonstop for two weeks now.

5.) Speaking of music, I overheard a song on a commercial and I couldn't place it, but I knew I knew the song and loved it. One night, while doing homeschool prep work, I put my playlist on and I was shocked when the song I couldn't get out of my head came on! It was none other than How Bad We Need Each Other by Marc Scibilia. Kind of my theme music for quarantine now.

6.) I'm pretty sure I write a love poem to Alba sunscreen each summer, but it is truly my favorite. I stocked up this week for a summer in the sun.

7.) Since public pools won't be opening and we have the misfortune of not having our own pool, we invested in several inflatable pools. I'm still getting over the fact that I won't have a summer in the lazy river at our local water park, but I'm definitely soaking in the pools we do have.

8.) The mini's yearly Birthday Bash is going to look a lot different this year too. I looked at Card My Yard and other sign places, but then we scored these from Walmart (actually, who am I kidding, my parents scored them). Super excited for a new kind of bash.

9.) With the puppy life coming up for us, we've been buying all things puppy lately. The kids have been really disappointed they can't go to the stores to pick things out, but our local pet store Bone A Patreat has been so helpful and knowledgable that it's made up for the fact that the kids can't do it themselves.

10.) All of the kid's math teachers have recommended an online game Prodigy for them. They get to play while they answer math questions to move up to a new level. The kids have been battling in the afternoons and since I was unsure about it at first, they seem to think they're getting away with something whenever I let them play. It's a win win for everyone.


11.) Out of everything this pandemic has brought, I hope the one thing that sticks around after are to-go drinks. I'm in love with this and really enjoy picking up to-go margaritas with our take out.

12.) Last Sunday afternoon I put on the movie Contagion. I had seen the movie before and thought it was completely far fetched the first time I watched it. Watch it if you like scary movies. It's not a scary movie per se, but it left me thoroughly creeped out with how accurate some of the plot points were.