Lesson plans for parents stuck homeschooling
Replacing a couple threads with one thread for parents like myself who have had to become education providers while all the schools are closed.
I will thread these out by grade level groupings. Share any age-appropriate tips, ideas, websites you've used, lessons, etc.
March 29th, 2020 at 12:11 PM ^
Preschool
March 29th, 2020 at 12:48 PM ^
I have a 2 and a 4 yr old, and as you would expect at this time of year, the strategy is Survive And Advance each day.
Abcmouse.com is good for kids 3-5 years old. It is free for 30 days, then has a subcription. Could get you through the next month.
I also really like Prodigy. It is a math Pokemon like battle game. The lowest level is 1st grade (up to 8th), but you can assign kids topics to work on. I have my 4 year old working on shapes and counters up to 20. I fo have to sit next to him to read the question, though.
Prodigy is great! We just found out about this as well form my son's Kindergarten. I find it especially nice that he can choose to read the instructions or press a button for it to be spoken, so he can work on some of his reading as well.
Dr Suess, legos, and naps. That's really all I remember.
I could use advice from anyone who has numerous 5-7 year olds and a spouse who , like yourself, has to WFH all day with said little ones in the house.
We're getting by, but it involves ALOT of screen time
Puzzles, walking, playing outside, silent reading time, board games can all be things to do.
It's also good to just give them time where they can't use screens and they need to figure out what to do.
I'd also add that not all screen time is the same. Watching a family movie is very different from a kid using an ipad. The touch screen and proximity changes the brain for the worse much faster on an ipad.
My wife and I got an erase board that we use to loosely plan out our week. We put on the side the list of meetings/work time we have for the week. Then we try to find anytime that we aren't overlapping as our "teaching" time for the kids. We'll do 30 min blocks of writing time, art time, outside time etc. It's worked out fairly well for us so far. Even for TV time, we try to have them watch something a little educational during the day, like Magic School Bus. Also, its important to understand that it's ok to deviate from the plans, sometimes we just say F it, we'll just put on Frozen 2 again for you.
A few unique ideas different from the usual lesson plans....
1. Learn about algorithms/computer programming by telling your kid to write down instructions to eat a bowl of cereal. Initially they'll write "Get cereal. Get milk. Get spoon. Eat.". So then you get a box of cereal. Get a jug of milk. Get a spoon. And pretend to eat all three. Then the child will laugh and realize they need to be more specific. "Put the cereal into a bowl" they'll say. So you put the whole cereal box into a bowl. This can go on for as long as you want (as long as they don't get frustrated). But the point is to show how a computer takes things literally and how it usually takes lots of tries (debugging) to get algorithms just right.
2. Learn about probability: Take a coin and ask the child if they flip it 50 times, how many tails vs. heads do they expect? Then do it and tally the results. Explain that if you kept doing it even more, it would eventually be a 50-50 result. Then do the same thing with a single dice and ask what number they think will come up most. Then do it 50 times and tally the results. Explain that if you kept doing it even more, each number should come up about the same. Then finally do the same thing with a pair of dice and ask what number they think will come up most. Then do it 50 times and tally the results. You should begin to see the numbers 2 and 12 come up very few while the numbers 6, 7, and 8 show up more. You and the child can then discuss that when it comes to 2 dice, there are more ways to make 6, 7, and 8 then there are 2 and 12. Then challenge them to a game of craps for their lunch money. Disregard that last part. :-)
3. Play a board game.... one that requires decision making. You'd be surprised how many kids this age can actually play some medium weight board games. A couple enjoyable ones I suggest are Wingspan or Splendor (google 'em!)
In regards to #2 I leave it to the great Abbott and Costello for a lesson in dice:
learn about algorithms/computer programming by ...
MIT created a kiddo friendly platform called "Scratch" I recommend checking out. There's been iterations of it (I've seen Lego use it which makes sense since Scratch is essentially stacking blocks) but the original is from MIT. This is one of the better children's books on the topic.
I'm a 3rd grade teacher and can confirm that IXL is a great resource! Mainly used for math, it can be used by all grade levels. You can select the specific learning objective you want to work on and allows the kids to earn "rewards" as the progress. If you have an account, IXL is currently opening up all their science and social studies skills for free during the school closures.
For reading, I would suggest RazKids. You can choose books that are any level throughout elementary ages. Comprehension quizzes come with each short story. (Too be honest, I am not sure if individuals can get an account, or if it has to be part of a school account. But it is worth looking into.)
March 29th, 2020 at 12:50 PM ^
For math lessons instead of worksheets I had my kids time how long it takes marbles to roll down an incline plane that has progressively more books. We graphed and talked about how the high points of the graph were slow and the low points were fast.
I drew a shape on a coordinate axis and had them double the shape and mirror it onto a different one.
Next week we're going to work out how much money they tend to win or lose if they get $20 per heads flip and lose $10 per tails if we flip ten times.
I also had them guess where they thought 1/10th, 1/8th, 1/6th and 1/3 would be between two points. Then we measured the real spots and compared them.
March 29th, 2020 at 12:12 PM ^
Middle School
Like someone said for the earlier grade. IXL, Khan Academy, News ELA. As an 8th grade social studies teacher I would also say Stanfords "Reading like a Historian" is great.
This is a tough time for families but we will get through this, and it is just a blip on the road for your kids education. Seeing teachers who were around for Katrina in NO someone had a great quote that was along the lines of people being freaked out about the education lost, but those students have gone onto college. They have become doctors, lawyers, etc.
Is khan academy really age appropriate for middle school? My 7 year old homeschooled daughter zooms through all their stuff.
I believe there are different grade setting. I haven’t really spent a lot of time with that though. IXL and News ELA I have done more with.
ck12.org
Lesson-based resource. Covers Math, Science, English, & Social Studies. Similar to an online textbooks based on subject matter with the infusion of videos and activities.
braingenie.ck12.org
Math & Science-focused version of the website above. Similar lesson-based format as above. Includes short video lessons on varied subjects with follow-up instructional practice activities/questions based on previous answers. Focuses on specific skills building.
Both these websites cover (as the name suggests) students K-12, including some college course material as well.
I haven't checked this out (no need to), but here's a source from the state of Michigan:
March 29th, 2020 at 12:12 PM ^
Freshmen-Sophomores
Really could be for anyone, but focuses really more on high school age students.
Dave Ramsey has his high school finance course that’s normally $120, on sale right now for $20. If I had a kid in that age range this would be a must have, and not just for right now.
daveramsey.com/hope
khanacademy is an amazing source for any math instruction that these kids may be receiving. Otherwise, if they're trying to get any instruction in other areas, Crash Course on youtube is great since it condenses information fairly well.
Honestly, you could probably search up a lot of topics in Youtube and get some valuable information from it.
I'm a high school History teacher and Stanford has amazing free resources for both United States and World History.
https://sheg.stanford.edu/history-lessons
Just navigate content area on the left side of the page and there are resources that you can share with your high school age students. This is a difficult time for students, parents and teachers alike.
Select a classic novel and read it with your child. Focus on character development, use of setting to create conflict, conflict developments between the characters, sarcasm, satire, etc. Sit and talk with them about how life experiences affect the way we all interpret the books we read, the films, we watch, and how we interpret life events. Have them then select a character and write a comparison between themselves and the things that happen in the text. Compare and contrast how the character and your child would interpret and handle the different situations experienced.
March 29th, 2020 at 12:13 PM ^
Juniors-Seniors lol good luck with that
I have a junior who has been preparing to take the ACT. She was seeing a tutor to shore up her math skills and I was going to cancel for the foreseeable future but I decided this is a good way to keep her math skills up during this time, so they went online and meet weekly. Her school is providing bare bones online learning but it's just not enough. The hardest part is psychological. With social interactions confined to facetime, and a sense that this is never going to end, and with the knowledge that summer plans are likely going to be cancelled, at least hers will because they were going to take place in a hospital, staying sane is really the ultimate goal at this point.
We have been using khan academy for math for our 2021 grad to get ready for those tests.
We've tried that. My daughter is not a test taker, and this guy is really helping her understand how to take it. She does great on English and reading, good on science, and then just really stumbles on the math part even though she's a good math student. She hasn't taken the actual test since she's been going to him but on practice tests, her math has improved by 5 points. But of course, now some schools are going test optional in 2021. We'll see if any of her choices do that.
March 29th, 2020 at 12:14 PM ^
Based on title, thought this parents might be the recipients of the lessons, not the kids.
My lesson plan to the parents during the crisis: "Stock up on alcohol and find a good hiding place."
March 29th, 2020 at 12:23 PM ^
seth,
we have homeschooled all of our kids, co-oping with the local high school and community college as they have gotten older. we did not slice up the grades as thin as you have here. also, there is a fine line between using workbooks, particularly for the younger ones, and using a computer. i have a number of suggestions for curriculum but much of it is faith based so i won't offer them up here unless asked.
all of that said, i want to encourage all of you parents out there to embrace homeschooling your children. it is an exceptionally efficient and effective way to school your children, and you won't regret the time you spend with them.
also, here is a picture of some homeschooled folks you will all recognize:
go forth and conquer!
March 29th, 2020 at 12:45 PM ^
Do you guys use abeka, bju or something else?
March 29th, 2020 at 12:55 PM ^
hopefully not offending, abeka is known for 'drill and kill', but YMMV. bju has good stuff. teaching textbooks is what we have used for math.
Definitely not offended. We have friends who’ve used it, others who share your view.
My funny BJU story (the college, not the curriculum): one of my HS buddies went there (he was a legacy) and sent me a BJU sweatshirt while I was an undergrad at U of M. I would, from time to time, wear it to open skate at Yost. The number of looks I got was noticeable, and I had more than one person stop me to ask (with no minor amount of incredulity), “do you know what that school stands for??” It was pretty amusing to me to be “counter-culture” in Ann Arbor (LoL).
March 29th, 2020 at 12:45 PM ^
I strongly recommend using this time for your students to learn about learning and cognitive science. Retrieval practice, spaced practice, system 1 and system 2, etc.
The learning scientists are a free resource and if your kid is old enough to read Make it Stick, Why Don't Students Like School, Moonwalking with Einstein, or even something like Inner Game of Tennis or Factfulness. I just finished Thinking Fast and Slow and it was amazing but it's very dense.
Good videos to have your kids watch and then after ask them what they noticed are this one on learning and this one on science videos. If anyone is working on AP chem or chem my channel has a lot of stuff too and I'm happy to help if they need anything.
This worrying about their kids education is ridiculous. It’s been proven that all students need to know is the following:
Math- Pythagorean Theorem
Science- E= MC2
English- I before e except after c
Social Studies- Hawley/Smoot Tariff
Phys Ed- Climbing a rope
Art- Van Gogh cut off his own ear
Health- Abstinence
Music- Flight of the Bumblebee
If they know these things, then they’re set for life.
Because of too many acceptions, the I before E rule has been removed from most updated grammar content. Focus on commas, semicolons, the use of parentheticals, etc. Clause and Phrase types. Sentence variance.
This is a great idea but I would urge every parent to follow whatever guidelines your school district has for learning. I know here in Maryland, I will be teaching my first grade class through Google Classroom but the county I live in and where my son goes to school, Pre-K to 2 grade will receive paper packets with the learning goals. I will use other resources as a supplement/enrichment to curriculum his school district is providing.
I'm a HS PE teacher. Here is my assignment and work to be done while we are closed...get outside if possible (inside if necessary) and be active at least 60 minutes every day. Write down what you did electronically & share it with me. That's it.
I've shared all sorts of at home workout videos from youtube, shared ways to create fitness workouts from home using little to no equipment, and had our kids share with each other on our Google Classroom website what they are doing to stay active to help give others ideas if they aren't sure what to do. I'd be happy to share any of those resources with folks here if they are interested.
Ive always been impressed by the japanese long multiplication method. You can basically multiply any combination of complex long numbers by drawing lines and connecting dots. Not that anybody needs that these days with calculators, but it's still fascinating.
March 29th, 2020 at 10:24 PM ^
An excellent idea with this post, Seth. We homeschooled our daughters for several years. It is an excellent educational alternative. Well done kicking it off here.
And, if I might, I would recommend changing the title of the post and doing away with the word, "stuck". Approaching homeschooling (or anything for that matter) as if you are stuck doing it rarely brings out the best.
Homeschooling is hard for those who haven’t done it before. But you can pop over here to find the help you need. I constantly use online resources during homeschooling.