Wife, Mother and now Teacher???

I am sure that everyone can agree that 2020 has be one craaaazy year! With everything going on, we have to adjust to this new way of living. With schools shutting down, parents became teachers and we are now starting another academic school year. I'm not going to lie...when this first happened, I was truly annoyed. How can schools expect working parents to be on top of kids' schoolwork? Obviously after a while, you come to realize that keeping your child home was the best option to keep them safe and healthy. Thank God Kendall and I were able to come up with a schedule and rotate days where someone was home with Mason while the other person was at work. 

If you follow my instagram page, you have seen a few things that I have been doing with Mason while home. It is important that he continues to get the education he would have received if he was still going to preschool. I'm sure all parents can agree, it's not easy! If we wanted to be teachers, we would have done that! lol But of course, we always come through for our kids. It takes dedication, patience and creativity to keep up with your children's learning activities each day. Oh did I mention patience?? lol I'm not sure if its easier as your kid gets older, but I know that teaching a 3yr old is rough. If it was up to Mason, he would wake up every morning and play with his toys or watch Spiderman lol. So you may ask, "How do you do it?" 

1. Make it fun! I use Pinterest a lot. Pinterest has a lot of great ideas for fun projects. I'm sure you all could tell by now that Mason loves science. lol He loves to create things and figure out how they work. His science projects help him to have fun while learning! What does your kid like to do? Think about how your kid has fun and how you can turn it into a cool lesson. Mason loves sports. He practices playing basketball often so I would ask him to point out a color in his room and if he gets it right, he can take a shot. This way he is playing and he is getting motivated to get the answer correct! Another quick example is when he was learning the meaning of the colors on the traffic light. I would show him the color green and he dances quickly to the music. Then I would show the color yellow and he would dance very sloooooowww. And then of course he freezes when I show him the color red and the music stops. 

2. Ask for help! Luckily my mother ran her own daycare for years and now works with preschool kids in the Baltimore public school system. If it was up to Kendall and I, she would move to VA and just be Mason's teacher. lol Either way, I am very thankful that along with every visit, she brings something from her school that can help us. From posters with the alphabet, numbers to shapes and puzzles. Even if she didn't have it, I often call her to ask for advice. "How do I get Mason to understand this?" "What is the best method to use when teaching him this?" Find someone that has more experience in this and ask them questions! 

3. AMAZON! Everyone loves amazon lol. Mason was attending a private school before this whole pandemic arrived which obviously cost some good money. This school year, they decided to not provide virtual learning for preschoolers and we would be legally responsible to continue to pay for the entire year. Kendall and I weighed our options and felt it was best to just keep him home. Kendall and I are currently still on a rotating schedule, Mason can stay home away from anyone who may get sick and he can continue to get the education he would have been getting with the dedication of his parents. So with that being said, I got on amazon and looked up some things that I believed would help us out. Recently, I ordered a calendar, a poster with the days of the week, ABC/Number workbooks and grips to help him with holding pencils correctly. 

To give you an idea of what to do...this is a few things we do or have done. :) 

• Ms. Monica's circle Time (on Youtube)
• Jack Hartmann Kids Music (on Youtube)
• Story Time 
• Review the basics everyday - Sing your ABC's and Count (to 10 or 20)
• ABC and Number recognition - Ask what a certain letter/number is out of its normal order. Ask him to point out a certain number/letter to you
• Practice writing - Write their name, letters (uppercase/lowercase) and numbers. First trace and then try on their own
• Shape recognition 
• Projects -Make a volcano, lava, a traffic light (while learning who created it), a rocket ship (while learning who was the first African American to go out of space), painting (paint their hands different colors representing the different races in this world and explain who Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was) 
• Dance Breaks!! 

I hope this helps some and everyone has a great school year!!!