After an extended winter break, Astrid is back in the classroom. Unlike provinces out east, BC didn’t resort to a week of online learning (for which I am grateful) but they did delay the start of school from January 4th to 10th. We had to figure out how to keep Astrid busy for four days while Emily and I were still working.

Our solution – an improvised week of homeschooling. We divided the day into 3 buckets: time with a parent, time alone, and screen time. We came up with a schedule every day that Astrid had input into, but we weren’t rigid about it and everyday something interrupted what we had planned (like tobogganing with friends in the park).

For parent time we would have dance parties, play outside, read books, or play board games. It’s surprising how much you can learn from a board game like math, problem solving, and strategy.

Astrid went on a nature walk with Ellie one day and Emily helped her document all the plants they found. We’ve been reading the Zoey and Sassafras series and Astrid was inspired to start a science journal.

For alone time, Astrid could play by herself, make lego creations, do activity books, or colour. She had a hard time staying focused for more than 30 minutes on her own. I tried making her a few worksheets with math and spelling puzzles. She really enjoyed doing them (her favourite was circling the biggest number), but they took me twice as long to make them as they did for her to solve them. I’m impressed that Astrid can now interpret 2 digit numbers and is getting pretty good at addition and subtraction of single digit numbers.

For screen time Astrid watched tv shows like Blue’s Clues and played computer games like Toca World. We also discovered some fun educational games that she liked – Alphabet Bingo and Math Bingo.

There were definitely parts of homeschooling I found rewarding (like teaching Astrid math), and I liked spending more time with her, but it was a tiring week and it helped reinforce that I never want to homeschool her full time. I’m grateful that Emily and I both have flexible jobs when we need it and that Astrid that has a good teacher at school.