Katie Thompson

We’ve begun Week 2 of home preschool and I’ve already learned quite a lot, and hopefully the kids have too!

Last week provided a good idea of what to expect each day and how to plan ahead. One thing I noted was that by Thursday and Friday, it seemed like everyone had run out of steam. Hamilton became frustrated when he couldn’t draw a letter perfectly, and I was tired and cranky from nerve and spine pain.

Thursday was saved by our ice activity, as the letter of the day was I. We learned how salt and warm water can melt ice, and saw how using different watercolors turned our ice chunks into melting works of art. I got the idea from this blog on the Artful Parent. The kids were excited to make their own ice afterwards with Maddie exclaiming “I have to show Hamilton!” when she discovered it was ready.

On Friday we took it easy indoors as the weather was rainy and wet. The kids wore their Paw Patrol Halloween costumes (pants optional) and we baked these three-ingredient sugar cookies as our activity to round out a fun week.

The first week was definitely a learning experience in how to better manage our time. I originally overestimated how long it would take to do each activity, and consequently I underestimated the amount of activities I need to plan per day. I’ll definitely be adding more planned activities as we progress, and will be looking for and sharing as many sources as I can!

We’re still waiting on the arrival of new classroom resources in the mail, but we did start this new 180 Days of Problem Solving for Kindergarteners workbook. While Hamilton really enjoyed it, it may still be a little bit above Madeline’s understanding. She didn’t mind adding her own creative interpretation to the lesson though.

I also realized that I am going to rely heavily on our walks and time outside to refresh and stimulate the kids. They need something new towards the end of our lessons every day to recapture their attention after a busy hour or so. I feel very fortunate that we have access to such a great outdoor spot that will provide countless science lessons. Planning around the weather is a must!

A huge thank you is in order to all of my readers and supporters of our family! I have received so many kind messages of encouragement from my last post and on my social media channels. I told Joseph how it felt like everyone knew we could do this, like “Katie’s homeschooling? Ok then! There she goes!” 

I did receive a few valuable wine suggestions from teachers and friends who work with kids for a living, but overall I’ve been very grateful for the positive response we’ve received to our decision to home preschool this year.

Rest assured that no one is perfect though, and everyone, especially myself, are just doing the best we can for our kids right now. I hope that sharing my own lessons learned, and the ups and downs of home preschooling as a parent with disability will help other parents feel more empowered with their own parenting decisions, whatever they may be!

The best “whoops!” moment of the week though had to be when we were on a walk to learn more about objects that start with the letter F. I exclaimed, “Let’s see how many f words…er…I mean, words that start with F we can find!”

Fine. Yes, everything will be FINE.