LUNCH DOODLES with Mo Willems!
It pains me to admit it, but there are some things I actually enjoy about home learning. Knee deep in week eight here in Hong Kong, I’ve spent a lot of the past weeks bemoaning being stuck inside with a full plate of work and two energetic kids. As my mom so pointedly said at the beginning of all this: “Anne, somehow I never pictured YOU home schooling.” Truth, mom. TRUTH. I’m not particularly patient nor am I good with kids. So you might say I’m not coming from a place of strength here. That said, I’m trying to embrace a growth-oriented mindset. So here goes:
Annie’s Glass-Half-Full Approach to Home Learning (i.e., “Three Unexpected Benefits of Home Learning”)
- Renewed admiration and gratitude for teachers and school faculty (administrators, cafeteria workers, janitors, etc.). You guys rock. Bless you. Thank you for all that you do.
- Enhanced engagement with my kids’ schooling. As I told my cousin, it’s not just engagement, but it’s just downright awareness. Rather than glancing at my kids’ worksheets or books over the dinner table, we are now intimately involved in their daily learning. Each week, I see how the reading / writing / math / social studies lessons are crafted to build on the week / day before. And I see how the teachers cross-pollinate key themes across lessons.
- New appreciation for the role technology can play in education. We strictly
Zoom PE with all of G3!
limit device usage and to my kids’ chagrin, I’m anti-video games (no judgement, just not for me!). In a normal school week, the kids might watch an hour of total TV and are lucky if they get some tablet time. So it’s safe to say I’m skeptical of screen time, (largely because I think it’s passive and not engaging). But I’ve changed my perspective. I’ve watched my kids engage enthusiastically and creatively with their teachers and classmates via Zoom and Seesaw. Today, my daughter even had a PE class via Zoom! Other platforms and apps like Quizlet (for Mandarin), IXL (for reading and math), Raz Kids (for reading), and Sora (for reading) have added variety to our home learning days and keep them engaging dynamically.
Next up? A list of my kids’ favorite home learning (and home playing!) resources…
shinespot.co 
I hope one of the silver linings in all of this (and there will be many), is to see if this alternate way of learning via technology might better serve some students who haven’t had success in the traditional classroom setting. Identifying a different way to deliver curriculum might be a great tool for that population. We shall see…
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