I am almost done writing all about our crafts from our time during quarantine. This one Melody seemed to really enjoy. It was a quick craft, but it still had enough detail involved that it kept her busy.
All tagged Unexpectedly Homeschooling
Caterpillar Game
Back during our “unexpected homeschooling” days, crafts were critical. I was reaching for a lot of our crafts, but this one turned out to be a fun one. We made a caterpillar game.
Dot Sheets
Melody loves using her dot markers. She actually will use them in place of paint in a lot of our crafts because they are less messy and she has more fun with them. Well during the early quarantine days when we first started crafting and schooling at home, I used my Silhouette Cameo to cut and draw a bunch of different dot sheets. This lasted two days, but she enjoyed it. Using the Cameo was likely overkill, but at the time we didn’t have enough ink in our printer to print our own. Now I just print them!
Watermelon Matching Game
During all of our homeschooling due to COVID-19, we had to get creative with our crafts. Crafts are Melody’s favorite. I found this one on Crayola’s website. It was a really easy craft to make, and we continue to play with it even today. Melody doesn’t follow instructions 100%, but your child may, ha!
Calendar Time at Home
Back in March when school was closed, and we had to start homeschooling due to COVID-19, we had to get creative about learning at home. One of the things I wanted to continue while at home was calendar time. I decided to make my own calendar at home. I laminated everything so that I could use a dry erase marker on it and reuse it throughout the year.
Craft Stick Sunshine
If you are looking for a fairly easy craft to do to remind you of the outside while not suffering in the high humidity, this is it, ha! You can improvise with supplies if you don’t have what I used on hand, and it is easy for just about any age to do.
Stoplight Craft
Melody begs for crafts at all times I feel like. This is a craft we did early on during the quarantine when we were going over colors and such. We had all of the things on hand for this easy craft too.
3D Printed Volcano
During the quarantine we have tried to find fun ways to entertain ourselves at home. One of those things involved making a volcano. I had seen people doing this all over my facebook feed simply using a clear solo cup. But Brad decided to go beyond that and make a volcano using his 3D printer!
Unexpectedly Homeschool Week Eleven
So as much fun as I have had doing these weekly posts, I am planning for this to be my last post in regards to homeschooling for a while. This current week we are taking a break since we have a lot of birthdays we are celebrating which means spending some much needed time with our families. However, I do plan to continue using the resources I have mentioned before throughout the summer for at least 2 days a week. I am aiming do to 3 days, but once things start to open back up more and we get out more, I don’t want to count on it. These posts will be neat to look back on as we get back to normal again, and I plan to of course continue blogging and updating you with all the things we have going on in our lives!
Unexpectedly Homeschooling Week Ten
So this would have been Melody’s last week of school and her last week of dance before her recital this past weekend. Well we know the ending to that story, right? We actually get to go to her preschool this week and pick up her things since we unexpectedly stopped school. It will be through the carline and we won’t get to hug or see any of her classmates, but at least this does give us some closure. As far as her dance recital, it has been postponed until June. And she actually gets to go back to dance class next week! Yay! Anyhow, onto the week. We did school as usual, but Melody was not into getting dressed in her tutu and tights for dance, so we didn’t argue. Our biggest battle this week was learning to brush our teeth with fluoride toothpaste. Anything that involves change is a battle. But by the end of the week she wasn’t fighting us as much!
Color Mixing
I decided to make a color mixing sheet using Microsoft Word to show Melody what colors make when mixed together. This is actually a really fun and semi-mess free “craft”. We have mixed colors beyond the primary colors too. When we do this craft, I let her go through all of my paint and pick all the colors she wants to mix together. We then use q-tips to do the mixing which makes this a pretty clean activity even while using paint!
Unexpectedly Homeschooling Week Nine
So we are very, very close to what would have been the end of our school year. Preschool always ended a week or so earlier than the city schools. It is really bittersweet to be here, but that is where we are. Ironically Melody wore the same apple dress (as more of a shirt/tunic on Friday), that she wore a year ago. Next week we tackle new learning tools too! Below you can find pictures from our week this week!
Unexpectedly Homeschooling Week Eight
So in the COVID-19 world, Alabama was released from our “stay at home orders” and now we are under “safer at home orders again”. Basically non-essential stores may open at lower capacities, but that does not include salons, massage parlors, etc. There are some other rules and changes, and you can find those online if you are truly interested. That all began on Friday, May 1. We don’t really plan to change much, if any, of our routine until we see how these next two weeks pan out.
Painted Chick
We did this craft before Easter, but I think it also can be a craft you can do anytime. It is another unique craft in that you don’t use a paint brush. And if your kid is a little older, they should be able to do it all without little help!
Unexpectedly Homeschool Week Seven
This week has been a really good week as far as school goes. Melody has actively participated, and we were also able to repurpose my old computer so that Melody can watch her videos on that without using mine. We accomplished a lot of crafts including some for Mother’s Day and a few “miss you” ones too. We took a break from dance on Thursday. I think Melody may be getting burned out doing it twice a week. So we may back down to the usual once a week and see if that helps her eagerness. Daddy was teacher one morning while I had a checkup at my doctor. We also had to rearrange things on Friday because we had to make an urgent trip to the local urgent care for Brad. A few stitches later and he is good. And we were able to finish the day up!
Unexpectedly Homeschooling Week Six
This week I am keeping it simple. We did school; we learned; we danced; we played; we crafted; we are still exhausted, ha! A few new things this week happened though. Melody did start riding her tricycle on her own for long stints. We did take a really long nap after this long, exhausting week.
Fingerprint Cross
So while we did this craft as an Easter craft, it can definitely be a craft you can do anytime of year. We plan to display this cross year around. Because of this, I did it on a canvas instead of regular paper. But this also can be done on regular paper too!
Painting with Easter Eggs
If you are like me, you now have tons of those plastic Easter eggs laying around this week. Well one thing you can do with them is have your kids paint with them! You can make this as simple or as elaborate as you want. I let Melody pick 4 paint colors. Then we took two eggs and separated them. Then she used the inside of each egg to paint.
Unexpectedly Homeschooling Week Five
This week has been a fairly quiet week as far as anything new goes that impacts us. We kept our focus on Easter this week, and we also spent a lot of time outside when we could.
Bunny Mask
The bunny mask is the last of my Easter specific crafts, I think. These last two weeks have been full of Easter and spring crafts. And there are definitely some more spring crafts to come, and even a fun after-Easter craft next week too! What is kind of neat about this craft is you can do this with a variety of animals too.