Homeschool Challenge – QWK Week 2

The homeschool challenge threw a kink into our quarantine with kids schedule. Didn’t we have enough activities? Adding homeschool into the mix of crafts, story time, meal prep, and physical exercise was too much!

Challenge to Find the Homeschool Assignments ~

This week the 15 year old began receiving assignments from his regular teachers. The first day he logged into my computer and said, “I have assignments, but they aren’t due until Friday. I don’t need to worry about them today.”

I lay awake that night thinking we needed to hit this problem head on. His parents had to work all day and his mom is in healthcare. She has enough stress in her life right now without dealing with homework in the evening.

So, the next day I sat at the computer with the 15 yo. “Show me your assignments.” He clicked on the school website, breezed past his class list to the assignments. “I’ve already done these,” he said with a wave of his hand.

“I need to do this one assignment for Agriculture. One of the choices is preparing a recipe and listing the agricultural sources for the ingredients.”

Pizza for a Homeschool Challenge

We decided he could make pizza for lunch. I could video his efforts and he could edit the video. He got an assignment done and we got lunch. Everybody came out a winner.

 Challenge to Complete the Homeschool Assignments

After pizza, I asked about his other assignments.

“The rest aren’t due until Friday.” He closed the school website and walked away. I let it go for one more day.

In the morning, I determined to discover all of his assignments. We sat at the computer again. He logged onto the school site. “Here’s the list. I’m almost done,” he said.

“Wait. Back up. Where are your classes listed? Which assignment list is yours?”

“This – is – my – assignment – list – here – Grammy. Do – you -understand?”

“Hey! I don’t like your attitude. Stop and point to your class list.”

He showed me the list. I wrote down the assignments on a sticky note and put it on the computer.

“Okay. No free time until you complete today’s work.”

He completed two assignments and I agreed we could do a different activity.

Time to Get Outside

We went to the front yard with the 3 year old to do some yard work. Four bags of mulch lay on my porch where they had been for two months. With free labor available, I decided “Now is the time to get it done.”

Homeschool Challenge Complete (For This Week)

The next day, the 15 yo was very cooperative and showed me all of his remaining assignments. I advised him on a couple and then walked away. He completed the rest on his own. Because they have a deal, his dad let him stay home on Friday. The 15 yo completes a chore, then he gets 30 minutes to play video games. So, he was doing chores at home after all! To read about my earlier doubts that he was doing chores, see Trouble With the Schedule – QWK Day 2.

Friday Fun For the 3 YO

Since we didn’t have to worry about the homeschool challenge on Friday, the 3 yo got to do a fun activity. I bought a packet of beads and found some elastic in my sewing drawer. We used the supplies to create a bracelet for him. Look for other bead projects at CraftProjectIdeas.com.