Suddenly & temporarily homeschooling parents: I'm a work-at-home mom of six who has been homeschooling for over 20 years & I'm here to help if you have questions! I call my family's learning style "Tidal Homeschooling" in recognition of natural ebbs & flows in life & learning. 1/
One of my kids is high risk for respiratory issues, so our family began social distancing about a week before it went national. This is definitely a low tide season in our homeschooling life! Lots of art projects & games. Gardening. Poetry. Baking. Music. A bit of mellow math. 2/
And readalouds, our absolute staple! Grab a copy of Finn Family Moomintroll or By the Great Horn Spoon or Stella by Starlight or Bronze & Sunflower or The Fourteenth Goldfish or Where the Mountain Meets the Moon or The Girl Who Drank the Moon or...(I could do this all day) 3/
As you can see, I'm bananas about middle-grade fiction. That's what I write! Starting next Monday I'll be reading my novel The Prairie Thief out loud every day at 4pm EDT/1pm PDT. Details coming soon—you can sign up for my newsletter & get more book recommendations. Also 4/
my blog—the archives are crammed with book recs for all ages & other fun learning resources. melissawiley.com/blog/ (you can sign up for the newsletter from that link too) 5/ #tidalhomeschooling
But listen, I'm seeing a lot of tweets about the struggles families are experiencing and I get it. I've homeschooled through book deadlines & killer workloads & breast cancer & kids in the hospital & you name it. What I've learned: relationship is the most important thing. 6/
Carve out some work time for yourself & a family quiet reading time if that fits your schedule. Dig out old toys the kids outgrew—nostalgia is a major entertainment aide in times like this. Play board games. Make slime. Find art & craft supplies from projects you meant 7/
to finish—let the kids have at 'em. That bin of quilting supplies I've been hoarding? Yeah, I'm never going to be a quilter. That fabric is fair game for cooped-up kids now. 8/
We're getting ready to launch a massive D&D campaign—I'm DMing. And the kid who likes gardening is helping me repot plants. The kid who likes games is roping siblings in to play. Lots of Wii action too. 9/
If they have packets of schoolwork they have to do, don't let that be the thing that pits you against each other. Working one on one often takes less time than group learning. (Group learning has its perks too. We're missing our co-op these days.) Get gummy bears or pretzels 10/
for lesson time b/c chewing helps people concentrate. No, really, it's a thing. melissawiley.com/blog/2005/08/0… Keep lesson time short for now, and if they're writing, you write too! Good time to start your plague journal. 11/
Homeschoolers all over the internet are sharing resources right now. bravewriter.com/about/homebound is a fabulous place to start. Or follow @juliebravewriter on IG. Read her book The Brave Learner: Finding Everyday Magic in Homeschool, Learning, & Life. We're all brave learners now! 12/
Follow @poetryforge on Instagram for poems & thoughts to keep you sane and grounded. instagram.com/poetryforge/ I recommend @CommonplacePod and @theslowdownshow too -- vital listening for my peace of mind. And the Poetry Unbound podcast! 13/
Use up the paints & good paper you've been hoarding. Or use printer paper and a ballpoint. Get messy. Do round robin drawings where you draw a bit, your kid adds to it, you add more, you all laugh hysterically & make sweet memories. Get out the family photos. Make videos! 14/
Watch science videos. Watch Bill Nye! Find Cyberchase on PBS Kids! (More magical nostalgia for my gang.) SING, sing as much as you can. Youtube search any song + karaoke—now's the time for your family to find that perfect song they can belt out. It's a life skill! 15/
If they have math to do: here's the thing. There are loads of ways to learn math. If a concept isn't making sense, ask for help here on Twitter. You'll be bombarded with creative ideas. 16/ #tidalhomeschooling
Don't try to make it "school at home." The dynamic is SO different. You can do math in bed & foreign language while loading the dishwasher. Make beanbags (remember that fabric stash? If you don't have thread just staple them) & toss them while chanting times tables 17/
Find out what each kid has been yearning to learn. Ukelele? Coding? Cake decorating? Let that happen now. Ransack the cabinets. Try Creativebug or Skillshare for classes. Millions of tutorials on Youtube. Let them go deep if they want. 18/
Or let them chill out if that's what they need. Down time is a precious commodity & lots of kids don't get much of it these days. Read comics. Crumple aluminum foil & have a catch in the living room. Tape TP rolls (if you scored any) to the wall to make marble tunnels 19/
I would say fill a pan with rice & hide "artifacts" for littles to find, but maybe you should save your rice for eating. 20/
All I want to do right now is embroider—I have a couple of TOTALLY ABSORBING stitching projects—but I have a heavy workload at the moment so I have to squeeze it in. Find out what your kid's (and YOUR) embroidery equivalent is and let now be the time. 21/
A school day includes making lunches & walk/drive/bus time & moving between classes & tests & homework (one of my six goes to public school, I get it)—remember all those minutes are free now. 22/
So you don't have to expect homeschooling to take as many hours as school-school. In our "high tide" times (structured learning), we knock out our work between 9 and noon. Afternoons are free time for my kids & work for me. I have college grads—it worked fine! :) 23/
My one school kid is in 10th grade. His teacher sent me a packet of schoolwork but said the only thing to make sure he keeps up with is the gratitude journal. 3 things a day. I loved that idea & made them for my younger kids too. 24/
This thread got long! I have a bajillion ideas but they all come back to leaning into the together time as much as possible, diving deep into personal interests, keeping a daily rhythm that suits your family (including your own work time), & lots of readalouds for all ages. 25/
Another thing we do! (See? I can't stop.) My family uses The West Wing as a spine for 10th grade civics. It's a springboard for all sorts of research topics. You can do the same thing with any show. #suddenlyhomeschooling 26/
Any kid interest can be that springboard. Homeschoolers call it "rabbit trailing." melissawiley.com/?s=rabbit+trail (I've written a ton about it over the years.) #suddenlyhomeschooling #tidalhomeschooling 27/
Schoolhouse Rock. Downton Abbey. The Importance of Being Earnest. Horrible Histories. Fun in themselves, and also: springboards! 28/
Mad Libs. Hot Wheels on the stairs. Jim Weiss stories. Baby books! Seriously. My 11yo son happened upon all our old Sandra Boynton & Byron Barton board books the other day & hauled them all upstairs for a giggly rereading session. 29/
Hit me up for ideas anytime. I know it's challenging to do kids and work in the same space & same time frame! But it can be joyful, I promise. Forget about subject categories & just explore stuff. Let the teens sleep let. Let the tweens learn fancy hairstyles on Youtube. 30/
Make a family Minecraft kingdom. We had one & my kids kept filling my house with pigs, & one of the tweens had a longrunning Monty Pythonesque retort competition w/ my husband via the wooden signs 31/
My parenting life got hit with a 9-month children's hospital stay when my oldest was 2yo (leukemia, she's 24 & healthy now) so I had to learn fast and young (I was 26! a chidling myself!) how to make life fun for my kid & me in social distancing situations. 32/
Dangit, I keep trying to wrap this up and then NOT wrapping. I'll paste all this into a blog post later. Holler if I can help with anything. Thanks for doing your part to #FlattenTheCurve! #COVID19 #homeschooling #tidallearning #coronavirus 33/END (for now at least
Ha, I'm pouring all these tweets into a blog post as promised & I entered "tide" into my Wordpress photo archive & found this photo of our fridge whiteboard 4 years back. Proof that suggesting fun stuff to do is literally my primary occupation. 
As promised, the blog version: melissawiley.com/blog/2020/03/1…
