Pod of One

Homeschooling on a Budget

We are not especially wealthy, especially since I lost my job to COVID-19. We live on a budget, now more than ever. When school closed and I became a stay-at-home dad/home school teacher/tutor/disciplinarian, things changed rather dramatically, as they did for everyone.

My daughter needed me to help her, and I wanted to. We started daily lesson plans, some of which I have already described on here, and others are yet to come. What made this easier is that I’d been accidentally planning for this for the past year without even knowing it.

I’ve gotten very good at finding bargains over the years, and I buy for the future. I call it taking care of “future us”. I thought for a different kind of post today, I would share how I do all of this on a budget.

Clearance Sales are Key

I always search the clearance sales at Target, Walmart and other stores. Both Target and Walmart have a decent sales section, but sometimes clearance is mixed in with the regular items. It helps to have the store’s app to scan items when you see that they are on clearance. Sometimes you find that they’re even cheaper than marked! Plus, it’s easier than finding one of the store scanners and using it over and over.

Both stores have a massive clearance sale around this time of year (August). Walmart recently put almost their whole toy and craft inventory at 70% off. Last week I got a shopping cart full of STEM projects, craft items and more for less than $100 and they will last us quite a long time.

I follow a few Facebook pages that share clearance sales at Walmart and Target. They will send out posts and shoppers share deals and when things are on sale.

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Your Local Dollar Store

The dollar store is an especially great place to pick up crafting supplies. Our good local one is Dollar Tree. I highly recommend checking their aisles carefully, especially the craft aisle. Ours recently added a great wood craft section and we even got some 3-D unicorns and dinosaurs we could paint. They have rainbow popsicle sticks, foam paper, coloring books, and even have a decent supply of workbooks for elementary school-aged students.

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Yard Sales and Flea Markets

COVID-19 has basically put a stop to garage sales right now, but I’ve been going to them for years and they are an easy way to add things to your home school pod. Simple items like sets of blocks and other building toys can be $1 or so, and even brand new crafting sets, STEM sets and more can be $1-3. Totally worth it, but they are hit or miss, so it can be a bit of a commitment.

I highly recommend hitting community yard sales. These usually have 10-20 houses selling items, and while you will have a few homes where there’s nothing useful, you’ll find others where you get a couple hundred dollars worth of materials, kits and games for $20.

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Facebook Marketplace

This is another good place to keep an eye out. Many people sell items here yard-sale style, but they will usually be a little bit more. I’ve gotten great deals on brand new items and craft supplies on Marketplace. Always check the toy section on here for great crafting and STEM kits.

Buy Nothing

Buy Nothing groups on Facebook are pretty amazing. Join the one in your local community and you can gift items you no longer want to someone in your neighborhood. They are sectioned off by town, so you know everyone who posts is fairly close to you. My town is pretty small, so I’ve never driven more then six or seven minutes to pick something up.

People post everything from household goods to toys and crafts, and I’ve gotten our little pod lots of great little additions thanks to it. Find your local Buy Nothing if you want to join through Facebook.

Amazon

Amazon has amazing clearance sales sometimes, but the problem is finding out about them. There are many Facebook groups that help watch for sales, similar to the ones I mentioned for Walmart and Target. Deals & Steals is a good one that focuses on children a bit more than most. There’s also this glitches group and a deals group you may want to follow. They post cheap deals on Amazon, and this was the major way we bought items that kept the whole family busy during the quarantine part of the virus.

So there you have it. This is how I’ve survived the pandemic with a wealth of DIY kits, crafting supplies, STEM toys and more. I’ve been doing this for a few years, and I’m glad to share my experiences.

Do you know another way to bargain your way into a cheaper home school? I’d love to hear about it. Let me know in the comments.

Going to Collage

No, that’s not a misspelled word, considering Amelia is only five. I spent some time with her creating collages from old magazines, National Geographic to be exact, and it was a great little lesson for our pod of one.

Amelia’s Grammy gave us a huge stack of old National Geographic magazines before the virus struck, so we used them. We’d already looked at them a bunch of times, and they were ready to be used in a craft.

First off, it was great practice for scissor safety and motor skills. We watched a few videos on scissor safety before the lesson, which were review for her since she learned it in preschool. But as we all know, it’s better to repeat the lessons from school, because repetition supports what they learn. We discussed handing off scissors to others, walking with scissors, and how to use them safely.

According to Pathways.org, motor skills are important because they are used “everyday throughout our lives. They help us move and do everything from lifting heavy items to typing on a keyboard. Motor skills and motor control begin developing after birth, and will progress as children grow. Having good motor control also helps children explore the world around them, which can help with many other areas of development.”

I know this is something that will be reinforced in kindergarten, so I figured we could practice cutting. At one point, Amelia’s teacher said she could use a little more work on motor skill development, which surprised me. We are a LEGO family, and Amelia helps me put sets together all of the time. I would think putting those tiny Lego pieces together exhibit excellent motor skills.

So I told Amelia we were making a collage, and she wanted to know what one was. I explained the basic idea to her. We were going to find pictures we liked in the magazine, cut them out, and then glue them onto a piece of paper wherever we wanted. She loved the idea so we got started.

I found a nice background and started with that. It was a two-page spread of shells, and I thought it would make a great background. Then I started cutting out animals and people to stick on top.

Amelia went the other route. She cut out all of the cutest animals she could find and started gluing them wherever she wanted.

In the end, we had fun. Who wouldn’t when scissors and glue sticks are involved, right? Amelia was quite proud of her project. We’ve practiced with scissors in many other lessons since then, but this was the first. We should probably create some collages again soon.

Making Spiga-ghetti (Spaghetti)

As far back as I can remember, Amelia has called spaghetti spiga-ghetti, and now I’ve found myself calling it that as well. My wife does too.

I come from a long line of Italians, and my great-grandmother, grandmother and mom all made their own fresh pasta from time to time.

During quarantine, while everyone else was making bread, I ordered semolina flour so Amelia and I could make our own pasta.

It’s a bit of a process, but it’s SO worth it. I used this recipe from Food.com, but there are some supplies you will need that you probably don’t have hiding in your cabinets, like the pasta maker.

Amelia loves cooking and baking, especially cupcakes, but this was a bit different for her. We mixed the dough pretty much as the recipe said to, and she really enjoyed using our mixer.

Then we kneaded the dough at the table, just like my grandmother and I used to when I was a kid. We even used a pasta machine she brought me from Italy.

The cranking is the best part, but it’s tough, especially for a four-year-old’s arms, but Amelia really wanted to do it, and she did.

For me, it’s the nostalgia. I remember making pasta with my mom and my grandmother, and now I’m making it with my daughter. It’s a blast and really brings me back.

We even let the pasta dry on my old hockey stick, just like we did it when I was young.

But man was that delicious. I make my own sauce (my relatives all called it gravy) and I absolutely love the smell of fresh basil simmering in the tomatoes. Amelia helped this time, and I hope one day to teach her my recipe so she will have it when she’s out on her own.

What is one of your nostalgia foods that bring you back to childhood? We’d love to hear from you in the comments. Maybe we will even try something you suggest!

Saving Worms

Ever notice how there are worms slithering around on sidewalks after a rainy day?

Amelia noticed. She spotted them on one of our many really hot days and asked what would happen to them.

“Daddy, what happens to them in the sun?”

“They dry up and die.”

“That’s sad. Let’s save them!”

So we decided to spend the morning rescuing the worms. And let’s face it, worms are great for our garden, so it was win-win. Or if you’re a fan of The Office, win-win-win.

We got a small beach toy and started picking the worms up and placing them inside. Amelia decided she didn’t want to touch them, so she used a very colorful zip tie to put them in. I used my hands.

And then we freed them. We talked about how worms make the soil better, and since I didn’t know much about the science behind it, decided to watch this video:

I love when her questions lead me to new knowledge. Because let’s face it, our kids are going to ask a lot of questions that we do not know the answers to. And on this particular day, I realized that a lot of good lessons for our pod of one could come from her questions.

We also HAD to watch (for the hundredth time) the Coyote Peterson episode where he searches for bloodworms. It really is one of our favorites:

This was something Amelia brought up to me. She wanted to know if the worms on our porch would bite like the do in the video, and I quickly told her no.

She taught me something that day. Sometimes, it’s nice to let her take control of a morning and see what happens. Her wish to save these worms, and her question, brought us both a bit more knowledge. Nothing wrong with that, right?

If you’re looking for a lesson with a little more structure, Growing Minds, Farm to School has some great ideas for lessons and a few books to read.

Ant Farming

One of the more exciting lessons I’ve done lately for my pod of one was an ant farm. I had picked one up on clearance at Tuesday Morning just before the pandemic started. I highly recommend stopping at one of these stores from time to time if you are on a budget. Their prices are pretty good and they often have clearance sections full of learning toys and STEM kits.

The only problem was that I didn’t notice it didn’t include a certificate for the ants, so I had to find them myself. After quite a bit of research, I ended up using a company called Ants Alive because their prices were the best at $4.99USD and free shipping.

We watched a YouTube video on ant colonies, and even watched the Coyote Peterson Ant Bite video. Coyote is a favorite in our house! If you haven’t checked him out, you should.

So I told her about the ants a few weeks after ordering them, which was a mistake. Every day she wanted to check the mail. When they finally came, we followed the directions and put them in the fridge for a bit. This slows them down enough to drop them into the ant farm without worrying about losing some.

This one was a huge hit with Amelia. She checked on them every hour or so to see the tunnels change. It’s pretty amazing how quickly the create their intricate tunnel system.

This farm has a few tubes for them to run around in, and pods for food and water with safety lids to they don’t escape.

We tested different foods and had a lot of fun.

She still checks on them in the morning, although we have a few less at this point.

Gardening is Fun (and Educational)

One of our big events at the beginning of the virus was gardening. Amelia’s great grandmother had given her a few packets of flower seeds, so we started with those.

First, we went over a few online lessons about plants and seeds, since that’s a pretty popular lesson in Pre-K. We started with Scholastic, which had a whole lesson created for teachers. Then we watched a YouTube video or two and read a few books on how plants grow. One was Eric Carle’s The Tiny Seed.

Then it was time to plant the seeds. We had to order seed dirt from Amazon because, you know, quarantine. I would usually go to our township’s free dirt pile. You should definitely look into your township to see if they have a similar program. They collect our yard waste and then create the best soil out of it. The only catch? You have to go with buckets and shovel it yourself.

Of course, Amelia really enjoys shoveling dirt into her buckets while I fill mine, so it is usually a good time.

But this time we used store-bought dirt, and it was really great. We talked about the whole process as we planted them, looked up how often to water them, and waited.

And waited.

There are many reasons gardening can be a positive experience for kids. Rasmussen College lists moderate exercise, healthier eating habits, stress relief and an early awareness of STEM development as a few.

We finally started seeing buds, and practiced using rulers and writing numbers as they grew, recording their growth as they progressed. Eventually, a friend gave us a ton of vegetable seeds (she is a self-proclaimed over-buyer of seeds, which worked out great for us) and we planted zucchini, pickle cucumbers, string beans, tomatoes and sweet peppers.

We learned how often to water them and made a daily routine of taking care of our garden. It was a great mental break from everything going on.

Eventually, we plotted out a veggie garden and transplanted them outside. For a while we had so many zucchini that we had to start giving them to neighbors. Amelia LOVES zucchini, especially grilled, but even she was over it after a while. Maybe I’ll share our recipe for grilled zucchini in a future post.

We had so many flowers grow that our small gardens are overflowing with flowers at this point. But the lesson was extended over a period of months because of the growth of the plants, taking care of them, and then harvesting either veggies or seeds for next year.

Of course, this would also work indoors, especially with flowers. Amazon has pretty cheap seeds, but be careful where you order them from. It’s always good to make sure they will be at your house within a week or so, especially with that whole seed scam going on right now.

Overall, I found this lesson enjoyable because I like gardening, and she learned a lot about plants. Plus whenever we are outside she runs to our string bean plant, pulls a few off, washes them and eats them raw. She loves it.

Kid’s Yoga on Youtube

One day, Amelia noticed my wife’s yoga mat sitting out and asked if we could do some yoga. I figured there had to be some for kids on Youtube, so we did a quick search.

Wow. There are A LOT of yoga videos aimed at children.

I never thought I would be sitting on our carpet doing children’s yoga. But here we are…and my daughter loves it.

Everyone is looking for new ways to keep their kids busy, and come Fall might be looking for ways to fulfill that gym requirement, especially on rainy days when they can’t play outside. Whatever your child’s age or grade, when school is open they get some form of exercise. Now that WE are the teachers, physical activity can be overlooked.

According to the CDC, “Regular physical activity can help children and adolescents improve cardiorespiratory fitness, build strong bones and muscles, reduce symptoms of anxiety and depression, and reduce the risk of developing health conditions.”

Marlynn Wei, MD, JD of Harvard Health Blog agrees. “Yoga and mindfulness offer psychological benefits for children as well. A growing body of research has already shown that yoga can improve focus, memory, self-esteem, academic performance, and classroom behavior, and can even reduce anxiety and stress in children.”

Those are some great reasons to make sure our kids are exercising daily, especially in the days of Switches, iPads and online learning. But another key focus in our current situation is anxiety and depression. We can’t always tell when our children are feeling these things, so daily exercise is a good idea.

That’s where children’s yoga comes in. There are plenty of instructors and youtubers creating yoga content just for children. And they are all as simple as heading to YouTube.

As I went through the choices, Amelia yelled “Cosmic Kids Yoga!” After a quick Q & A session it turns out she had been doing it in Pre-K all along. So I started on and she sat right down into a meditation pose.

After a moment, she asked me for oranges. Apparently, in school they always had fruit while doing yoga, and I wasn’t going to argue against healthy eating. So I left the room to slice some oranges for her, and when I came back, she was totally into the lesson.

This particular yoga instructor, Jaime, does a great job reaching children. Each episode has a theme, such as Frozen, Trolls, Minecraft and Spider-man. Then there are other topics, such as the episode “What is Mindfulness and How to do it.”

The Cosmic Kids Yoga website even offers lesson plans and handouts for sale, and a blog where they share ideas and advice. There definitely other channels of yoga for kids, but this is our go-to channel. The video length and themes seem perfect to us.

One of the more recent blog posts is about dealing with anxiety in children during the pandemic. We watched this one together, and then had a chat about how she was feeling about all of these changes in our life.

These days, I have added yoga to our regular weekly lessons, and sometimes she even requests it. Even in the evening she will ask my wife if they can do it.

The beauty of yoga is that it can be a solitary or group event if you have multiple children or a pod.

It’s helping. My daughter is much more calm and relaxed than she was a few weeks ago, and it gives me a chance to get some work done while she poses, stretches and meditates. As long as I remember to bring her those orange slices.

The Adventure of an Obstacle Course

Creating an obstacle course makes for an exercise-filled, fun day.

Obstacle courses are the best. Right? Who doesn’t love one?

Have you ever thought about how easy they are to create? At the beginning of COVID-19 I was looking for any excuse to get us out of the house and moving. We have a long driveway so one day I set up an obstacle course, and we’ve been doing them ever since.

I’m lucky enough to have a garage full of random items I’ve picked up cheap at yard sales. So I started going through them.

An old sit-and-play airplane? Sure. Basketball net made of PVC pipes? Yup. Bin of chalk? I’ll draw circles we have to hop through. I even grabbed a toy car that had to be pushed and one of those water sprayers and a bucket. My daughter added our hose to the fun.

It was easy enough. We just had to shoot three baskets, jump from circle to circle about fifteen times, ride the airplane ten feet, push the toy car a bit, and then grab the sprayer and hit the flowers. See what I did there? We even finished the chore of watering the garden!

Pre-K Pages has some other great suggestions like hula hoops, pool noodles, water balloons and a few other items that we didn’t think of with our course.

We had a blast. Amelia did it twice and then wanted to know why I wasn’t doing it, so I jumped in too, getting some much-needed exercise myself. It was so much fun that we’ve created many courses since then. Amelia even started coming up with some of the obstacles.

This has a lot of positives. Kids at home aren’t in gym class, so it’s important for us to make sure they are exercising. North Shore Pediatric Therapy lists sequencing and memory, sensory input, strengthening and balance, motor planning and bilateral coordination as the major benefits of obstacle courses.

But for us, the main benefit was fun. And watering the garden…

Welcome

Hello and Welcome!

I am starting this blog hoping that I can help others who may be struggling with educating their children while school is out.

Teaching our kids is hard. I’m not sure how many people knew that before COVID-19, but I think we all know it now. Boy do I appreciate my daughter’s teachers!

We’ve all been home for a few months, and some of us are out and about again. Others aren’t there just yet, and there are some parents who might not think this will ever end.

I have an education background, and hit the ground running when the pandemic started with plans, schedules and short lessons to help my daughter prepare. She is going into Kindergarten in September, and as of now she is scheduled for twice a week.

I’ve been trying to prepare her as best as I can. It helps that I have a few retired teachers related to me.

Join my daughter and I on this adventure as we learn to read, write and create our way through the pandemic. I plan on sharing ideas, lessons, sometimes educational, sometimes fun, but always interesting.

Hopefully I can help others who are in the same situation.

Let’s get started.