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Earth Week: 5 Days of Activities

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It’s Earth Week, so I thought it was a good time to start sharing my themed homeschool schedules given that we started this around a year ago this month. Last year, when the pandemic hit, our boys’ schools initially responded as did many across the nation and they were sent home. For the first couple of days, it was like spring break -the sequel. Then, we realized this was not going away as they made the choice to go virtual for the remainder of the year. My boys are 8 and 5, and after a few days it was apparent that their schoolwork was not going to take them longer than about 2 hours on average, if that. At that point, they provided lots of input into what the rest of the day’s activities should entail. They submitted all sorts of proposals to the resident committee. Most of them consisted of PS4, T.V. or the variety proposal consisting of part PS4, part T.V. After careful consideration, the committee thanked them for their input but respectfully declined their offer.

One of my favorite cards from the Exploding
Kittens game.

There is no way they were going to sit in front of some sort of screen for the remaining 6-8 hours a day until dinner while we worked. So now what? I am not a teacher, so I knew there was no way I was going to start a serious homeschool curriculum. So, I decided to come up with activities that would take up at least part of the day. The goal was to be educational and fun, because after all, it was just a supplement to what the school was teaching. I feel like I was lucky in that because of their ages, we didn’t have really complicated curriculum that we were having to help them with. Wood had 1st grade reading and math concepts and Graham had his pre-K targets. Also, the lockdown occurred at the end of the school year, so by then they were mainly doing review of already learned concepts. This part was fun for me because I got to come up with fun themes and throw in some educational pieces to just fill in the gaps after virtual learning. My goal was to occupy them until just after lunch so they could still have a couple of hours of free time. Then, we would take the necessary breaks from screen time as needed depending on how the afternoon went. So, that was my plan and I started the execution after the first couple of days of game-apalooza. I decided on this new strategy right around Earth Day last year so that was our very first themed week.

Now, I need to point out a couple of things. First, during the weeks they were still in school, I aimed to include some of the extras like art, science, Spanish, and tried to introduce some geography. Those are subjects they were either not getting virtually or not at all. For Graham, I tried to add some concepts each day that he got in school as well like checking the calendar and going over the day and month including a weather check. I am including links to any of the items we used below. Another challenge I had was that at first my boys had zoom calls at different times, so in the beginning I needed to come up with something they could work on independently until their calls were finished. Later, as they entered summer break, I actually continued these themed weeks because as you know, we were still in lockdown for quite a while. They couldn’t go to summer camps and do the normal fun activities outside the home, and were bored. I continued putting together themes that were fun and educational, so they were not just sitting in front of the T.V. or playing on devices all day. As I entered into summer break, I was a little bit more relaxed on our extras at times and we just focused on having some fun. We have about 11 weeks of themed schedules I plan to share and honestly, we had a blast last year. It was a difficult time for all and no, not every day went perfect, but we made some great memories. This is one of my favorite blessings I look back on from 2020. Certainly a positive in the midst of a lot of negative. There were days they told me they had fun and liked the activities we did. I don’t think we’ll ever forget this past year but at least we have some unique memories documented. We certainly laughed a lot too, because I don’t really know what I am doing and some of my ideas were a bit crazy. We pressed on, though, and I am so glad we did. Recently Wood’s class had to be quarantined for 10 days due to contact tracing. As we headed back into virtual learning, he actually asked, “Mom, can you do some homeschooling for me?” Mom win. He actually got tested and was able to go back to school earlier than we thought. It was a bit bittersweet as I was thankful he was healthy and realized school is where he needs to be, but I would certainly miss the opportunity to pull out my inner activities coordinator again.

The schedule below actually includes the times we did each activity which of course is an approximation because things never really go that well, right? I also want to point out that I laid it out on a five day, Monday-Friday schedule. Given that its already mid-week, you may not have time for all of these activities. However, I think you can use this theme any time, really. Do some now, and some later, even if it’s not earth week. For my theme, I used the word, earth as an anacronym for our activities each day. If there are things you are trying to work on with your kids, I think the morning before their school work begins is a great time for review. That is why you see 8-9 as the time we get up, eat and review our memory verse or song during breakfast. Maybe they are working on a poem or reviewing some safety tips you want them to remember in certain situations. As the week continues, it is a good time for review of concepts from previous days as well. As you will see, I also set aside time each day for recess. We actually played some games outside. My boys love games so it helped for me to have an activity to help guide the fun. I have one little one who loves to just roam and play but my other child likes to do more coordinated activities. My mother-in-law helped us out a great deal so most days we had enough people to play some sort of game. Some kids just want to run, so you do recess the way that works best for your crew. My activity for each of the boys to work on while they were waiting on the other to finish school zooming was an ‘all about me’ board. We used a small canvas but a medium or large poster board works too. The image below is the format we used. You can add or change sections to make it however you and your little ones want it to look. They worked on their boards while they waited on each other to finish their schoolwork. Then, we were able to do our earth week activities together. For our memory verses, we sometimes use the songs available on Spotify under The Village Kids. This week we were learning Romans 5:8, “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” We listened to accompanying song available on this list. Having a jingle always helps in remembering things.

Format for All About Me Board

EARTH WEEK!

    TREES-Monday

           ANIMALS-Tuesday

WATER-Wednesday

           TERRAIN-Thursday

           HOME PLANET: EARTH!-Friday

Monday: All About Trees!

  • 8:00-9:00-Boys get up/eat breakfast. Practice verse song during breakfast.
  • 9:00-10:00 -Big brother has zoom/classwork; little brother starts all about me board. Need height, weight and age added. Color section.
  • 10:00-11:00-Little brother has zoom/classwork; big brother starts all about me board. Need height, weight and age added. Color section.
  • 11:00-11:30-For art, we drew a tree. My little ones love to draw. We go online and search for videos of how to draw things. They love to follow along and draw with the teacher. We can usually find a video on YouTube Kids if they want to do this. Also, check out this video: Trees for Kids | Learn all about trees in this fun educational video for kids – YouTube. Ask your kids to come up with 3 things they learned about trees!
  • 11:30-12:00-Recess: Freeze Tag outside
  • 12:00-12:30-Reading:  YouTube animated reading of The Giving Tree : The Giving Tree Animated Video. We also read Dragons Love Tacos, The Very Hungry Caterpillar and R is for Rocket. Check them out here: Dragons Love Tacos, The Very Hungry Caterpillar, R is for Rocket
  • 12:30: LUNCH!
Our Tree Art!

Tuesday: Amazing Animals!

  • 8:00-9:00-Boys get up/eat breakfast. Practice verse song during breakfast.
  • 9:00-10:00-Big brother has zoom/classwork; little brother continues all about me board. Birthday section-enter birthday, discuss wishes. Color section.
  • 10:00-11:00-Little brother has zoom/classwork; big brother continues all about me board. Birthday section-enter birthday, discuss wishes. Color section.
  • 11:00-11:30-Science

Questions:

  1. Why do you think we need animals?
  2. Fun facts:
    • Cows give us cheese, milk, steak, hamburgers, etc.
    • Ants dig their tunnels and bring air to the soil helping plants grow.
    • Dogs have enormous sense of smell. Some help police officers and offer protection for people.
    • Bats: they can eat hundreds of insects an hour. Activity: We wrote a thank you card to bats and made our own bats to hang up. To make: Cut four strips of black construction paper. Lay one on top of another to make a cross and glue in center. Then lay the third and fourth to make an ‘x’ gluing each on top of the other. Curl the ends up and staple them together to make the body. Cut out some wings and attach to the side of your bat. Add some googly eyes and any other decoration you want!
  3. Pull up national geographic kids and pick an animal video they want to watch. Click on videos at the top and select ‘amazing animals’. Let them pick one they want to learn more about. Under ‘animals’ on the home page there are categories of animals you can click to read more about too.
I gave my bat a pink bow!

National Geographic Kids

Wednesday: Learn About The Oceans

Thursday: Let’s Talk Terrain

  • 8:00-9:00-Boys get up/eat breakfast. Practice verse song during breakfast.
  • 9:00-10:00-Big brother has zoom/classwork; little brother continues all about me board. What are your favorite foods? Add words or pictures. Color section.
  • 10:00-11:00-Little brother has zoom/classwork; big brother continues all about me board. What are your favorite foods? Add words or pictures. Color section.
  • 11:00-11:30-Geography

Questions/Video

  1. Do you know the word, terrain? Definition: the lay of the land. Is land elevated or flat? Rocky? Does it have water? These are all ways to describe the terrain.
  2. What are some examples of different terrain you can think of? (mountains, hills, valleys, flat areas, desserts, etc)
  3. We watched this video on how mountains are made: Where Do Mountains Come From? | Geology for Kids
  • 11:30-12:00-Recess indoors. Play a board game, like Dinosaur Escape since we are learning about different kinds of terrain and how mountains are formed. Check it out here Dinosaur Escape
  • 12:00-12:30-Reading: Superworm, My Little Book of Dinosaurs, Duck and Goose Go to the Beach. Identify different types of terrain as you read these stories. Links here: Superworm, My Little Book of Dinosaurs, Duck & Goose Go to the Beach
  • 12:30-LUNCH!

Friday: Our Planet Earth!

  • 8:00-9:00–Boys get up/eat breakfast. Practice verse song during breakfast.
  • 9:00-10:00-Big brother has zoom/classwork; little brother continues all about me board. Favorite things to do. Color section.
  • 10:00-11:00-Little brother has zoom/classwork; big brother continues all about me board. Favorite things to do. Color section.
  • 11:00-11:30-Home Planet-EARTH! We watched this National Geographic video on the solar system: Solar System. Also, there are some ‘Fast Facts’ about Earth on the same site. Link here: Space: Mission to Earth — National Geographic Kids
  • 11:30-12:00-Recess: Basketball, Simon says outside
  • 12:00-12:30-Reading: 5 Minute Star Wars Stories, The Sun is Kind of a Big Deal, and Aliens Love Dinopants. Links here: Star Wars: 5-Minute Star Wars Stories, The Sun Is Kind of a Big Deal, Aliens Love Dinopants
  • 12:30-LUNCH!

It’s completely impossible to cover all the amazing things about Earth in one week, right? We could spend an entire week on trees alone. Or oceans. I wanted to talk a little about each of these things to introduce them at a high level. It is good to have perspective. To realize how big our planet is with all of its amazing features. Then, when we dive in and look at each one up close, hopefully the boys will have a good frame of reference. When they stand on a beach and look out over the ocean, maybe they will be reminded of the picture of Earth from space. Our planet is beautiful. In case you are wondering if we talked about ways to take care of the planet, absolutely, we did. We have to be good stewards of all that we have been given and the earth is a beautiful gift. There are many various quotes out there about leaving a place better than you found it. I think this goes back to character. Teaching the boys to take care of things. If they borrow, return what they borrowed in better shape. Go above and beyond. Be considerate of others. We are taught in Matthew 22:39 to, “Love your neighbor as yourself.” We won’t be throwing trash in other people’s yards or anywhere else if we are living that out. Additionally, we should be grateful and be in awe of the beauty of God’s creation and certainly not destroy its resources.

“When I consider your heavens,
    the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars,
    which you have set in place,
what is mankind that you are mindful of them,
    human beings that you care for them?”-Psalm 8:3-4

Our planet is positioned at a perfect distance from the sun to allow it to be habitable. We are protected by an atmosphere that warms us and a magnetic field that prevents damage from solar radiation. We also happen to have the necessary chemical components for enabling life, such as water and carbon. The beautiful trees and plants give off the oxygen that we need to breathe.

This place called home is pretty amazing.

“The earth has music for those who listen.”-William Shakespeare

“To look out at this kind of creation out here and not believe in God is to me, impossible.”-John Glenn

Additional Resources: World and US Map; Calendar Pocket Chart—Monthly Elementary Calendar

Happy Earth Week from Mockingbirdmom.com!

ginnymetheny

I am a working mom with two young boys, one in pre-K and one in 2nd grade.

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