Step 1: Keep Breathing (and remember to keep doing this)
For personal experience I can tell you, no one’s first year of teaching is awesome. Just ask your student’s teacher (next time you are allowed to see them). It is okay to feel completely lost, overwhelmed, and inadequate. It’s okay if your student looks at you like– “Who are you to tell me this?” You are navigating your new role. With that in mind–give yourself a TRIPLE portion of grace.
Step 2: Give Yourself an End-of-Summer Day (or “the-day-before-school-starts” day), before you begin.
Veg out, take a walk, eat some chocolate, watch a movie, stare at the wall. Give yourself permission to be lifeless before your new job of educator officially starts.
Step 3: Explore These FREE Educational Resources
- Khan Academy – Fabulous source of engaging, high-quality content from a non-profit educational site. You may need to register, but the content is free.
- Librivox – Free audio books of public domain resources (blog link using this resource)
- Project Gutenberg – A great source for text-based copies of works in the public domain (blog with usage of this source)
- Open Library – Borrow digital copies of library books for 2 weeks at a time from this site (see our recent post on this resource)
- Your local Library (Source of e-books and more (and possibly Kanopy streaming service for foreign movies).)
- Tom Sheppard Software – Free source of fun, educational games
- Scholastic – They jumped in early to provide classes for closed school districts.
Step 4: Investigate Other Resources (prices vary)
- Time4Learning: Many in the homeschool community use this resource
- Outschool: Another online resource; features live streaming classes
- Teaching Textbooks: THE online math program. I’ve used it for all of my children! It’s now subscription-based.