Here we are, week 4 of our coronavirus shutdown/quarantine. It’s been almost 2 full weeks since I was in a store, so hopefully I’m not carrying it and as-yet unknowingly contaminating us all. Ryan has gone out more often than I have, so fingers crossed that he’s still well also. The kids have shown zero symptoms whatsoever, so I’m holding out hope that we’re all staying safe. I do wipe down all the doorknobs whenever one of us gets back from a public place and the car after Ryan goes anywhere.
Next week begins our virtual learning for the big 3 through school, so this week will be lighter on the lessons. They’ve already started getting some practice lessons on their respective classroom platforms a couple times a week, so that’s good enough for me. I’m going to have them playing outside a lot this week in preparation for a couple solid hours a day of school work starting Monday. Our good friend Mr. Hand gave them a bag of foam balls last week, so they’ve all been having a blast playing with those outside for P.E. classes.
For review, here are the links to our past 3 weeks:
All right, week 4, here we go…
April 6, 2020
- A little Seesaw class exercise for M, Google Classroom assignments for D, and Epic reading for L while I took the twins on a run
- Playing outside and painting happiness rocks that we’ll spread on a walk later this week sometime
- Ryan had to stop into work and run to the grocery store, so I got some cleaning done and the kids made lunch. He got the last pack of toilet paper! We haven’t been able to get it anywhere lately again.
- I mailed in my absentee ballot for our spring election tomorrow #saferathome
- 3-way Temple Run challenge on their tablets for the big 3 while the babies napped and I showered, but Avit decided he didn’t want to nap today after falling asleep in the stroller earlier. Booger
- Our stockpile should be complete for now so we don’t have to go to the grocery store for at least 2 weeks
April 7, 2020
- Today was the spring presidential primary here in Wisconsin, and the stupid Supreme Court overturned our governor’s last-minute attempt yesterday to postpone the in-person election. Idiots. If thousands of people get sick because they had to go to a polling place, including Ryan, I will want to move.
- D got 2 practice assignments on Google classroom to work on first thing this morning, but nothing came in for L and M. That seemed odd to me, since today and Thursday were supposed to be our designated virtual learning practice days. So they did math with fridge magnets, Dreambox, and Jack Hartmann.
- The weather became amazing today, hitting 77 by the end of the afternoon, so that was it for lessons and everyone headed outside to play.
- Lunch break, Mystery Doug Live at noon, then naps for the boys while I finished up my cleaning and laundry for the day
- L requested a walk after the boys woke up, so we took a nice long one to enjoy the gorgeous afternoon. We went over to Mr. Hand and Miss Clara’s to give them some of the happiness rocks the kids made yesterday, then L and M hid one each at school.
- More backyard play when we got home – the girls treated me and M to a delicious sushi meal while L put on a show for us
- A thunderstorm rolled in, so we quickly cleaned everything up and got inside just before it started pouring and hailing! A beautiful full rainbow came out afterward.
- Ryan got the boys a tub of little firefighters, trucks, signs, etc., because Avit absolutely loves a set of tiny construction signs they got for Christmas. I gave it to them this afternoon, and a massive game of signs/firefighters/cars/dinosaurs ensued.
- Another natural phenomenon tonight – a super pink moon. Fortunately the clouds moved out in time for us to see it rise, and it is gorgeously spectacular. It really was pink! The energy shift it is supposed to signal is definitely needed.
April 8, 2020
- Morning lessons online to start the day for all. I discovered that L and M actually did have lessons in Seesaw yesterday, but I missed them because I was waiting for emails from their teachers. Oops! So they got all caught up while D did hers for the day and I took the twins on a run.
- D did a couple exercises from her 30-day P.E. calendar
- L and M made pink moon drawings to show their art teachers
- Dinosaurs ruled again
- I drew a number line outside for L to do a jumping addition lesson
- A little outdoor play while the weather stayed nice
- School is now done for us after morning lessons are complete, since that’s how it will work once official virtual learning begins next week
- Today is our 14th anniversary, so Ryan went to the store and got a whole trimmed beef tenderloin, sparkling rosé, fixings for risotto, and a beautiful bouquet for me. We had an amazingly delicious dinner!
- An incredible sunset broke through the clouds tonight, too, just for us
April 9, 2020
- Morning lessons for all 3. They love when the teachers upload little videos so they can see them. It’ll be great when they can see their classmates, too, during their weekly Monday meetings.
- The weather today is bizarre – low 40s, windy, sun and fast clouds, and sleet/snow squalls! So it’s been a lot of indoor play (and noise! especially when Ryan’s on a call). The girls tried to go out for a bit, but that lasted mere minutes.
- More dinos!
- Art drawers revamp while the twins napped. I’ve long hated the clutter of this corner of the dining room, but the kids use it constantly so I can’t just wipe it out all together. It holds all of their art supplies under and around the piano. So I finally found a more modern, adult-looking solution for the drawers at least to replace the green, yellow, red, and blue ones you can see in the background of all the school working pictures. The fabric-covered drawers are obviously less hardy than the hard plastic ones, but I was sick of having something I took from our neighbors when they moved as such an obvious piece of furniture. They do hold a ton, though, so I moved it into the kids’ bedroom to be M’s dresser. That works perfectly.
April 10, 2020
- Today we were technically “off” school for Good Friday, so no new assignments came in. The big 3 still started the morning by logging into their classroom platforms just to make sure, though, then they each did a little reading and/or math.
- The rest of the day was just play time. Ryan hard boiled eggs to dye tomorrow, I rode the bike downstairs for a little while this morning and finally got to start my newest book on Kindle that I’ve really been looking forward to reading, and the kids caused random destruction and mayhem. You know, the ususal.
Next week begins our official Virtual Learning Time (VLT), sanctioned lessons and activities online through the school and district, so I’m not sure how much I’ll update like this anymore. I’ll probably still try to keep track of this time in quarantine/shutdown somehow, but I might not have enough to list out each day as I’ve been doing so far. Every weekday morning will start with attendance at 8:00, then 2-3 hours of schoolwork for the girls, less for Morrison, and a virtual face-to-face class meeting for a half hour each Monday for all 3. The afternoons I’ll just let them play and relax, knowing they’ll have a good chunk of learning in the mornings. I’m not their teacher, this isn’t school as they know it, and I’m not going to try to force anything. I know their teachers all have good work lined up and they’ll still get to do plenty of learning, so I’m trusting in them and leaving the big stuff in their hands now.
This certainly has been an interesting experience, I will say that. We got to virtually see some great places that we wouldn’t have otherwise, I did have some fun activities and lessons for them, and this morning Della said she does miss her friends from being in class every day but she’s enjoying having school at home. I think we’ll all end up just fine. But stay tuned – I may have some more updates for you after all!