“Spring break” is over, so we’re back to our little lessons routine this week. Here are my posts from the past 2 weeks if you’d like to catch up:
Let’s see what this week has in store, shall we? Next week we’re supposed to start getting some trial runs for our virtual learning, which is slated to begin on April 13. That’s the day the kids were originally scheduled to go back to school, but the governor has since shut everything down until at least April 24. So who knows if they’ll get to go back at all this school year. I sure hope so! They all miss their teachers terribly. At least we’ll get to start “seeing” them a little bit pretty soon.
March 30, 2020
- Cosmic Kids yoga
- Dreambox/reading/Alphablocks while I took the babies on a run
- Home Ec – baking cookies
- Hogwarts digital escape room for D (they all started off going through it, but L and M quickly dropped out); frosting cookies for L; write around the room for M – “at” rhyming words
- Lunch for the twins
- Hangouts story time with Grandma! Plus a cameo by Grandpa and plenty of goofing around for good measure
- Lunch for the big 3, naps for the boys
- Writing then tablet time for the girls
- Mo Willems
March 31, 2020
- Math and writing – giant cards addition for M, math packet from school for L, book report and virtual pen pals with friends from school for D
- Science – mini volcanos
- P.E. – jumping like animals and running the back steps
- Lunch break
- Mo Willems birthday crown making
- Naps for the boys, reading for the girls
- Creating for our WFB Rec Dept window art contest – outer space!
April 1, 2020
- Dreambox/Jack Hartmann/reading books on Epic/pen pals slides for almost 2 hours to start the day – I took the twins on a run and got some chores done
- Lots of emails from teachers to prepare for virtual learning, which starts on April 13
- Got M set up on his class app, even though we found out later that they sent out those instructions a week early – oops!
- L and M played tennis in the back back yard
- Lunch then naps for the twins
- P.E. for the big 3 – go outside and play for as long as the sun is out. M created a “territory.” I started transplanting my dining room table garden into new pots and propagating a fuzzy panda succulent that had gotten huge!
- D got a reading and writing assignment from her teacher
- L got a sight words assignment from her teacher – pick 2-3 little activities from a list to do with a couple sight words. She chose to write 2 sight words in cursive for a handwriting lesson and draw a picture of 3 other sight words.
- More Dreambox math and Epic reading after dinner – these kids love those programs!
- I had my first virtual happy hour with girls from the block – so fun!
April 2, 2020
- We’ve started getting emails from teachers with practice lessons and tentative schedules, so I’m trying to make a point to get us started with “school” right at 8:00 like they’ll have to beginning on the 13th. This morning all 3 did reading on Epic or other assigned short stories for almost an hour.
- It was the nicest weather day yet, so at 9:00 I took all 5 for a nice long walk. The boys were all chasing each other and crashing through the house, Ryan was trying to work, and I was about to lose my mind, so out the door we went. It was great! We found as much window/door art as we could, played sidewalk chalk games, walked over to our good friends’ house (they gave us foam balls for the kids and wine for me – they are THE BEST!!!), walked by and said hello to school, then walked home our normal school route for some familiarity.
- Outdoor play time for some more exercise and fresh air (i.e., wear them out!)
- Lunch break then naps for the boys
- More reading and assignments for the girls
- More outside play after naps
- D’s first FaceTime with one of her good friends
- M and I tried to play a chicken game – Lay It or Break It
- More Epic reading all evening after dinner!
April 3, 2020
- Epic reading/Dreambox while I took the twins for a run
- Ryan went to the grocery store for what was hopefully a 2-week stockpile. I plugged the chest freezer in in the basement the other day to prepare.
- Guest reader was Auntie Mer! She surprised us with an amazing costume!! The twins pretty much destroyed story time with their noise.
- Lunch break then naps for the twins
- Back yard scavenger hunt for M, indoor and outdoor math scavenger hunt for L, decade of my life paragraph assignment for D (this is a report they started right before school got shut down – a paragraph and picture for each year of their life so far)
- P.E. outside – playing throw the ball over the garage, catch, and running around
- Music class – listening to a symphony from a link the music teacher sent today
- More Epic reading after dinner
- A drawing tutorial on TV that Lana loved
- Another Ramen Fury night; they were bonkers
A couple observations from today… This was the day I was officially ready to divorce my entire family. Apparently 3 weeks of quarantine is what it takes. Ryan started the morning crabbier than usual (I swear if I hear “I’m on the phone!” or “I’m doing work!” one more time, I’m gonna run away. I know you’re working, that’s why you’re here, duh!). The twins’ amount and volume of screaming were greater than usual. Morrison’s question count by 8:30 a.m. was higher than usual. Is there a full moon tonight or something??
But I went for my run, got a ton of groceries put away and organized, showered, finished my new and improved dining room table garden, and tried to focus on all that was right with today instead – we are able to be home together, we’re all still healthy, the twins took a 2-hour nap, the sun came out, the big kids played outside, Ryan went for a long walk to get out of the house this afternoon, and my sanity began to return. I guess I’ll keep them all. Cherish the days, right?
Check back next week for our last week before official virtual learning time from school begins. I may or may not start putting wine in my coffee mug instead of coffee. 😉
