Homeschool Week 9 plus Mother’s Day 2020

This was the last full week of school for the year! Also our last week of strict lockdown, since I’ll be returning to in-person work this weekend. In a lot of ways, this 9 weeks feels like forever, but my imminent return to work and the kids being done with school for the year feels too soon. This post is for the week Saturday May 9th through the 15th.

Mother’s Day/Weekend
Amelie had a Girl Scout meeting via zoom on Saturday. They’re working on a photography badge, and she had to take pictures of things that appealed to her five senses. She spent a long time trying to get a picture of a bird in the backyard. Here is one of her photos. It's of a Pomsie and was for touch:

The kids gave me homemade cards Sunday morning, and we had pancakes for breakfast.

Later, Sam and James secretly snuck out for a Dairy Queen ice cream cake that they'd ordered earlier for me.

Then the kids and I went to the big park by Nana Jana’s house and flew kites. Sam stayed home and rested his foot - he's got a terrible blister. James’s kite lasted about 2 minutes before it got caught in a tree and ripped, though he had a very fun 2 minutes.  Here’s Amelie:

We had the whole park practically to ourselves.

They also played in the trees/brush and got a tick.

Monday
Here are the kids watching an educational documentary about the ocean.

Tuesday
James and Leah and I made gingerbread cookies from the recipe on the back of the Ninja Bread Man book that we've been reading over and over.

The kids declared that the initials were reserved - only Amelie could eat the "A" cookies, for example. They were good!

Wednesday
No photos!

James is done with the online math app - he's in the "Challenge" portion and has reached a section that is just incredibly difficult. He said, “Is this what second grade math is going to be like??” And I told him that it was supposed to be a challenge. We’re going to switch to having him practice touch typing.

Thursday
Amelie got a letter from her teacher penpal and then later that day another of her teachers came by to deliver a package and Amelie got to wave at her from the car. She'd signed up for painting club, but they obviously didn't get to meet in April and May, so the teacher brought over a goody bag with a canvas, paints, candy, balloons, and friendship bracelets. James ate some of the candy:

James also likes to doodle on the whiteboard we use for school: 

I gave Amelie's hair a trim (so that's me, Leah, and Amelie with DIY haircuts so far - all the girls) and then she recorded her piano pieces for a virtual recital.

Friday
Amelie re-recorded her piano pieces the next morning because she was not satisfied that we could hear her singing.


Here's the website with the whole recital: https://amajormusiclessons.com/recitals/may-15-2020-virtual

See, we are getting some use out of those matching Easter dresses after all! Family movie:

Leah's explaining something to Sam: 

There was a rabbit casually munching right outside of our window. You might have to zoom in - he blends in pretty well!

I called the kids over to look, and they watched for a long time before Spark wised up and barked and scared it away.

James took a picture of the beautiful sunset and brought it back in to show Sam.