Homeschool Week One

Okay, I posted yesterday about some of the preparation leading up to our first week of the kids being home from school, Sam working from home full-time, and me being on leave from the library.

I'd come up with a basic schedule, and we were ready to get started the first full day the kids were home (Wednesday, March 18th). Lots of people online had lots of opinions about this apparently, basically none of which were helpful. What was helpful was messaging with one of my friends who normally homeschools and talking to other parents who were also adjusting from elementary-aged kids in public school to a month (soon to be more) of homeschooling/distance learning at home.

I decided to go ahead and start right away for several reasons: 1) because I decided to intentionally limit the amount of school I was asking the kids to do each day to about a third of the work that the school sent home, 2) because it seemed like a way to restore some kind of normalcy to a frankly scary and chaotic time, and 3) because I thought this would work best for our particular family situation, including one kiddo who does very, very poorly with changes to routine and another who requires a great deal of academic support at school.

The first day, I took several pictures throughout the day and then the Ridgeway parent-teacher facebook page posted a prompt asking for photos of kids' working at home, and it was fun to see (and show the kids) the pictures of their classmates working away at home. I decided it might be nice to keep up the photo documentation.

Wednesday

On Wednesday, I had a bonus 3-month old that I was watching for my friend's last day of at-work work because her daycare had closed. Leah was mostly left to her own devices. Notice the (purely decorative) bandaid on her forehead.

Each of the kids did 30 minutes on the computer for ST Math, which is the app they use at school.

Here's Leah again, still with the bandaid.

Pointing. 

More mischief.

I did 30 minutes of math in the morning with both kids, and Sam did 30 minutes of Language Arts with both kids in the afternoon. (Like I said in the last post, we're shooting for 1 hour of total instruction per day per kid, and then there are things - like the math app, independent reading, and journaling - that they can do on their own as part of the routine for a total of 2-2.5 hours of "school" per day.)

The baby, kids, and I took a walk in the (light) rain after lunch.

I wanted to get a picture of Amelie in her rain gear.

James is supposed to write 3 sentences and draw a detailed picture in his journal each day and Amelie's supposed to write a page. 

Thursday
It was not raining for our post-lunch walk on Thursday, and Sam got to come with us (and then he's come every day since that first day).

We walked down to our neighborhood park.

Carrying the big kid without the carrier!

Journal-writing and snack in the afternoon.

We haven't been letting Spark go in the backyard (he's looking sad about it here). With all the rain, it's a gigantic muddy mess, and with us being home all the time he gets plenty of walks.

Just look at that head full of curls!

Sam and Amelie doing Language Arts (etc.) in the afternoon.

Friday
The theme of Friday's homeschool was lots and lots of various Pokemon games (mental math!)

James got Dad to play with him, too.

We did our after-lunch walk and it was COLD - we wore our winter coats.

This is how Leah helps to make the bed for the "chores" portion of the schedule.

James took it upon himself to create a Pokemon knockoff type game while I was working with Leah. He'd accomplished a lot by the time I took this picture. 

Here he is with the cards he made.

Amelie had THREE zoom meetings set up for Friday. She took the first one on the couch with Leah and James on the sidelines, then we couldn't get the second one to work, and then the third one she took in bed. They were mostly just socializing and getting to see her classmates and teacher after being off and practicing how this would work when they come back to "regular" distance learning after break.

I must say that all the meetings somewhat disrupted our schedule/routine that we had set up, though it really does just include the basic things I want them to get to throughout the day and they did still get to them.

All the kids in Amelie's class were issued iPads at the beginning of the year, and one of her teachers set up her Zoom account on the tablet and showed her how to use it on that hectic last day. Amelie was miffed that I wouldn't let her eat during the meeting. Gotta follow proper teleconferencing etiquette.

I'm thankful that they're such good independent readers and that they were more than willing to read basically all morning. Sam's been thankful that he doesn't have to wake anyone up in the morning and rush them through breakfast and out the door.

Corona Virus Shutdown Preparation

I was going to do a blog post about our first week homeschooling, and then it got to be too long, so I thought I'd break it up into our couple of days of preparation and then the week itself.

I worked at the library all day on Monday (March 16) before the schools closed, and it was absolutely bonkers with folks checking things out before the shutdown (the library closed indefinitely March 17th and I'm currently on "administrative leave"). Here's a chart comparing materials checked out for all the days in March - look at that spike for the 16th, and the increased activity wasn't spread throughout the day, either. It was quiet all morning until they announced the closure.

My colleague took this photo of the empty shelves in the "New Books" section after we closed at 9pm.

Well, I certainly did not want to be homeschooling, and I really certainly did not want it to be because we're in the thick of a global pandemic. It's not that I was dreading the kids being home - I was looking forward to summer and them being off school and at home with me and Leah! It's more that I was feeling very, very overwhelmed with getting them through their schoolwork, especially Amelie, who receives quite a bit of support at school. Plus, being cooped up in the house is not nearly as much fun as regular summer vacation.

We went ahead and sent the kids to school on Monday because I was working  all day and then on Tuesday (March 17th) because the teachers were sending home their packets of work, and then CPS would be closed until April 13th.

Here's Sam and Leah on that Tuesday before the big kids were home:

And I took her for a walk in the carrier for the first time in a bit - we've kept up the family daily walk every single day.

They both brought home about 10 library books each, plus 10-15 shorter nonfiction curriculum books, pencils, and new composition notebooks. The packets of work are at least 120-150 pages long (though 20 pages are PE exercises).

I asked the big kids what it was like on the last day of school, and James said that his teacher and one of his classmates were stressed, and that they didn't do their scheduled specials (like music and PE). Amelie said about half of her classmates were absent.

Anyway, my homeschooling friend talked me down from the ledge, and I decided to shoot for one hour of parent instruction per day per kid, broken up into two 30-minute chunks. I figure we get through what we get through! If Sam's home (and he's been working from home since Monday), I've been doing math in the AM and he's been doing language arts (etc.) in the afternoon.

Here's the schedule I came up with, clipart and all:

It really has been very helpful! They'll be wandering aimlessly or otherwise off track and I'll say, "What's next on the schedule?" and off they'll trot to the fridge to check it.

Sam's preparation was to build the kids two desks where they can do their schoolwork:

Those are Amelie's legs poking out from beneath her "hut." She slept under there the first night. The desks have enjoyed a great deal of use as forts, etc.

Another big change for us has been meal planning to go to the store much less frequently (we're sending Sam). We were probably averaging a trip to the store 5 times a week between the two of us. Schnuck's is within easy walking distance, and doesn't take long at all to pop in and get something on the way home from work or to walk over there and get a little exercise with Leah, and then I like to make the occasional trip for cheap snacks and produce at Aldi. But we knew that was off the table, so Sam went on Sunday (March 22) prior to the citywide shelter-in-place and stocked up really well.

He said that he'd never spent that much money at the grocery store in his entire life. He only got a gallon and a half of milk and one loaf of bread, though, since he said they were running low.

Birthday Party

Later in the afternoon after her doctor visit, we had Leah’s grandparents and 2 of her cousins and 3 aunts and uncles over to celebrate her 3rd birthday. Under normal circumstances, this would have felt like a very small party!

Leah requested a heart-shaped green cake, and helped me make it. She was in charge of sprinkles. I bought the Aldi brand and they were very large and hard! Not super pleasant for an adult to crunch into, but the kids were just picking them off and eating them like candy.

She fell asleep on the rug before the guests arrived:

Opening presents, with some help:

Grandma Mary showing Leah how her Daniel Tiger doll will talk if you press his hand. 

More presents (and more help)!

There's the birthday girl in her strawberry dress!

She's three now!

(Here’s the link to her second birthday party.)

Dr Visit

Leah had her 3 year well child visit two days after her birthday. There were very few people in the waiting room, and we kept our distance from each other.  I remembered from the other kids that there were shots at this appointment, but I guess we got them done at the 2.5 year appointment or maybe the schedule has changed. They said none til her Kindergarten shots, which she could get at either her 4 or 5 year appointment. (I'm not complaining!)

Stats:
30 pounds, 43rd percentile
36 1/2 inches (3 feet, 1/2 inch), 37th percentile
(So up 2.5 pounds and 2.5 inches since her last visit.)

What Leah's up to right now:

• Very, very verbal - she likes to talk and sing and can be understood pretty well by us and also others
• Very, very interested in books, reading, and drawing
• Definitely left-handed
• She likes to play with her siblings and be in the middle of whatever they are doing
• However, unfortunately, she does not like to share at all
• She likes to help and do things by herself - she might ask an adult once, but then she'll just do it, whatever she wants
• She can get dressed and undressed by herself
• Happily follows multi-step directions
• Says please and thank-you without prompting
• Just now starting to have a couple of tantrums and some more strong opinions - we didn't have any "terrible twos" (Does that mean now we're in for it?)
• Plays make-believe
• Counts up to five (maybe 6) with one-to-one correspondence, counts up to 15 by route (and then beyond skipping some numbers :) 
• Knows her ABC's (and recognizes them in print)
• She can write an approximation of her name (the L is clear!)
• Draws a person with many body parts
• Can walk backwards, kick a ball, climb easily, throw with one hand, catch against her body and hop one one foot

We'd gone for her preschool screening the day before, and on that she scored:
72nd percentile for gross and fine motor skills
86th percentile for concepts
91st percentile for language
The screener wrote "What a smartie!!" at the bottom of the paper, but I didn't get to keep the full assessment the way I did when Amelie did it.
Leah was able to hop on one foot, stack and sort, name her letters, and draw several shapes. She made cuts on the edge of the paper, but wasn't able to cut across the whole the line with scissors the way her siblings were when I took them to the screening back when they were 3, but her birthday was just he day before and she was holding the scissors with her right hand, which she basically never uses. She built towers and copied patterns with blocks. Anyway, it was a fun trip and she enjoyed doing the activities.

Here are the links to her 2.5 year old visit, and her 2 year old visit.

Hermann

We took a quick trip to Hermann for my coworker's small wedding before the lockdowns (back when the kids were still in school and the library was still open). Sam had a shaving mishap and took off his beard and mustache for the first time in 9 years. The kids for some inexplicable reason started calling him "Bob," and I have to admit they were more gracious than I was, because I laughed at his naked baby face! He's grown it out to stubble and we're all more used to it now. Anyway, here we are:

We stayed at a small bed and breakfast called the Wohlt House, built in 1884.

Overall, it was quite comfortable. The host/owner Judy was very nice and she made a wonderful big breakfast the next morning.  There was some kitschy art on our wall:

Here’s the room:

And the enormous, nice bathroom. I strongly suspect that it used to be a bedroom in the original floor plan. The floors were painted hardwood.

We were looking for the venue and then I saw the faces of the bride and groom plastered up on the sign. I squealed and made Sam pull over for a picture.

I didn't take this picture -  I just pulled it from the venue website, but here's the chapel. Sam was impressed with the architecture.

Everything about the wedding was thoughtful and lovely. Maybe the best part was that I got to catch up with some folks that we worked with at the shelter at the reception. They egged Sam into switching the apple pie at our table with the pecan pie at the next table over (don't worry, it was early - no one saw us) and I should have packed it up and taken the leftovers home. The second best part was the food :)

We were terrible and that’s the extent of the photos. I did snag this one from the photographer (here's a link to Ben Nickelson Photography and another link to the Facebook album). Courtney and Eric, thanks so much for including us in your special day. (And thanks to Sam's folks for keeping the kids so we could go!)

Bootheel Visit

The kids and I took a quick trip to the bootheel at the end of February/beginning of March, since we hadn't been since Thanksgiving and they had a three-day weekend from school. Sam was supposed to come down with us, but he was behind at work since the kids had back-to-back Flu B and Strep (plus several snow days and other planned outs) in February.

The weather was nice! Leah and James on the porch swing:

And then Leah, James, and Amelie all together on the other (original) porch swing.

(Great!) Grandma Doris with Leah and Levi:

Levi's cheesing for the camera.

They all did a lot of reading!

Amelie took this picture for us - she cut off my head in the others.

We stopped at Burger King on the way home, and taped a Happy Birthday message for Grandma Mary in the parking lot.

These two do not seem particularly thrilled to be photographed eating their nuggets, however.

Character Day

Back before the COVID-19 closures, Ridgeway had Spirit Week. (I've actually got several posts from the past month or so to get through! Rest assured, we're still in social distancing mode. You might think that I have loads of time to post because I'm home from work, but you would be wrong because we're ALL home from work and school.)

Anyway, this post is about “Dress as your favorite character” day, which Sam and I forgot about until the night before.

James wanted to go as Hilo from the kids graphic novel series (here are some of the subtitles: The Boy Who Crashed to Earth, Saving the Whole Plant, Then Everything Went Wrong). His costume was pretty easy to put together, though he was not satisfied with the adhesive foam for the “h” on his shirt and made me sew it on so it would last longer.

Amelie is a Rainwing from the Wings of Fire Series (which follows young dragonets, quests, prophecies, war, and lots of intrigue). We had these wings left over from an old Halloween costume (she was the Pokémon Butterfree) and I dyed them green using food dye at 9:30pm since that’s what we had. Apparently cotton won’t really bind with food dye but it worked for the day.

Snow Recap

Oh, it looks like I never posted this (I think I was waiting on some pictures from Sam) I hope we are all done with snow!

I am hoping that Look how pretty the big tree in our front yard was early Friday morning, all covered with snow.

They called school the night before, but Sam wisely did not inform the children that would be the case, so they went to bed early and got a full night's sleep. James steadfastly refused to wear gloves, mittens, hat or coat most of the day despite wanting to go outside. 

Here's Amelie, who didn't have any problem bundling up.

Spark was very, very excited about the snow. 

As was Leah.

Leah and I build a snow bear out in the front yard while Amelie and James helped the neighbor kids with their gigantic snowman. I took Leah up and down the street, just pulling her in the toboggan, but the big kids didn't want to go sledding (probably because the neighbor kids were outside).

Birthday Interview

We did Leah’s preschool screening this morning, and the first question they asked her was how old she was and she confidently answered, “TWO!” but that’s kind of on us, since we’re not having her party til tomorrow and haven’t been emphasizing her birthday, which was yesterday. Anyway, I thought it would be a good time to try out the birthday interview. She's so verbal that I was surprised how many of these answers are super confusing! But she did the whole thing in one go and was impressed with me typing her answers. We'd do a few questions and then she'd say, "Now it's my turn," and she'd pretend to type a little bit.

1.            How old are you? Two. Are you sure? I’m not 3 anymore.

2.            What is your favorite color? Orange.

3.            What is your favorite toy? Frosty. 

4.            What is your favorite game? Bubble bath, the baby game is called bubble bath. (Nana Jana got her this as a gift for her birthday.)

5.            What is your favorite song? Ummmmm, it’s called when you’re kidding. (she then proceeded to sing me a song. I'm pretty sure she made it up on the spot since I'd never heard it before)

6.            What is your favorite animal? Ummmmm, mmummm, orange peacocks. 

7.            What is your favorite book? Pete the Cat. I love my white shoes.

8.            What is your favorite thing to watch on TV? Daniel Tiger.

9.            What is your favorite thing to eat? It’s called chili.

10.         Where is your favorite place to go? The zoo.

11.         Who is your best friend? It’s called Levi (her cousin!)

12.         What is something you learned last year when you were 2? Do my game. What game? My bubble game. The toy. (This is the one mentioned in question #4.)

13.         What is something you'll learn now that you're 3? Um, um, um, go to school.

14.         What is hard for you to do? Um, Frosty song.  

15.         What is your favorite thing to do? Play a little game with James. Like what? Video game with James! (She and James play together all the time - usually dinosaurs. I couldn't think of what she might be talking about, then I remembered that I'd given her the controller once when James was playing a video game.) 

16.         What do you like about Mama? Um when you tell me a bedtime story, when I’m scared a do that.

17.         What do you like about Dada? When he gets me a story.

18.         What do you like about James? When he gets happy about asking me a question.

19.         What do you like about Amelie? When she stops peeking me orange peacocks. (????) 

20.         What do you like about yourself? Walking away.

21.         What do you want to be when you grow up? A story, tell a story.