Homeschool Week 7

Monday
James got a letter from his teacher pen pal at school that included a fun art project (different colored shapes with the instruction to make an abstract face.) so James wrote her a note back and made an (abstract-ish) person shape and mailed it back to her. I forgot to take a picture of the finished product, but here's an idea of all the goodies that were in the envelope. He was also very interested in putting on the stamp and taking it out to the mailbox when he wrote back.

Spark is somewhat less interested. 

James has a music lesson for school with dad.

I did making change with both of the kids for math. James was very interested in coming up with a menu and assigning prices.

Leah took this play dough rose from me and proudly told Sam that she'd made it (She was making other things!)

Tuesday
Amelie had her piano lesson again. She’s supposed to pick a piece and we’ll record it for an online recital. James had another music lesson for his school time with Sam:

Amelie practiced spelling and handwriting with Sam and reviewed time, cardinal directions (notice "East" taped to the mirror above), and multiplication facts with me - we did kind of a game using a deck of cards.

Sam took the kids around in the red wagon. Photos courtesy of Amelie:

Not really homeschool related, but Sam wanted to make some paintings to spruce up his music/work area in the basement and I painted these birches on a board:

Wednesday
Leah, while singing “The Wheels on the Bus” with me, we got to “the lights on the bus go blink blink blink,” and for the accompanying motion, she was not "blinking" her hands, but she was exaggerating blinking with her eyes

Amelie had 2 Zoom meetings. James wrote a letter to Nana Jana instead of doing his journal - I suspect his primary motivation here was to ask her for something. He forgot to tell about his wiggly tooth so he included a PS on the back of the envelope. I should have gotten a picture (are you noticing a theme?) but it’s already off in the mail. Amelie and I reviewed multiplication facts, since she’s been struggling to complete a level on the ST math app about area and perimeter. James and I reviewed making change and adding/writing money. He's quite interested in money.

For his chore, James vacuumed the rugs and Amelie unloaded and re-loaded the dishwasher - both legitimately helpful parts of running the household.  Leah then wanted to vacuum her room, but the vacuum sweeper battery died soon after she started.

James talked me into going on a bike ride. He got a VERY BIG kick out of how long it had been since I’d been on a bike.

We took a cool and slightly damp family walk after lunch, then James talked Sam into going on another bike ride.

Amelie’s next packet of work from school came.

Sam introduced the kids to Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure for family movie night. I made smores in the oven since it was rainy.

Thursday
Amelie had 3 Zoom meetings, which takes up the whole morning. There was a half-hour break between two of them, and during that time she wrote a letter to her teacher pen pal at school (she got the librarian!) in place of her journal.

James got the next packet of work from school, and he's finished half of the math already - it's review.

James and Leah played dress-up for a long time, and Amelie played out in the backyard by herself for a long time. The weather was gorgeous.

Tigger:

On the sit-and-spin:

Now with bonus stethascope:

Ninja Turtle: 

Then James wanted to put on several costumes on top of each other and then for me to take a picture. He's got Venom, Ninja Turtle, and Batman (really a bat) going on here. 

James wrote a letter to Grandma Mary and Grandpa in place of  his journal, again, I think as a ploy to ask for/get a new book. He also started writing a new illustrated book and wants to count that for his journal tomorrow.

I made banana-chocolate-chip-mini muffins for breakfast (upon James's request) and we ate all 24 (you can see some are missing here already) within the hour.

I took the dog on his evening walk and saw A FOX dart across the street in front of me on the big loop.

Friday
Well, today was a doozy. James was a hot mess for no apparent reason for most of the afternoon. He pulled it together by supper, but he'll have to make up school time with Sam over the weekend. Amelie practiced riding her bike around the block.

It took me one hour and the help of several episodes of Doc McStuffins, but I combed Leah's hair all  the way out and trimmed it up. It was getting long and straggly in the back. I'm hoping this will cut down on tangles. There's no way to know if it's straight across at all, since it bounces back up immediately when I snip a bit off. Curly hair is very forgiving, but if it's a mess the next time she gets it cut professionally, I'll blame it on the coronavirus. Our first quarantine cut:

And then here's what it looked like when it dried:

She was eating watermelon in her strawberry dress.

Then right before bed, she and James ran around and around the back yard. “Don’t get dirty!” I yelled, as she headed straight for the sandbox. So then they did sword fighting with sticks. When James saw me, he said, “Have you been out here the entire time?!?”

Updated to add that Amelie lost a tooth during her Zoom munch-and-read today! Sam asked if it was very disruptive to the other kids, but she ran out of the room when it happened and was gone worrying about it for several minutes, though then she told them about it in the chat.

I got news that I'll be (very likely) returning to work next Monday. Managers are returning Monday, as the stay-at-home order has lifted and they'll work out a plan for the rest of us for the next week.

Quarantine Weekend 6

So last weekend, Sam entered a 48-hour short film making contest and I accomplished three whole hours of work from home. Here are some photos from last Saturday and Sunday.

I woke up Saturday morning and James had placed notes all over the couch telling us not to sit - you’ll also notice another note on the book on the floor instructing us not to touch it, either.

"Don't sit here, you bum!"

There was also this note on the piano bench helpfully directed at me. "Do not sit, Mom!"

The kids put on swimsuits, and James found  a 3T swim shirt and they played in the hose. Leah was very industrious in creating her own water table by filling up the wagon. Then all three stood in the wagon as a miniature wading pool, but my camera died so there isn’t a picture.

I finally got out a super cool toy of a floor piano (I was saving this in the back of the van for desperate times), that James and Leah are lying on, instead of playing it with their feet (they did that too.)

James thought these sunglasses were cool with one lens out. 

 I’m trying to get my hair to be curly.

Sam took the kids out to Grindstone. It was flooded and muddy. They had a big time.

As you might imagine, they came home completely covered in mud (Sam, too).

Here's a still photo from his short film, a suspenseful mocumentary:

Homeschool Week 6

This is for the week April 20th through the 24th.

Monday
James had his class meeting online first thing. He wrote his teacher penpal a note on a card and drew her a picture on the back instead of doing his journal.

Leah wanted to take her doll on our walk. You might remember Kyle, who used to be Amelie's.

James made this robot with and a human for scale.

Tuesday
Amelie worked on directions (North, South, East, and West)  and clockwise/counterclockwise today, so James did a little bit, too. James did some review with money. James is 98% done with the first grade curriculum for the math app that they're doing daily. Amelie's only about 40% done, but looking at the progress, she's made almost all of that in the past 30 days, so I think that she wasn't doing it at school while school was in session the way that James was - probably we were supposed to have her do this at home the whole time!

Also, I took a meal out to our friends who just had a baby Saturday while Amelie did her remote piano lesson. They humored me and held the tiny sweet baby up to the window while I left the food on the porch. What interesting times we live in. (I asked the kids if they wanted to make "Happy Birthday" cards for the baby and  they said no!)

Sam took the big kids to Three Creeks Conservation Area out a little bit south of town.

Spark came along, too:

Wednesday
Amelie has 3 Zoom meetings on Wednesdays. Her first one was with Ms. Malveaux, and they worked on dictation sentences - it's just her and one other student. The next one is math right afterward, and then she had a half-hour break until homeroom.

James wanted to ride his bike on our after-lunch walk, but despite warnings, he zoomed right through an intersection and then in a somewhat-separate-but-related bad choice he rode off the path at the park, down a hill, and crashed in the woods.

James drew and then went on a hunt to find several 3D shapes (geometric solids!) throughout the house (cones, rectangular prisms, cubes, pyramids, cylinders).

Thursday
Amelie had her online meetings for literacy (they're reading and discussing City of Ember) and science.

James struck a deal with me, and for math, we played a game of Yatzee and he kept score by himself (making a chart, writing numbers, addition, multiplication, comparison!). He also checked the time before we started, wrote it down, checked the time that the game ended, and figured out it took us 35 minutes to play. (We were interrupted by the pre-schooler.)

James agreed to take the lone remaining training wheel off his bike. One of them fell off, and he'd been riding with just the one training wheel, which I have to imagine is actually more difficult than not having any at all.

Sam made a cherry pie, and with persuasion added our first initials to the crust.

Friday
James campaigned to play Yatzee again for math, and then as he was making the scorecard (a chart!), he says, "Hey this is a lot like math!" He's on to me. Apparently, I took no photos Friday. James did a lot more bike riding, and even went out with Sam also riding.