I know this is nothing new... and I know we are all here in this mess together... and I know that so many other people have things so so so much worse! But because this blog is my place for a sort of e-diary it must be documented for the future am I right? Because what the hell is going on these days?!
Now I’ve always loved the idea of homeschooling.... and I wish I could be that mom. But I recognize my faults and what I’m lacking and I am here to tell you, a home school mom I most certainly am not. So here we are... eight days after my kids came bounding off the bus just super excited they had their school iPads at home. They are still excited they have their school iPads but they miss school and all their extracurricular activities.
Now I love the idea of those beautiful schedules color coded and all but that’s not really gonna fly for me. I have a nine, seven and five year old... I don't really fancy that for us. So here is what our days have generally looked like this past week. Our days start pretty normally... I fold yesterday’s laundry and get out tomorrow’s clothes whilst sipping my coffee. Some of the kids are up and some are not. While finishing my coffee I lay out all their schoolwork. Journals and flash cards, math sheets and packets... I wrote down a list of all the different ideas their teachers had sent home purely for my own sanity but the kids liked it so much they asked me to make multiple copies as a "to do" list that they can cross off once they do it. All these are of course suggestions from their teachers. But I take things literally though... it’s just my cross to bear. They assign it and I feel it must be done. I'm working on it.
Once the kids are awake and had a little bit of down time I tell them it is time for their day to get started. I make them get dressed and brush their teeth...eat their breakfast and then explain what I expect of them. I’ll go work out.... you work through all these things I’ve laid out for you. I check on them multiple times while I run which is sort of a joke but it is what it is. We had some WiFi issues that towards the middle of the week which was a bummer (I'm not a slacker mom teachers I promise, we just can't access the apps!). I learned their school iPads need to be hooked up to my phone as a hotspot but. Oh well! Each morning their principals have a morning message video that they watch, as well as videos from their teachers. Lots of their “assignments” are on their iPads and they can work through them without much involvement on my end. They read a lot each day, do Xtramath, David reads to Dom, Letty does flashcards with Dom, Dom traces letters, each kid goes onto the free Scholastic site and completes those activities for the day, both older kids check their various school apps which is quite a lot actually. I greatly appreciate all the resources that the school has but my goodness are they overwhelming! And different for each kid! Either way, I ask them to do this this and this and then I go run. And a few days I also do BodyPump.
After I work out it’s either play time or chores till lunch. During which at some point I sneak in a shower. And I make sure to at least do my hair and my face every day... Small things to make me feel human. After we all make lunch and clean it up I’ll work through a few worksheets with Letty because she needs some assistance... and then usually we watch Mo Willems and his Lunch Doodles.... But after that? We go outside! For hours! Twice we drove to my parent’s house and stood outside (over six feet away) because we just miss them so much!! I won’t let the kids go inside during these nice afternoons we have been having. After we play till about four we come in for showers (did I mention our backyard is a giant pile of dirt and mulch?) and then the Cincinnati Zoo has their Home Safari. And listening to an astronaut read a book from space! With all this madness I’ve loved seeing all these organizations and people trying to find ways to entertain and educate our youth during this strangeness. We also read a chapter in our Read Across America Book (Fenway & Hattie).... and then we have dinner, clean up and then watch a movie as a family.
I really miss my family. We are normally together like 4 or 5 times a week! And I miss my friends and just the freedom that we all take for granted... but I know this is where we need to be. We have FaceTime at least... One day my sister drove by and just rolled her car windows down and the kids waved from the house.... these are such strange times and I can’t say it enough. The future is unknown and I hate that. But in the meantime I’m trying it keep my kid’s brains from frying and my own brain from going insane....and I know this is far from over. At least the meme game is strong. HA!
What are you all doing during this Coronacation?