Halfway through week one of homeschool learning!
Hit a low point yesterday as we were running out of some home and food necessities (replenished bread, milk, eggs, paper towels, still need trash bags, peanut butter, and meat). When we need to go get supplies, we try to go at a time when stores won't be crowded, and if it looks crowded or picked over, we immediately leave. We have been frequenting the Family Dollar most often because of this. It is discouraging to still see things out of stock, and the Walmart website busy (we usually get grocery pickup, but it has been too busy to place an order). Even more discouraging yesterday was that our local town's activities are getting cancelled, and the big festival of the year just cancelled all activities yesterday. This festival was not supposed to be until May. At around the same time yesterday, I found out that Nora's preschool is closed until MAY 10! 😱
Had a little more relaxed/late start to this morning. Let the kids run around inside as today's weather is more gloomy and cold. Nora had virtual preschool at 11:00 with Play to Learn Preschool. She has been LOVING this. I also have had her practice writing/spelling her name every day.
We also have been doing something creative together every day through dance videos, or art videos (or both). Her gymnastics center has just announced that they will be making some at-home videos soon, too! Today, we took a virtual art class through McHarper Manor. Nora enjoyed the paint and the brushes! Yesterday, Nora tap danced in her high heeled shoes. She's been having lots of fun.
Alan has had a little bit more of a struggle, but honestly overall, everything has been good with him, too. He has REALLY enjoyed playing outside every morning. Before school closed, he had been doing okay, but having a few social struggles here and there, so I think that missing school for a little while is overall doing him good because it's like a breath of fresh air not having to deal with certain aspects of school for a little while. We had a good talk last night about why the break was happening, and that we are all doing something new at this time, because it is such a unique situation that has not happened before. We just found out today that his school is now closed through April 13. Since the virtual preschool videos are live at 11:00 every morning, Alan has been able to have free time (screen time) during this hour that I am working with Nora. This may change to reading time after this week; I am not sure yet. It depends on how long some of the online resources continue. We have to be flexible during distance learning time! His school is supposed to send materials for online learning next week, too, so we will have to see what that looks like, and how long it takes him to complete that work. Currently, he has been doing at least 2 of the Scholastic activities a day. Today, we spent about 30 minutes on the subject of the Revolutionary War with the activities that Scholastic provided. He then spent the rest of the time on animals. He read an article and watched a video on sea otters, and we watched some videos on the penguins at the aquarium who have daily "field trips" around the aquarium while it is closed to visitors. I gave Alan the option to opt out of painting class today, and he chose not to do it. Tomorrow, I will focus on keeping the schedule on track better for the next two days, and then on the weekend, the reins will loosen a bit again. Overall, I am pleased with his attitude and the discussions we have while learning a little bit. It will be interesting to see what next week will look like.
Well, that's the update. Things are overall good. Sometimes I'm tired. Sometimes I'm frustrated. Sometimes I think this is kind of fun. Keeping on a schedule even if it is kept a little more loosely some days, has been really beneficial for us, so I will definitely continue this, even if the overall schedule needs to change. If I am frustrated or stressed or tired or overwhelmed, or one or both of the kids are, that is when we move on to something else. Keeping things moving with new activities or videos to spice things up has been the key so far.
Happy hump day! Almost through week one.
Stay healthy, happy, and safe.
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