I Love a Rainy Night

Ever since I was a little girl, I've loved thunderstorms. I love warm summer rains, I love dry heat lightning, I love the mist that hangs in the air in the spring and the fall, but most of all, I love a good rip-roaring, gully-washing, angels bowling thunderstorm. And yesterday, I got to experience the first big thunderstorm at the new house.

It was fabulous.

The rain and thunder began in the afternoon, coming in several waves of absolute gully-washers; as the old saying goes, it was coming down "like a cow pissing on a flat rock." If there were any leaks in our roof, gaps in our windows, or cracks in our foundation, we would have found them in this rain. (Good news: the only dampness was a small spot in the basement and some water driven in under the garage doors.)

One creature (other than me) who was completely undaunted by the storm was a gray tree frog, who - much like the Carolina wren who sat on the fence and sang for us the other morning - solved the mystery of the chirring sound we'd been hearing in the woods by perching himself on the edge of the pool and yelling his mating call, loud and clear.

He happily sang in the rain all night long, and this morning we found him paddling around in the pool, along with a wood frog, both of which my husband dutifully scooped up and chivvied off into the bushes.

I've already mentioned how much I love watching the birds through our big arched windows, but it didn't occur to me that those windows would also provide a lovely view of rain storms. With the woods right behind, there's no clear view of the sky through those windows, but the flashes of light against the dark trees was just lovely, and the streams of water running down the huge windows made exquisite patterns. From the front porch, where a wide expanse of sky is visible, you can see the direction the storm is moving, and the pond across the street provides interesting acoustics that amplify the rumbles of thunder. It's a completely different feel from experiencing a storm at our old house. In fact, it reminds me of my second-floor apartment a block away from the ocean back in Gloucester, where I could watch and hear storms moving across the sky over the sea, feeling like I was jutting up into the angry clouds. There's a sense of wildness and power here, as there was there, that was missing in our cozy suburban neighborhood.

I love feeling so close to nature here, because of both the constant parade of bird and animal visitors and the closeness of the sky and the weather. With so much less light pollution here, the sky is more full of stars than I've seen it outside of secluded campgrounds and my stint in the bush country of Zimbabwe. I feel more part of the world here. I love the world here.

I love a rainy night for reminding me just how much I love it here.

All Creatures Great and Small

One of my favorite book series (serieses? serii?) is the All Creatures Great and Small books by James Herriot. If you're not familiar with them, James Herriot was a veterinarian in the Yorkshire region of England starting in the 1930s, dealing largely with livestock of rural farmers, but also some small animal medicine. His stories of the charming and eclectic characters he met (both human and animal) during his years there are chronicled in a series of books with titles based on the old hymn: All Things Bright and Beautiful, All Creatures Great and Small, All Things Wise and Wonderful, and The Lord God Made Them All, as well as literally dozens of other collections, including several children's books. By pure chance, I happened to have been in the middle of (re-)reading All Things Wise and Wonderful when we moved into our new house. It seems particularly appropriate, since one of the many things that I love about this house is the abundance of wildlife nearby.

One of the first things I did, before we even finished unpacking (or even unloading) all our boxes, was to hang up my hummingbird feeder outside the large picture window in the family room.

While I was waiting (somewhat impatiently, I will admit) for the hummingbirds to find it, I enjoyed watching the antics of the local chipmunk population. Our property is dotted with lovely stone walls that make perfect havens for the chippies. There is clearly a population living on the far side of the pool, a few that live on the near side right by the feeder, and some that live in the section that forms the small terraced garden just behind the feeder. One of the chipmunks that lives nearest the feeder shouts loudly and indignantly if he happens to be near when I walk by. My favorite chippy is a little guy with a short, stubby, dark tail, whom I have dubbed "Stumpy." He seems to live in the far wall, as I frequently see him scurrying the length of the pool to get to the feeder area. My husband picked up a "standard" seed bird feeder and a suet feeder for me, and I spilled a bunch of seeds when I was hanging them up, so the chippies have been congregating under the feeders enjoying the bounty. They often sit on the wall and give me the hairy eyeball for a few moments before they go stuff their cheeks.

In the week and a half of so since we moved in, I've continued to get a feel for the wild creatures, both animals and birds, that frequent our yard. I've even gotten to know some of the individual personalities.

Bird behavior is fascinating to me. Some species are timid, some are bold and even aggressive, some are curious. The hummingbirds are especially fun to watch. They are extremely territorial and aggressive, chasing each other around the yard should one dare to approach the feeder while another is eating. They make angry chittering sounds at each other. Yet, they are curious about people, often hovering in front of the window, peering in at us, or even zooming over to the table where we're eating to check us out. Some of them prefer to hover while they eat, while others perch on the rail of the feeder.

The finches, on the other hand, tend to be more shy and nervous, sitting on the top of the crook from which the feeder hangs, scoping out the situation before they hop down to grab some seeds. Once they come, though, they often stay for a while, taking a seed and either eating it at the feeder or sitting atop the crook, deftly holding the seed with their feet while they peck off the shell. The titmice nearly always sit on top of the crook to de-shell their dinner, keeping a wary eye on any watchers while they eat. 

Another favorite kind of visitor is the lovely pair of cardinals. They took more time than some of the other birds to dare to approach, starting by whistling from the trees, until the male flew down to sit on the nearby fence and whistle for some time, before he finally flew to the ground to forage for seeds that other birds had dropped, and eventually the female came to join him. Now they are frequent visitors, showing up beautifully in the dark pine trees where they perch before they come to eat. I look forward to seeing them against the white snow in winter. 

There are a number of still shyer visitors who sit in the trees but have yet to brave the feeders. I continue to hope that the woodpeckers come to the suet feeder. I love to watch them, often shyly flitting down and then flying away a few times before they're brave enough to settle. Judging from the variety of soft but hoarse chucks I hear in the woods, there is a significant woodpecker population. 

There are many other birds that we have heard but not seen, or that we've just gotten quick glimpses of, including a goldfinch, Baltimore oriole, blue jays, Carolina wren, screech owl, and an impressive turkey vulture that has soared overhead several times. There is also a great blue heron that lives at pond across the street, that my son spotted when he went fishing there a few days ago. 

As I sit writing this, there is a small bunny nibbling some grass in the shade of the house, aware that I am here but also clearly aware both that there is a fence between us and that he can easily outrun me. Other than the chipmunks and one lone gray squirrel, the bunnies (in both front and back yards) are the only animals we have seen. although the previous owners have mentioned sightings of deer, foxes, coyotes, and woodchucks. They had not been living in the house for some time before we moved in, so I am holding out hope that the animals are just getting used to seeing human activity around the house again before returning to the yard. (I won't mind if the coyotes come back, but I would like to see foxes and deer.)

Slowly but surely, this yard is becoming my new oasis, my peaceful haven, my escape from the thoughts racing around my head. It is my happy place, full of all creatures, great and small.

Morning Musings

I've been a terrible sleeper for years, so it's not surprisingly that I woke up at 3:30 this morning, and other than a brief snooze, was still awake at 6am. Since it's going to be a real "scocha" today, I figured I might as well get up and enjoy the coolness of the morning, then take a nap later on when it's too hot to get any work done. So I made my inaugural cup of coffee in the new house (we went to Dunks yesterday) and I am sitting in my beautifully cool family room, watching my hummingbird feeder through the window.

This room has a beautiful view in two directions; to my left, I can see the pool and the thick woods beyond, and directly in front of me, I can see the open part of the backyard, with several sections of stone wall, and also the woods beyond. Our property is wedge-shaped, with the widest part where it meets the road in front of the house, and then gradually narrowing as you go deeper into the woods behind the house, extending quite a ways into the woods behind. I'm not even sure how far it goes; the property is about 2-3/4 acres, and doesn't seem terribly wide to me, even at its widest, so I assume there must be quite a bit of undeveloped woods out back. The previous owners told us there's quite a bit of wildlife, including deer, rabbits, foxes, coyotes, fisher cats, owls, and the usual assortment of groundhogs, chipmunks, and squirrels. I'm kind of excited to see deer, although that does make me re-think my original thought of planting my herb garden on the terraced area outside this window. I have a feeling the deer would enjoy the fruits of my labor more than we would - they'd probably consider it their personal snack bar! But a large container garden inside the pool fence might be a good alternative, with the added benefit of being more easily accessible from the kitchen.

I also got to give the stove top a test run this morning. My son had requested pancakes, and since I had not yet found the big bag of Krusteaz mix, I opted to make a recipe for fluffy buttermilk pancakes from scratch. The center burner on our new stove has double rings; a large outer one and a small inner one (which seems like a simmer burner to me). I first tried using the outer ring, setting it on a fairly high setting, both because our old stove required a good bit of heat for the griddle, and because the pan sits quite high over the flame. I discovered quite quickly that the high setting on this stove is indeed, high, so I got to eat the first test pancake, which although slightly blackened, was still very tasty. A few more tweaks and I think I've mastered it. By that time one child was awake but both Child #2 and Husband have yet to make an appearance. so I'm leaving the rest of the batter for later and sitting outside to enjoy the coolness a little longer.

Tomorrow perhaps I'll try sitting on the front porch in the morning. The house faces east, although there are a lot of trees so I'm not sure what kind of sunrise view I'll have, but perhaps I'll see some bunnies out for breakfast on the front lawn. I've heard there's a great blue heron that lives in the big pond across the street, so perhaps I'll catch a glimpse of it soaring overhead. We saw a huge raptor of some kind over the house yesterday that might possibly have been an eagle, so maybe I'll get a glimpse of him again as well.

I look forward to many, many beautiful mornings in my beautiful home.

Exploring My Own House

One of the weirdest things about moving to a new house is figuring out how everything works. What does each light switch control? Where's the button for the garage door opener? How do the shower controls work? Which one is the silverware drawer? How does the intercom system work? Which rooms are controlled by which thermostat? Where's the button to turn on the gas fireplace and does the remote controller work for both fireplaces or only one? How do you turn off the ceiling fan without turning off the light? And on and on.

I took my first shower in the new house today, and it was like a test in engineering design. There are two showerheads, a standard one on the left-hand side and a handheld one on the right. The one on the left has two plain metal knobs above a central metal-and-plastic knob with numbers on it. There is also a kind of cylinder to the right that sticks out a couple of inches, with 3 or 4 heavy black rubber washers around it, which seems to turn both ways. I discovered that turning the left-hand metal knob starts the water, and the more you turn it, the higher the water volume. The right-hand metal knob seems to do nothing, as does the cylinder on the far right. The lower knob with the numbers, however, is magical. It is the temperature control, and the numbers are the water temperature. So unlike my old shower, where I had to turn the knob to roughly the 2 o'clock position, wait for the water to reach full heat, then adjust up and down until the temperature was just right, now all I have to do is set it to just above 95 degrees and it's perfect. Setting it at 100 would probably boil a lobster, which makes nearly 100 just perfect for me. I was super hot and sweaty and wanting to take a cold shower, so I set it to 85, which felt like ice water but which will probably be my husbands' preferred setting. I wasn't able to figure out how to turn on the handheld showerhead, however, and still have no idea what the cylinder things are for. That may be another adventure for another day. Or at least a fun Google search at some point.

One of my other planned tasks for today is to take a complete inventory of the light switches. Quite a few switches seem to belong to devices with multiple switches, as sometimes "up" is on and sometimes "down" is on. A few switches don't seem to control anything, which could mean that a bulb is burned out somewhere, that it's a "phantom switch" that was installed for future use but that doesn't currently connect to anything, or possibly that there's a family somewhere in Australia or Outer Mongolia yelling, "WILL YOU PLEASE STOP FLICKING THE LIGHTS ON AND OFF!!!!" There are also a couple of lights, including the underwater light in the pool, that we have yet to locate the switch for. If my kids dare to approach me with the "I'm bored" speech, they may be assigned the task of sketching a diagram of the entire house with all light switches labeled. That's gotta be good for 2-3 hours, at least.

Another feature of my house that needs to be explored is all the cupboards. This house has huge, open, airy rooms, which made me fear that all our "stuff" would be exposed. But there are cabinets and cupboards and drawers and shelves EVERYWHERE. As I was unpacking our kitchen stuff, I tried to choose logical places for everything to go, based on how big an item was, what "category" it belonged in (pot and bans, baking supplies, canned goods, spices, etc.), how many things would also be in that category, where it was stored in the old house, and where I would be using the item. The decision was easy for some things: the silverware went in the drawer that was the same size and location as the silverware drawer in our old house; ditto the tool drawer, the "long thin serving and cooking stuff" (i.e., serving and stirring spoons, tongs, skewers, spatulas, etc.) drawer, and the candy drawer. But some things didn't have an obviously corresponding location, or the corresponding location was too short/tall/narrow/wide, so I had to make a judgment call. The pots and pans, for example, were stored in a corner cabinet in the old house that corresponded to a cabinet in the new house with a built-in double-decker lazy susan that was all wrong for pots and pans. But right next to that is a cabinet directly below the stove top that didn't exist in my old house (it's where the oven was, which is to the side in the new house), so that's where the pots and pans go. But it's too short for the Dutch oven, which is usually stacked with the strainer insert and the bain-marie, so those now live in a random large cabinet on the other side of the kitchen that also had no equivalent in the old house. Which means that the next time I go to use the Dutch oven, I'll look in the pots and pans cabinet, then remember it doesn't live there, and I'll stand in the middle of the kitchen with my hands on my hips, wondering, "Where did I think was a good idea to put this?" This type of musing will probably continue for at least six months, and at various locations throughout the house.

Speaking of cupboards, there is an upstairs hall closet that completely mystifies me. At first I thought it was a really big linen closet. Except that the master bath has a huge linen closet with sliding shelves, as well as some pretty cubbies underneath the spa tub that look towel-sized. Then I thought it might be intended for cleaning products or toiletries. Except that each of the bathrooms has a large cabinet under each sink that are more than adequate and more convenient. Possibly it's storage space for seasonal clothes like sweaters or swimsuits. Except the shelves aren't divided the way one would expect, plus each bedroom closet has built-in storage for such things. Maybe there isn't supposed to be any storage-type furniture in the bedrooms other than the closet organizers. Honestly, I could probably get rid of all our dressers and still have enough room for all our season-appropriate clothes and throw just a few things belonging to the kids in that closet (heaven knows the walk-in in the master bedroom won't require seasonal changes). I ended up throwing a few over-strong cleaning products that I don't want stored in the kids' bathrooms (Drano, CLR, etc.) in there, as well as a couple of extra boxes of tissues. Maybe that will become the home base for our Costco-sized packs of toilet tissue. Any other suggestions are welcomed. It's still a mystery to me.

I did a few more random things as well, opening and emptying a bunch more boxes, making fresh hummingbird food and filling and hanging my feeder (it's probably not in its permanent home yet; like everything else there needs to be some experimentation to see what works and what I like), even figuring out the convection microwave to warm up leftover pizza for the kids' lunches (I still don't feel right about using a microwave oven with a metal rack in it, but nothing blew up, so I guess it's OK).

So that is how I have been spending my first full day in my new house. And now I am sitting on my couch with a big glass of ice water, looking through my ginormous picture window at my hummingbird feeder and wondering when my first guests will arrive. It will probably take a little while for them to find it and get used to it. You have my sympathy, little hummingbirds. You really do.

And Then There Were None: The Countdown Ends

Ever since quarantine began, I've had multiple "countdowns" going on. How many days of homeschool left to go. How many days since we'd made an offer on a new house. How many days until we signed the P&S. How many days until the close. How many days until the move. How many, how many, how many?

As of today, the answer to the question, "How many?" is, "None." Today was the day that we finally moved into our beautiful new house. First thing in the morning, the piano movers came, and while they disassembled our piano and packed it onto their truck, I packed the kids into my car (along with umpteen boxes of stuff) and raced to beat them to the new house to let them in, where they reassembled it in all its glory.

Once they were done, I packed the kids BACK into the car and we drove to Dunkin Donuts to grab some breakfast. When we got back to the new house with tummies full and eyes open, the kids got down to really exploring the house. They ran downstairs to say hello to the hamster (who was the first one to spend the night here), then they ran upstairs to check out the little room over the garage with the funny slanted ceilings. Then they each checked out their own room, plotting out where their beds and dressers and everything else would go in their new domains. They even peeped in the attic, which is even bigger than the large attic in our old house, although somewhat more unfinished (pink insulation abounds between the strips of thin plywood that form the floor). 

But what got them most excited was the pool. Although technically it's a heated pool, the pool heater does not seem to be working, and the pool doesn't currently have a solar cover, so it's open to the elements. Even so, it was surprisingly...well, not exactly warm, but it certainly wasn't cold. The kids both went in pretty quickly, and spent over an hour checking out the slide and enjoying some of the pool toys that some friends and the gracious previous owners had given us as a housewarming gift. 

While they were drying off, I was doing my usual over-organizing and had made and posted signs all over the house to let the movers know where each of the rooms was. 

I even hung post-it notes to indicate where the various pieces of furniture had to go, so they wouldn't need to wait for me or my husband to direct every single item.

By the time I'd finished, Dad was on his was with lunch and the movers were on their way with our furniture. The moving trucks arrived first, so I walked the crew of 5 through the house, explaining where everything should go. They seemed surprised and quite appreciate of my labeling system - in fact, my husband told me later than they were grateful for how organized we were, both in having the vast majority of items neatly packed and labeled before they arrived, and by not only having thought through where things would go, but literally marking the spots. The movers seemed to be in their late teens and early twenties, with one guy clearly the muscle (he hefted our grandfather clock like it was a yardstick) and once girl clearly the organizer (although she more than carried her weight - literally). They were all incredibly polite and pleasant, double-checking the placement of everything and offering to move anything we wanted, even if we had told them where to put it but changed our minds. They worked quickly and efficiently, and were careful to wrap and cover banisters and walls so nothing would be scratched or damaged. They clearly knew what they were doing and did it well, individually and as a team. I was impressed at how hard they worked, especially on such a hot day. They earned every penny of their pay and a generous tip besides. Due to their hustle, the final bill was less than the original estimate, even though we had added a number of items to our first list. (Shout out to Gentle Giant Movers in Acton MA!!)

In the midst of all the moving, the Verizon technician came to install the new router, the guy came by to clean the dryer vent, and the POD was delivered. I haven't had that many people in my house since quarantine started! (Don't worry, we wore masks and social distanced.) Throughout the whole process, I was doggedly emptying boxes, figuring out where everything belonged in the new house (so many cabinets! so much storage space!), and trying to keep the kids busy and out from underfoot. Once everyone had left, we all agreed we needed a break and we were ready for dinner, so my husband went to pick up a couple of pizzas. We sat out by the pool and enjoyed the breeze. I soaked my feet in the refreshing water of the pool, and after dinner my husband went in for a dip himself. 

After dinner, we all pretty much just flopped down wherever we could until it was time for the kids to head for bed. When we were staging our old house to put it on the market, we put my son's queen sized bed in the POD and unbunked my daughter's bunk bed, putting a single twin bed in each bedroom, so the rooms would look more spacious. The queen bed was a little too buried in the POD to pull it out tonight, so my son is sleeping in the guest room tonight, rather than his own room, but we've promised to get his "real" bed ready for tomorrow night. 

It's a steamy evening, but both kids' bedrooms have ceiling fans and multiple windows, so they shouldn't be too uncomfortable. Unfortunately, among the things that were inadvertently left behind at the old house were our toothbrushes and toothpaste, so bedtime prep was a bit altered. I had packed their backup toothbrushes, so they were able to brush without toothpaste, and I even remembered the mouthwash, so it wasn't too gross. We also didn't pack up the fridge and freezer, so a run back to the old house is in order tomorrow anyway. Which means that we get to have breakfast out again tomorrow, so that made the kids happy. They both went to bed with a few comments about it not quite feeling like home, but I reassured them that once we get settled in and their stuff is in their rooms and we get used to everything, it will feel like home very quickly. This is probably the biggest change they've ever gone through in their whole entire lives, so I wouldn't expect them to sail through without blinking. But they're both putting a good face on things, and a good night's sleep and a cooler day tomorrow should help the situation. 

As for me, I poured myself a glass of ice-cold pinot grigio (in a water goblet, because I haven't found the wine glasses yet), and I am sitting on the couch, looking at my window at a bunny, listening to the crickets and the quiet hum of the ceiling fan, wondering what delights are in store for tomorrow. 

It may still be new and unfamiliar, but it's my own little nest. I feel cozy. I feel safe. I am, truly, home.

Home. 

COVID-19 Homeschool, Day 63 - THE LAST DAY!!!

By the numbers:
63 days of homeschool total
4 Google/Zoom meetings today (but all fun ones)
3 offers made on our current house
2 days until moving day
1 day until we close on the new house
1 accepted offer on our old house
0 days until our final walk-through of the new house!
0 days of homeschool left for the year!

To quote Barry Manilow, "looks like we made it!" We survived 63 days of homeschool, 96 days of quarantine, and buying one house and selling another with minimal human contact. And through a combination of hard work, good luck, and support from innumerable other people on many fronts, we're all still reasonably happy, healthy, financially sound, and talking to each other.

We rock.

As is nearly always true of the last day of school, we have no intentions of doing anything productive today. We have minimal desk equivalents to clean out, merely a couple of clipboards, a few pencils, and a large carrel of magic markers that can be tossed into a box. Our goodbyes to classmates and teachers will be part of a few virtual meetings (one for my son's whole grade and one for each child's class). My husband and I are heading off as soon as those calls finish to do our final walk-through of the new house, which also happens to be only the second time I have been inside the house in person (admittedly, I have been touring the online 3D Matterport presentation OBSESSIVELY for weeks), so I am excited enough about that to be completely useless otherwise anyway.

So here's the little that we did do today, as we bid farewell to grades 3 and 4, and to Northeast Elementary and all the lovely teachers and staff we had the pleasure of working with there.

7-8:30am: My son set his alarm for 5:45am and attempted to immediately creep downstairs. Unfortunately for him, an insomniac mom will not let you get away with that, and he was sent back to bed until 6:30 - except that I heard him creeping down again at 6 and I was too tired to yell again so I just let him go. Not the hill I want to die on today. (I have, however, committed myself to checking his Alexa alarm nightly when I go to bed in the future.) I had promised to make French toast for breakfast (mainly because I want to use up the open carton of eggs and most of the last loaf of bread), so I made myself a cup of coffee (only 2 K-cups left on the counter now!) and got cooking. I realized that I had packed the nice pair of pants that I was planning on wearing to both the walk-through and the closing, so it looks like I'll be wearing either jeans or yoga pants to the lawyer's office tomorrow. Oops. At least I'll be wearing a mask so they won't see how embarrassed I am.

8:30-10am: I'm letting them do pretty much anything they want as long as it's not video games. I was going to prohibit screens entirely, but they both like reading on the Epic website, and they even like playing math games some of the time. Also, the teachers have posted a few virtual field trips that they haven't taken yet (including Disney's Hollywood Studios and Animal Kingdom), so I'm leaving all those as options. My daughter found some more virtual field day activities, and he joined her for a bit but then I found them outside, just chilling like this.

While they do that, I'm packing up the approximately 300 mugs that survived my initial mug purge. OK, it's not really 300, but it feels that way when you have a limited amount of bubble wrap. I also took everything that's left in the kitchen and put it on the counters. And it FITS there. I consider this a major accomplishment. I'm rewarding myself with a bag of peanut M&Ms, mainly because I found it in a cabinet and I don't want to pack it but it seems a waste to throw it out.

10-11am: My son is back to virtual field trips of various Disney properties. My daughter has requested a swim in the pool, so I'm about to sit myself in the sunshine for a while and supervise.

11-11:30am: My son joined my daughter in the pool. It's an absolutely gorgeous pool day.

11:30am-12pm: Lunch break and free time.

12-1pm: My son has a Google Classroom Meeting with the entire 4th grade; my daughter is continuing with her free time.

1-2pm: Both kids have a final Google Classroom Meeting with their classes. Mostly it's a nice chance to say goodbye to everyone and tell a little about their summer plans (not that anyone really knows what their summer plans will be, at this point). And then they signed off and have officially completed 3rd and 4th grade!

We don't have any time to revel in their freedom with them, because my husband and I are off for the final walk-through of our new house. But there is a bottle of prosecco with our names on it chilling in the (otherwise empty) wine fridge. We'll have to drink it out of red Solo cups, but it will taste all the sweeter for it.

Thanks for joining us on our journey through COVID-19 homeschool! And you're welcome to continue joining me for our continuing adventures as we settle in to our new home. Have a fabulous, safe, and restful summer, everyone!!

COVID-19 Homeschool, Day 62

By the numbers:
62 days of homeschool so far (counting today)
11 interested parties who came to look at our house this weekend
3 (maybe 4) Google/Zoom meetings left this week
3 days until moving day
2 days until we close on the house
1 day of homeschool still to go after today

This is it. This is the week when it all happens. School is over. We close on and then move into our new house. We consider offers on our old house. We change our lives. We begin a new adventure. We close one chapter of our lives and open another.

Not surprisingly, my emotions are all over the map. I'm sad, I'm thrilled, I'm excited, I'm terrified. Sad to leave a home with so many happy memories. Thrilled to be moving on to a new adventure. Excited for the opportunities ahead for every member of my family. Terrified to be starting over in so many ways.

But even as all those changes come, there are some constants. We still need to eat three meals a day. We will still get up and get dressed and laugh together and learn together and play together. There are still birds to watch at the feeder and chipmunks in the yard. There are still sunrises to enjoy over a cup of coffee and sunsets over a glass of wine. Before long, we will be enjoying all of them with new friends and a new sense of familiarity.

But right now, we're still in the familiar, the comfortable, the known. We're still enjoying our "new normal" routines. And so we will spend two more days of homeschool, even as we finish packing our lives for our new adventures.

Here's what today's "normal" looked like.

7-8:30am: I had promised the kids that our last two days of school would be fun and easy. My daughter's class is having a Google Classroom Meeting at the end of our school day today and tomorrow; my son's class is having one tomorrow as well. I have yet to see what other assignments they have for today and tomorrow, but we're planning on movies and swimming being a major part of our day. So we began with bacon and pancakes. Followed by some degree of getting dressed, brushed, and washed.

8:30-9:30am: We started by watching a link to an 11-minute video on the history of Walt Disney, posted by my son's teacher. That had a link to another video in the series covering the history of the Disney theme parks, so we happily fell down that rabbit hole and went on learning about a bunch of individual rides and virtually riding them. 

9:30-10am: I had also told them that we could watch a movie, and since they couldn't agree on one between themselves, I got to pick (standing rule in our house for movie and TV watching). I found a cute family movie called Annabelle Hooper and the Ghosts of Nantucket, so I got them started on that while I went upstairs and packed everything we can live without for the next four days.

10-11am: My daughter took a quick break to watch Circle Time with Miss Tracey, and my son (who was not loving the movie, despite the adorableness of our heroine Annabelle) went to his room to read on Epic for a while. Once Circle Time was over, my daughter went back to watching the rest of the movie. I continued to pack. The medicine cabinet was an interesting exercise in statistics: What are the chances that anyone in the family will need Pepto Bismol in the next 72 hours? Or Benadryl? Or an Ace bandage? Meh, it's all going in the box. I'll try to remember which box everything is in just in case of emergency and we need to bust something out. (We all know I won't remember, but there's a CVS down the street, so it's a gamble I'm willing to take.)

11am-1pm: Long lunch break and free time! I grabbed a quick lunch and then continued packing up the kitchen. I have 3 K-cups lined up and mentally labeled as Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. We have three breakfasts, two lunches, and one or two dinners left, so I am running through meal options in my mind as I pack. I packed the spice and baking cabinets with the exceptions of vanilla and cinnamon (for French toast), Montreal steak seasoning and vegetable oil (for grilling steak), a few measuring cups and pancake mix (for obvious reasons), and salt and pepper. For similar reasons, the gadget drawer now consists of mainly pancake turners, meat thermometers, and a couple of spoons.

1-2pm: My daughter has a Google Classroom Meeting. My son is going for a swim in the pool. I'm supervising, timing his laps, listening to the local mockingbird going through his repertoire, and hoping a hummingbird or two will wander by. I already swapped over a load of laundry from the washer to the dryer, and I've packed everything that can be packed today, at least in the bedrooms, bathrooms, and kitchen. There's still stuff in the laundry room (mostly my husband's tools, so I'm leaving those for him) and the office (also leaving that for my husband), so I think the only other nook I can clear out more at this point is the hall closet, and there's not much left there other than our liquor stash. So I feel like we're in good shape! Or at least as good as we're going to get. Once my daughter's call ended, she and my husband both threw on their suits and jumped in. I'm dunking in my toes and delivering warm towels as needed.

This evening's dinner menu is salmon (cooked on the grill because I already packed the cookie sheets), so not much preparation needed. Which means we can all kick back and relax for a bit, content in the thought that there's only one more day of school and it looks like we're going to make it through the week just fine!

COVID-19 Homeschool, Day 61

By the numbers:
61 days of homeschool so far (counting today)
6 days until moving day
5 days until we close on the house
2 Google/Zoom meetings left this week
3 days of homeschool still to go (also counting today)
1 day until our first (and hopefully last?!??) Open House for this house

Due to tomorrow's Open House, I will be frantically cleaning all day and supervising the kids only minimally. Which is to say, whatever this schedule says the kids did, there's no guarantee that it was actually done. Nor do I care all that much. We're just trying to get through these last few days without losing our minds.

So here's what we said we did today, whether or not we actually did it.

7-8:30am: Get up, get dressed, have breakfast, brush hair and teeth. I'm very certain we're all up and everyone had breakfast. Anything else is debatable.

8:30-9am: Both kids now know the drill: Start by looking at your daily and weekly assignments to see what needs to be done (or finished) today. Both of their teachers went pretty light on today's work, so there's not a lot to be done. They both asked to do more of the Virtual Field Day games, so I told them that if they worked on at least one regular assignment first, we would do some field day games before it gets too hot. They both opted to do their half hour on Lexia.

9-9:30am: Field Day Games!!! My son reviewed the states and capitals while my daughter collected what we needed for a few different games. But then they changed their minds and asked if they could just play outside, since it's so nice out. Sure, why not?

9:30-10am: And then I smelled a weird burning smell and ran outside to find my son lighting basil leaves on fire with a lighter. So he spent the rest of the half hour in detention; i.e., sitting at the table doing nothing. I suppose everyone is an idiot at age 10, but lighting things on fire when you've had innumerable Cub Scout and parental lectures about why it's a bad idea AND doing it where your mom can see (and smell) it from the window is an added level of idiocy. Oh, the teenage years are going to be a challenge. My daughter is still running around and playing. I am vacuuming the basement so I can make sure he stays in detention. Partway through he called over his sister and convinced her to let him watch her Chromebook.

10-10:30am:  He is now writing "I will not light things on fire" 100 times in cursive. She is watching Miss Tracey's Circle Time. I am wondering if it's too early to have a cocktail. (He got about as far as the fifth repetition in the first 15 minutes before I took mercy on him and we had a big hug and a little chat. I don't think he'll be trying that again any time soon. Probably something else equally egregious, but not that.)

10:30-11am: He has his final trombone lesson of the year, so he's getting out of detention to do that. She's doing her Zearn math. I am vacuuming the entire house and being grateful that the new house is all hardwood floors and tiled bathrooms. Also cursing that two of the people in this house have long, thick, wavy hair. Soooo much hair.

11am-12:30pm: We're all toast, so we decided to take an early lunch break. 

12:30-1:30pm: We're still toast, so we read Harry Potter together for an hour and then declared ourselves done. DONE!

Two more days to go. We can do this! Have a great weekend, everyone!

COVID-19 Homeschool, Day 60

By the numbers:
60 days of homeschool so far (counting today)
7 days until moving day (EEEE ONE WEEK FROM TODAY!!)
6 days until we close on the house
4 Google/Zoom meetings left this week
4 days of homeschool still to go (also counting today)
2 days until our first (and hopefully last?!??) Open House for this house

Lots of milestones today. SIXTY days of homeschool. ONE WEEK until moving day.

It's gettin' real, y'all.

My day today will be filled with neatening the house for this weekend's Open House appointments, boxing up anything we can live without for the next week, finalizing inventory for the movers, and trying not to freak out. Somewhere in there I'll try to make sure the kids learn something useful. Will probably throw some food at them at a couple of points throughout the day. All that is to set, set your expectations pretty low for today; I know I have.

Anyway, here's today's schedule.

7-8:30am: My calculations state that we have enough eggs, bread, butter, and syrup to have French toast for breakfast. My son requests scrambled eggs and toast, so I make both and go a little heavy on my daughter's syrup so I don't have to recalculate. You may think I'm kidding, but my husband asked me last night if I was trying to get rid of EVERYTHING consumable before we leave. Hahahahaha. He thought he was joking. My biggest accomplishment of the day was finishing off the 128-oz bottle of conditioner that I bought a year and a half ago. This is serious stuff, people. Where was I? Oh yeah, get up, get dressed, eat breakfast, clean up breakfast dishes, brush hair and teeth. (For the record, there is exactly enough toothpaste left in the tube for both kids to brush their teeth twice daily until the move.)

8:30-9:15am: This Sunday is "Youth Sunday," at our church, so the youth choir director set up an accompaniment recording so each kid can record him- or herself singing "This Little Light of Mine." I forgot to have them do it after they rehearsed it with her last Friday, so I'm having them review it, then we'll record each of them separately. I'm having my daughter do it first while I send my son back upstairs to tame his crazy hair. Although I'm tempted to leave it in the video because it is EPIC. One of the benefits of ridiculously thick hair is really impressive bedhead. My son recorded his first then I sent him to do read Robin Hood on my Kindle. My daughter struggled a little with parts of the song, and when I corrected her, she started to melt down, so her recording took more time and more takes than I expected. When I went to check on her brother, he was playing games and guiltily switched back to the home screen hoping I wouldn't notice. Oops, his reading timer just reset to zero and he's now sitting next to me, reading with the Kindle on the table where I can see the screen.

9:15-9:45am: My son is re-starting his half hour of reading, and my daughter is listening to Dragons Love Tacos on Epic. I had planned on getting some work done, but clearly I need to sit and supervise. Ah, parenting.

9:45-10:30am: Both kids are switching over to math. I asked my son to check for any specific math assignments from his teacher, but it was just Zearn, so he's doing 30 minutes on Zearn. After my daughter finished the books she was listening to, she checked her assignment list as well. She's tried to do a Numskill assignment (she doesn't get the pun) on Greg Tang Math, but there wasn't a link, and we couldn't find any problems using the skill that was described in the assignment, so after 10 minutes of frustration on both our parts, we canned that and she's just doing by 20 minutes of Zearn. I checked on my son and found that once again he had opened a second window and was watching a video instead of doing his work. Timer reset. AGAIN. Since I'm using the time I had set aside to clean the house to supervise him instead, guess who'll be helping me clean this afternoon instead of watching videos and goofing off? I just flipped over to watch an African LiveCam and there were two elephants challenging each other to a showdown. How very apropos. Also of note: The bigger elephant won. 

10:30-11am: My son reviewed his states and capitals with a posted study guide. He moved on to Lexia for 20 minutes. My daughter has moved on to an assignment to continue writing a persuasive speech about water conservation to present during her Google Classroom Meeting today. Neither of us has any idea what this assignment is and have never heard of it before, so either we both missed something or she blew off something that was discussed at a class meeting. I told her to just write up an argument about why water conservation is important and ways we as individuals can conserve water. We'll see if this is anywhere close to the actual assignment. When my son finished his time on Lexia, he solved this week's EstiMystery.

11-11:30am: My son is working on Math Playground. Then he took a virtual field trip to Universal Studios, Hollywood, along with reading a brief history. My daughter is writing in her journal. I asked her to write about herself - what she's doing and feeling - rather than simply describing her friends, as she usually does. She did finally describe a little about what being quarantined is like, and even described an outing with the drone that she took with her dad and brother a few days ago. I got her teacher's email reminder about today's class meeting, which including a short mention of the persuasive writing assignment. She mentioned that they could include a drawing with their presentation, so I had my daughter work on that until break time.

11:30am-1pm: At last, lunch break and free time! Which means I can finally get straightening and organizing.

1-2pm: Both kids have a class meeting, followed by some chat time. This is their second-to-last class meeting! Both will also have a final meeting at the end of the last day of school. We will all be incredibly relieved when that happens.

Well, the kids managed to get a little work done, I managed to get a little work done, we all still have some chores to do before the end of the day, and the thunderstorms that appear to be rolling in should knock beat the heat and humidity a little. There were a few rough patches all around, but we made it.

COVID-19 Homeschool, Day 59

By the numbers:
59 days of homeschool so far (counting today)
8 days until moving day (hooray for single digits!!)
7 days until we close on the house
6 Google/Zoom meetings left this week
5 days of homeschool still to go (also counting today)

It's another glorious morning, not too hot and not too humid, and we're all refreshed from our light day yesterday and a good night's sleep. We're ready to take on the world! Or at least the day. Here's our daily schedule:

7-8:30am: As my Facebook friends are aware, I've been playing a game I dubbed "Use Up That Bottle Cocktail Roulette" (UUTBCR for short) in order to use up some of the half-empty bottles of liquor we have left over from parties so we don't have to pack them when we move. With only about a week to go, this concept is spilling over into everything from other food items to toiletries. I'm making decisions about baking bread based on how many loaves are required to finish up that bag of flour, decisions about whether or not to condition my hair based on how much is left in the bottle of conditioner, even whether to use the kids' toothpaste or my own preferred brand so as to have one less tube to throw into a box on that last day. All that is to say that I came thisclose to finishing up the giant bag of Krusteaz pancake mix from Costco for this morning's breakfast, so guess what tomorrow's breakfast will also be? Ahem, topic. Ah yes, get up, get dressed, have breakfast, clean up breakfast dishes, brush hair and teeth. Check.

8:30-8:45am: We're back to following their teachers' daily assignments today, but I think we'll start with math because that tends to be a little trickier for Child #1 and sometimes includes actual submissions for Child #2. Good to get both of those out of the way while they're still fresh. My daughter is starting with Zearn math, but also asked to do a music assignment before doing her FlipGrid. My son is doing his Kahoot math assignment first.

8:45-9:30am: Field Day! Today would have been Field Day at school, when the kids all spend the day outside playing games and doing fun physical challenges. My son's teacher gave them suggestions of 10 exercises they could do, so I'm having both kids do them together (I'm even joining in a little). We can all use the exercise - and the laughs. We're starting with a Wheelbarrow Race!

Followed by sack races (self-explanatory) and penguin races (which involve running back and forth between two cups while holding a ball between your knees without dropping it). There was much hilarity, especially when I joined in. In related news, fat thighs are a huge advantage in penguin races (needless to say, I won handily - er, leggily).

9:30-10am: We thought about doing a dance party (which was one of the Field Day suggestions), but both kids had tired themselves out a little, so they're both doing reading with Epic instead. I might save the dance party for after lunch, though.

10-10:30am: Circle Time with Miss Tracey and Atlantic White Shark Conservancy. I love knowing that there's a half hour every day when I don't have to think about what they'll do! I am folding laundry because it is the Chore That Never Ends.

10:30-11:30am: I went up in the attic to finish clearing and packing up there, and I honestly lost track of time at this point, so I have no idea what they did. Hopefully something useful? I dunno.

11:30-12pm: My daughter started her lunch break and free time. My son had his final Challenge Class. He was less than enthusiastic and gave monosyllabic answers to his teacher's questions about how he was feeling. As much as I expect him to give thoughtful, respectful answers to his teachers when they ask questions, no-one should be made to share their feelings publicly when they don't want to. Not everyone is comfortable with being touchy-feely; please respect a child's emotional privacy the same way you respect their bodily autonomy.

12-1pm: Lunch break and free time for both.

1-2pm: We're sitting out back and I'm re-reading them Harry Potter. Not a bad way to end the day.

COVID-19 Homeschool, Day 58

By the numbers:
58 days of homeschool so far (counting today)
9 days until moving day (hooray for single digits!!)
8 Google/Zoom meetings left this week
8 days until we close on the house
6 days of homeschool still to go (also counting today)
2 kids who are begging for a "light day" today
1 mom who can totally go for that

Yesterday when I picked up the kids' things at their school, I had a lovely chat with each of their teachers, who sent along their best wishes for our move, and who assured me that both kids are doing great in their studies and that they are confident the kids will settle in quickly, both socially and academically. Even though I felt that way myself, it was reassuring to hear it from a professional who not only knows my kids in both those settings, but who sees lots of the kids' peers and has a solid basis of comparison for what's expected at that age. Which is all to say that I am confident that taking a day off having a light day today will not be a problem in any way, and will likely be good for all our mental health.

That said, here is what a "light day" looks like in our homeschool.

7-8:30am: Last night, I asked the kids to put in their request for today's breakfast, and they were both in the mood for scrambled eggs, toast, and sausage (well, one kid requested sausage; the other is not a sausage fan). As I collected the ingredients, I realized that I had finally managed to reduce our pantry and refrigerator cabinets to the point where we were actually low on (and, in the case of bread, out of) a few key supplies. Bread, eggs, and butter go onto a "crucial items" shopping list that we (by which I mean "my husband") will pick up before the end of the day.  As I head for a second cup of coffee, I add "half and half" to that list. I should note that while I am eating my breakfast I am watching African wildlife including elephants, gazelles, giraffes, hippos, and ostriches moseying around waterholes via one of my favorite livecam websites. It's very relaxing. Also, elephants are pretty much the stoners of the animal world. They just hang around, being all mellow and munching on everything within reach. Good-natured, never in a hurry. Elephants are the best. (Please note that I am not advising anyone to become a stoner. Just an elephant.)

8:30-9:30am: We begin the day with a discussion of whether there are one or two specific assignments that we ought to - or want to - do today. They both have a class meeting this afternoon, so we check the teacher's emails to see if there are specific topics or assignments that will be discussed that we should be sure to complete and/or review. My daughter has a math FlipGrid that she needs to record, and my son is taking a virtual field trip to Sea World. We hit an early snag because her word problem was figuring out the length of a pool based on the length of the "concrete slabs" running alongside it, and she had no idea what a "concrete slab" was. Once I explained and drew her an illustration, she had no problems solving it. Once she finished posting her video, she moved on to working on a comic strip she's been drawing. She is incapable of doing this without a running commentary, so it is probably a good thing that her brother has his headphones on. It is less than I good thing that I do not. I am going back to watching the elephants, It helps.

9:30-10am: My son has moved on to virtually riding roller coasters. Normally, I wouldn't consider this schoolwork, but he likes to analyze the physics of this type of thing, so it counts. My daughter is still absorbed in her comic strip drawing. I am listening to the third book of Hunger Games and procrastinating climbing up to the attic to break down a couple of shelving units and take a final inventory of the stuff that's up there. I tell myself that I'm just waiting for a cooler day, but mainly I'm putting it off because it's distasteful.

10-11am: My daughter continues to draw her comic, but now she's added listening to and singing along with her favorite songs. My son has claimed refuge in another room and is watching Atlantic White Shark Conservancy. I am baking French bread, possibly for the last time in this house. Sniff.

11-11:30am:  My daughter is watching videos for inspiration; my son is googling shark stuff following the AWSC feed, and I have thrown the bread in the oven and will be taking it out just in time for lunch. Something to look forward to!

11:30am-1pm: Lunch break and free time. Bread will be eaten and enjoyed.

1-2pm: Both kids have Google Classroom meetings, so I am off duty. I'm sucking it up and braving the attic. It's not as bad as I feared. But it's still pretty toasty, and it reminds me that this Thursday is the last trash pickup before we move, which means there's still a bunch of junk up here that needs schlepping to the curb. But not as much as I'd feared. And mostly it's too heavy for me to carry down the stairs, so it can wait until my husband has a few free minutes. Which means that both the kids and I are done for now! Have a great rest of the day!

COVID-19 Homeschool, Day 57

By the numbers:
57 days of homeschool so far (counting today)
10 days until moving day
10 Google/Zoom meetings this week
9 days until we close on the house
7 days of homeschool still to go (also counting today)
2 trips to school to pick up personal items and drop off library books and textbooks

7-8:30am: Get up, get dressed (except for my daughter, who begged to have a pajama day today), have breakfast, brush teeth and hair.

8:30-9am: My daughter has chosen to start with Zearn math for 20 minutes. She struggling a little with comparing fractions so we went over it together, drawing diagrams, so I had her do a full 30 minutes of practice. One of my son's assignments is to write a letter to his 5th-grade teacher. He was doubtful about doing it since he doesn't know who his 5th grade teacher will be. But I reminded him that even if we weren't moving, he wouldn't know who his teacher will be yet. And we talked about how his 5th grade teacher in Waltham would probably already know who he is and would be able to talk to his current teacher about what he's good at and what he has a hard time with, but his 5th grade teacher in his new school won't have any of that information, so it would be even more helpful to write that letter. I promised that we would send it on ahead to his new school so his teacher could get to know him a little before school started. He thought about that for a minute and then agreed that it could be a good idea.

9-9:30am: My daughter moved on to working on Lexia. My son finished up his letter to his teacher and then went on to Lexia as well. I am cleaning the refrigerator. I am remembering how much I dislike cleaning the refrigerator. I am glad that we have a very large recycle bin - and a garbage disposal.

9:30-10am:  My son has band rehearsal at 9:45 so I gave him a few extra minutes on Lexia and then sent him upstairs to get out his trombone and set up his music stand. My daughter is doing some independent reading, and also some reading through Epic.

10-10:45am: The kids' school is doing a grade-by-grade pickup of the kids' personal belongings that were left in their desks and lockers, and 10-11:30am is pickup for 3rd graders, so I am driving over to the school to collect whatever detritus my daughter left behind. I am predicting markers, crayons, and probably a sweatshirt. Possibly some abandoned mittens that have been languishing since December. Fortunately, their school got a grant that provided free lunches to all students so they haven't been bringing their lunches to school, so no expectations of rotted food, unless (crosses fingers) there's a nasty ziploc bag of something that used to be strawberries. [N.B. No rotted food, strawberries or otherwise, was found. Phew!] While I'm doing this, my son is in the middle of his band rehearsal and my daughter is watching Circle Time with Miss Tracey. I should be back shortly before she finishes, and long before my son's rehearsal ends. My daughter asked to continue with her reading after Circle Time ended and after she looked through the little package of gifts that her teacher sent home.

10:45-11:30am: My daughter is doing a math FlipGrid - unsupervised. We'll see how this one goes. My son is also working on his math assignments, which includes watching a video about TanGrams.

11:30am-1pm: Lunch break and free time! It's gorgeous out, so this afternoon's "class" might be P.E.; i.e., swimming in the pool.

1-2pm: Swim class! All three of us don our swimsuits and jump into the pool. While we swam, we played 30 questions (all animals/plants) and I gave them a spelling quiz, so it totally counts as class time.

I also had them sort through all the stuff that was in their desks that their teachers sent home. A few keepers (mostly art supplies and pencil boxes), a lot to be looked at and enjoyed (and, in a few cases, photographed) and then tossed, and a good bit simply tossed. It felt rather cathartic (to me, if not to them).

And that was our school day! One more down, 6 more to go!

COVID-19 Homeschool, Day 56

By the numbers:
56 days of homeschool so far
13 days until moving day
12 days until we close on the house
8 days of homeschool still to go
5 Zoom/Google Classroom Meets
1 day left until the weekend

Fridays are a mixed blessing for me these days. On the one hand, we're close to the weekend, and once we're done for the day we all give a little sigh of relief. On the other hand, we're sometimes frantically trying to catch up on all the "weekly" tasks that didn't quite get done earlier in the week. Plus, it's the most "scheduled" day we have, which limits our flexibility by giving us multiple hard stops.

The number of school days left is in the single digits; we're down to less than two weeks before we move. Again, a mixture of terror and relief, but mostly simply the light at the end of the tunnel. And so we soldier on. Today, that looked like this:

7-8:30am: Due to last night's pouring rain, it's already a warm and sticky day, with everyone moving a little slower than we might otherwise. But after a breakfast of French toast, we're ready to get dressed and brushed and washed and face the day!

8:30-9am: My son is finalizing his research and writing assignment for his Challenge class, which his teacher will be reviewing with the whole class during his 11am Google Meet. He wrapped it up pretty quickly, then went on to do a Minecraft symmetry project. My daughter asked to start with reading, so she's working on Lexia for her daily 20-30 minutes.

9-9:30am: We looked back over both their weekly and daily assignment lists to see what was left. My daughter opted to do an EstiMystery, followed by her daily Zearn math for 20 minutes, then moved on to independent reading. My son is doing a reading and a video on Nelson Mandela, followed by answering a few questions.

9:30-10am: My son is moving on to Math Playground geometry games, and my daughter is continuing with independent reading.

10-10:30am: My daughter is watching Circle Time with Miss Tracey. Since my son has a trombone lesson at 10:30am, he's saving the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy to watch in its entirety later on, and is doing Zearn until it's time to set up for his lesson.

10:30-11am: My son is having his trombone lesson. My daughter is working on her Epic reading. I am packing our formal china and flatware and padding out the boxes with whatever "soft" things i can find around the house. Small pasta boxes make surprisingly good filler. Also candles. My packing logic has officially switched over from "things that are stored in the same room close by each other" to "whatever fits in the damn box."

11-11:30am: My son has switched over to his Challenge Google Meet. He's wearing his Bluetooth headphones and just wandered down to the basement to put his trombone away while chatting away to his teacher about his project and all I can think of is those annoying people on public transportation who natter away loudly on their Bluetooth earpieces. It doesn't matter in the house, but we'll have to have a chat about headphone and earpiece etiquette as some point. My daughter is working on something called a Graphic Organizer. I didn't really understand her explanation, but it involves the work they've been doing on water conservation combined with some form of organizing information, so I'm just going to assume it's a good thing and not worry about the details.

11:30am-1pm: Phew, lunch break and free time!

1-2pm: My son has a couple of videos to watch for his class, then we finished off by reviewing the states and capitals once again. My daughter has finished all of her regular classroom assignments, so we went back to look at extras like drama, art, and music. There was a science challenge involving watching a video and then carving a rock. The finding and washing the rock has taken 20 minutes, and I suspect the video will take another 15. Based on my daughter's past artistic endeavors, the actual rock carving will either take 30 seconds or all weekend.

My daughter has a dance class from 4:30-6pm, and both kids have an online youth group meeting from 6:30-7:30pm, but other than that, we're off for the weekend! Have a great weekend, everyone!

COVID-19 Homeschool, Day 55

By the numbers:
55 days of homeschool so far
14 days until moving day
13 days until we close on the house
9 days of homeschool still to go
1 hour until the house cleaners come one last time

I see progress being made! We'll try to keep it going today, although the housecleaners are coming at 9:30, I have a meeting at noon, and my son has an online meeting at 1, so things will be a little uproarious today.

7-8:30am: Get up, get dressed, have breakfast. I did some neatening up around the house and asked both kids to neaten up their rooms, but their idea of "neat" and my idea of "neat" are not the same (and even my idea of "neat" is significantly different than my husband's idea of "neat"), so we'll do some more supervised cleaning when school starts.

8:30-9am: We did a sweep of the house as a group, starting with their individual bedrooms. I gave them a refresher on how to make a bed and had them each make their own. They picked up and put away any clothes that were on the floor (there are ALWAYS clothes on the floor) and tucked toys and shoes in their closets. We cleared the bathroom counter (after doing a moisture check of toothbrushes and making everyone who failed brush their teeth) and made sure there were no toys in the bathtub (there are ALWAYS toys in the bathtub). We walked through the kitchen and the playroom to clean up any junk that was lying around (there is ALWAYS junk lying around), then we gathered our laptops and set up at the picnic table in the back yard, so we would be out of the way for the cleaners.

9-9:30am: My daughter started with Zearn math and then moved on to the Math Playground and Adapted Mind websites after her daily 20 minutes on Zearn was up. Before my son started his work, he read aloud to me a page his teacher posted asking the class to post (anonymously) compliments to their various classmates. Many were sweet, some were funny (one student got a lot of compliments on his "crazy hair"), but all were uplifting. My son was very proud that his classmates described him as smart, helpful, and kind, and I was just as proud. As a kid who had struggled with fitting in with his peers in earlier grades, I was delighted to see how his classmates view him, and I'm sure he was as well. Now he's working through his list of math assignments, starting with "complete the task cards" and then moving on to watching a video about Mahatma Ghandi. There was supposed to be a reading as well, but the link is incorrect. I told him he could do some independent research if he needed additional information to answer the questions at the end of the assignment (which he needed to do).

9:30-10am: My son is back to math with a "pattern blocks" exercise, followed by some "match-up math" challenges. My daughter is reading on Epic. I am being entertained by the antics of the local chipmunks. I am also being serenaded by the local mockingbird, who has been at it steadily since 4:30am. It's rather impressive.

10-10:30am: My daughter is watching a video lesson on fractions and doing some exercises using what she learned. Apparently the video asks them to collect items around the house as illustrations, so she's using rhododendron leaves. My son is watching Atlantic White Shark Conservancy. He's learning about dogfish sharks and I'm having a flashback to my Invertebrate Zoology squalus dissection class in college. But in a good way.

10:30-11am: My son is working on more math exercises posted by his teacher; my daughter is still working on her fractions lesson.

11-11:30am: My daughter is taking a water conservation quiz, then doing independent reading. (She wanted to do Typing Club was for some reason it wasn't loading.) My son is doing his 30 minutes of Zearn for the day.

11:30am-1pm: Lunch break and free time. I have a Zoom committee meeting at noon so I tried to get the kids fed (or, even better, feeding themselves) before that started. Both kids wandered through the kitchen during my meeting and seemed to linger in the general vicinity of the fridge and/or microwave, so I assume they both fed themselves at some point during the break.

1-2pm: My daughter has an online class meeting; my son and I are working on having him film part of a fundraising video for a regional theatre group that he performed with last year, as Kurt von Trapp in The Sound of Music. Costumes and props are optional, and given that we don't have a lot to work with since most of our belongings are in a POD parked in a storage lot somewhere, we did the best we could with a dress shirt and a borrowed pair of Dad's suspenders and bowtie. (And, as my son noted, a significant amount of Mom-spit-as-hair-pomade.) Both kids were done at around 1:30pm, so my son studied his states and capitals for the rest of the time while my daughter did some additional independent reading.

We're also giving ourselves credit for P.E., because as soon as at least part of the pool is in the shade, we're all going swimming!!

COVID-19 Homeschool, Day 54

54 days of homeschool down. 10 days of homeschool to go. 14 days until the house closing. 15 days until moving day. Who knows how many days until some facets of life become more normal. In the light of that unknown, it helps to have a few tangible landmarks to look forward to. It also helps to have a written record of what we did (it helps me, anyway), to remind us that we are accomplishing things, that we are keeping to a new normal, that life does continue to move ahead.

Here's the record of what we did today.

7-8:30am: When I came downstairs a little after 7am this morning, my son reported that when he came downstairs sometime earlier, his sister was asleep on the floor of the office. Who knows what time she got up? We're all fueling up on scrambled eggs and toast, so despite the sticky, overcast day, I think we'll be ready to go at the usual hour.

8:30-9:15am: My son is starting with a reading, video, and questions about Cesar Chavez. Like yesterday, it was a short assignment, so when he was done, I quizzed him on state capitals. Unfortunately, the links his teacher provided don't seem to be working, so we did an online quiz together instead. It turned out to be more learning than simple reviewing, but we went section by section and he picked it up quite quickly. It was fun teaching him all the mnemonics I used back when I had to learn the states and capitals (MIchigan is shaped like a MItten, FRankfort is the home of [Kentucky] FRied chicken, Indiana and Ohio look like a pair of wings, etc.). My daughter also started with another video on water conservation, and wrote down her answers to two questions from a list, to be shared at her next Classroom Meeting, tomorrow afternoon.

9:15-10am: My daughter is working on Zearn math for 20 minutes, followed by solving a problem and recording an explanation of how she solved it on FlipGrid. My son is working on Zearn for 30 minutes. While they did that, I took a shower, which was by far the most exciting part of my day. (Not even being sarcastic. It's been a long week.) I let them both take a short break when they finished.

10-10:30am: Miss Tracey's Circle Time and Atlantic White Shark Conservancy, of course! After my daughter finished Circle Time, she did her independent reading on Epic for 20 minutes. I worked on purging and packing some items in my pantry. With only 2 weeks or so left before we move, it's a pretty safe bet that we don't need immediate access to, say, 3 jars of mayonnaise, 6 cans of condensed cream of mushroom soup, and 2 boxes of instant mashed potatoes.

10:30-11:30am: My son worked through some of his math assignments, including a video on symmetry, and EstiMystery, and some choices from the 4th grade's "Choice Board." My daughter wrote in her journal and then did an art challenge involving bubbles!

11:30am-1pm: Lunch break and free time. It's a gorgeous day so I'm making the kids eat their lunch outside. But with sunscreen on, because I'm still sporting a touch of sunburn from sitting out during last Sunday's church service.

1-2pm: My son's Google Meet with his class has been postponed until 2pm, so I'm taking advantage of the time to have the kids each record a reading of Psalm 100 for the Youth Sunday service at our church in a couple of weeks. This requires looking more presentable than they both do at the moment, so we started by sending them both upstairs to brush their hair and teeth (hopefully both for the second time today, but I do have my doubts some days) and change into a more appropriate shirt. After they recorded, I read then a couple more chapters from "The Long Walk to Water."

2-3pm: My son logged on for his Google Meet, followed by chatting with friends.

3:15-4;45pm: My daughter ended her day with jazz and tap dance classes.

And then we were done!

COVID-19 Homeschool, Day 53

Two weeks from today is the last day of school.

I don't know about you, but it helps me to be able to see the light at the end of the tunnel. Milestones reassure me that we are making progress, and that time is passing, because sometimes the days blur into one another and it feels like one of those scenes in a horror movie where the main character is walking down a hallway but the door at the end never gets any closer.

The other day the kids and I were reading a chapter from Laura Ingalls Wilder's book, "The House on Plum Creek," and Pa has gone back east to get work. He sends a letter saying that he'll come home in two weeks, so Laura and Mary make hash marks on their school slate to count down the days, and every night when they go to bed, Mary erases one of them. It helps the time pass. I decided that at the two-week mark, we'd do the same thing, (I was torn between using the countdown to the end of school and the countdown until moving day - there's only two days' difference - but I opted for school because, to be honest, it's nearer.) So that will mark the end of the day today.

7-8:30am: I woke up with an arthritis flare in my shoulder that's making it tough to get dressed and get breakfast, so I got a late start and let the kids take charge of their own breakfasts again. My son says he didn't sleep well (not uncommon; he's an insomniac like his mother), so he's having a rough time getting going. And my daughter was wide awake when my husband checked on her when he came to bed a little before midnight. So we'll all be struggling a little today, I suspect. But eventually we all got ourselves dressed (sort of), washed and brushed (sort of), and fed (sort of).

8:30-8:45am: I've finally gotten smart and gotten both kids' school passwords so I can go directly to their teacher's Classroom pages and see their assignments without having to look over their shoulders. I gave them each the choice of starting with either English or math. My son chose English, so I asked him to start with an assignment on Martin Luther King, Jr., that involves doing a reading, watching a video, and then answering some questions. My daughter chose literacy over math, as well, so I had her read the assigned article on conserving water, which included making a list of a few ways that she can conserve water, which the kids will be asked to share at the Google Meet this afternoon.

8:45-9:15am: My son finished the MLK assignment in about 15 minutes, so he's moving on to reading on Lexia for 30 minutes. My daughter is continuing with her water conservation assignment. (It was 100+ ways to conserve, so even though it's a list, it's a fair amount to get through!) She finished up with Typing Club (her favorite).

9:15-10am: My son is moving on to playing math games on Kahoot! and then moved on to Zearn for 30 minutes. My daughter is working on Zearn for 20 minutes, then she'll finish up with some Math Playground games. While they're working on this, I'm slogging through updating my address with a bunch of providers and moving my prescriptions over to a new carrier with the new address. Transitions are hard. Can't do it too early or things will be delivered to someone else's house. Can't do it too late or things will be delivered to an empty house (not a problem for things that get forwarded, but my refrigerated medication would definitely be a problem). I am realizing that the last few days before our move are going to be a zoo. You know, those two days that are the last two days of school? Yeah, those. Aaaanyway...

10-10:30am: We didn't take our usual 10am break yesterday, but I'm making sure they get it today. Miss Tracey's Circle Time (which is actually a book reading today) and Atlantic White Shark Conservancy, here we come. My daughter took a short break after Circle Time, then went on to do independent reading. I'm baking bread, since I ate the last piece of French bread for breakfast this morning. Can't be without our fresh French bread these days!

10:30-11:30am: My daughter is working on Math Limbo while my son finishes up AWSC. When he finished, he asked to do a science experiment he found. We didn't have the right supplies, so we went back to the Waltham Robohawks team and did their next experiment: Building a Parachute!

11:30am-1pm: Lunch break and free time.

1-2pm: My daughter had a Google Classroom Meeting, followed by some informal chatting with classmates. My son had a band rehearsal.

Later in the afternoon, we had another reading session where I read them a few more chapters of "The Long Walk to Water." They didn't want to interrupt their playing to listen, but once we got going, they were both rapt, and when I got to a stopping point and asked if they wanted to hear another chapter, they both wanted to go on. I love it when that happens.

And that was our school day for today!