COVID-19 Homeschool, Day 33

We're continuing to work in "semi-supervised mode" this week. Today is full of meetings with the home inspector, painters, staging consultant, and smoke detector installers, so the kids will be responsible for keeping themselves on track (and frequently out of the way - we may be banishing them to my car at several points).

Here's how today's schedule worked out.

7-8:30am: Get up, have breakfast, get washed, brushed, and dressed.

8:30-9am: Each child logged in to their Classroom website and looked at the week's assignments. Having a checklist worked out well last week, so I helped each of them set a series of assignments for the day. Once again, they can use their own discretion for when to work, when to take breaks, and when to do each assignment. The only fixed time is my son's Google Classroom Meeting at 1pm, but he opted to write out his schedule including specific times. He started with his two fraction assignments, and she started with her Epic reading assignment, reading about loggerhead turtles.

9-9:30am: My son moved on to a typing/writing assignment comparing two animals. My daughter continued with her Epic reading, including taking a quiz.

9:30-10am: My daughter moved on to Zearn math but didn't have time to do the FlipGrid at the end. She'll come back to that later. My son worked on his independent reading.

10-10:30am: My daughter watched Circle Time with Miss Tracey then went back to finish her Zearn FlipGrid submission. My son watched the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy Facebook Live program.

10:30-11:30am:  Both kids agreed they wanted to go outside to get some exercise and fresh air. My son plans to lead "Workout Time." This could either be amazing or a complete disaster. They ended up watering the garden - and each other - with the garden hose. But there was much happy shrieking and running around, so they definitely got some exercise. And the flowers got a drink. So, win!

11:30am-1pm: Lunch break and free time. I made them eat their lunch outside in the tent while my husband and I got an estimate from the first painter.

1-2pm: My son has a Google Classroom Meet with his teacher, and my daughter worked on her journal, including putting an entry (or part of an entry) into a Google doc to email to her teacher.

They probably did less than they would have if I had been directly supervising them all day, but they learned to manage their own time, and to accept responsibility for their own work, and in addition, I got everything done that I needed to get done.

I continue to be struck by one of the best silver linings of these school closures for my kids: I am forced to give them more responsibility, and they are handling it beautifully. I am giving them opportunities to work independently on skills that I might not have normally, including cooking and meal planning, and managing their own time. And I'm proud of how well they're both handling it. I hope I can continue to push them beyond their - and my - comfort zones and encourage them to take on trying more skills even after this crisis is over.

Thank the good Lord for every silver lining we can find!