COVID-19 Homeschool, Day 37

Happy Disruption Day! Today we have painters coming to repaint rooms on three different floors of the house, which makes figuring out where to be a little complicated. I'm not sure yet whether they'll have crews doing all three rooms at once or just one at a time, but for now, I'm having the kids stay in their own rooms, and if we can move around later, we will. Unfortunately for them, this also means that I will be hanging out with them all day. Although at some point I'll probably go up in the attic (which is accessed from my daughter's room) and start sorting and purging up there. Since they've finished most of their work for the week already, it isn't as much of a disruption as it could be, but my son's trombone lesson could be interesting. Another bit of good news is that my husband was able to fix my daughter's Chromebook, so I don't have to sacrifice my laptop to her today. Which is good, since I expect to spend a good deal of the day making checklists and to-do lists for myself.

Let's have at it!

6:30-8am: The painters are scheduled to arrive this morning, possibly as early as 8am, so I made sure the kids were fed, dressed, brushed, and in their rooms with Chromebooks and chargers by then. Since they were both up before 6:30 (as was I, since my daughter knocked on my bedroom door at 5:59am to ask if I knew where her Chromebook was), it wasn't especially rushed. I even got a shower! Woot woot!!

8-8:30am: I told them they didn't have to start school until 8:30 if they didn't want to, but if they did, they could finish early as well. Not surprisingly, they both opted to keep playing games for half an hour.

8:30-9am: We double-checked their assignments for the week to make sure they had done everything they needed to. My son has a ReadWorks assignment left to do, which involves reading an article and then answering some questions about it. My daughter is doing a drama assignment involving some improvisation using props, a la "Whose Line Is It, Anyway?". This should be interesting.

9-9:30am: Independent reading, letting them each choose their own books. My daughter is reading Superfly (complete with an in-depth discussion on cockroaches: why they're so hard to kill and what animals might eat them), and my son is continuing with his ReadWorks choices.

9:30-10am: While the kids were reading, I moved my daughter's bed and cleaned behind it (ew, now I know exactly how far their very grubby feet can reach down the wall when they're in bed). In the process, I found a styrofoam sword that had apparently been missing for the last six months. Child #1 ran into child #2's bedroom with said sword and now I have lost complete control. I'm calling this a PE session and ignoring the whacks, the giggles, and the whining. Let this also be a lesson in compromise and getting along, a very practical lesson for anyone who ever intends to get married, have children, or hold a job. They managed to break the sword in half by 9:45 so they took a 15-minute break, during which they played with the hamster, resulting in additional giggles and also whining and complaints about lack of sharing. Ah, siblings.

10-11am: The painters have arrived, so I got them settled. My daughter asked to keep playing with the hamster and hanging out with me, which is fine with me. When I came back from talking to the painters, my son was already watching the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy presentation. He would normally have a trombone lesson at 10:30, but his teacher emailed to cancel lessons for the day (he is ill; fortunately not with COVID-19) so he'll be able to watch the whole program today.

11am-noon: My son had a Google Classrooms Meeting with his Challenge class. I let my daughter take an early lunch break.

12-1pm: Lunch break and free time.

1-2pm: My daughter was playing with the hamster, so I suggested that she either do more independent reading or find a math game she could play with the hamster in her lap, so she's happily playing on Math Playground. My son also agreed to do online math, starting with Zearn. I told them they needed to do math for a least half an hour, but they both lost track of time and kept playing for close to a full hour.

And, just like that, we're done! TGIF and have a terrific weekend, everybody!