COVID-19 Homeschool, Day 42

TGIF! At the end of today, we will have successfully navigated through yet another week of homeschooling. My kids' last day of in-school school was March 12, so we are several days beyond the two-month mark. Learning may not be happening at the same speed it did in the classroom, but it is happening, and it's being supplemented with plenty of life skills, including cooking, home repair, home economics, and dealing with people in close quarters that you can't get away from who annoy you beyond belief. (Don't trivialize the latter; you know that skill will come in handy in every job they ever have, not to mention if they ever have a roommate or a spouse or children.) Today's only interruption is expected to be a visit from the smoke alarm inspector later this morning, so I have high hopes of things progressing smoothly today. (I know, I probably just jinxed it. Oh, well.) Also, we are due to sign our P&S agreement on the new house today, so I'm a little edgy until that finally happens.

So here's how today went:

7-8am: Breakfast, get dressed, brushed, and washed. It's a cloudy, overcast day, so we're all a bit slow in getting moving. But my son actually asked if he could start school early (I'm sure with the intention of also ending it early, which is perfectly fair), so I launched him half an hour ahead of her.

8-8:30am: Last night I received an email from my son's Challenge teacher with a reminder that they should have chosen their "energy-related topic and two books they plan to use to research it" by their 11am Google Meet today. When I asked my son about it, he said he hadn't done anything for the project and he sounded less than enthusiastic. So he will most likely be spending a good part of the  morning getting that together.

8:30-9: We walked through my daughter's assignments to decide where to start. She has to find a biography of someone famous from a a given list, and fill out a form, then make a picture of that person. (We tried to start this assignment on Monday, but she couldn't find the password. I didn't have time to help right at that moment and then I forgot to follow up with it.) She really wanted to choose Mozart, but he wasn't on the list, so she decided to choose a British royal instead. She checked out Kate Middleton, Princess Diana, and Queen Elizabeth II, then decided to go with Queen Elizabeth. My son is doing a riddle challenge and some extra math problems posted by his teacher.

9-9:30am: My daughter is continuing to work on her biography project, filling out an information form based on her research. My son is reading an article on the American Revolution and then worked on a "drama challenge" using a story prompt, and then he did an EstiMystery.

9:30-10am: My son is doing independent reading, reading further along in Robin Hood. My daughter has moved on to making a portrait of Queen Elizabeth. She's using a paper plate for the face and tinfoil for the crown. Elizabeth would be flattered. I let her take a short break when she was done.

10-10:30am: My son is participating in (at least part of) an optional science Google Meet. Unfortunately, he has a trombone lesson via Google Meet at 10:30, so he has to miss the end of the class. My daughter is watching Circle Time with Miss Tracey.

10:30-11am: My son is having a trombone lesson in his room via Google Meet. I'm working with my daughter on today's math problem and FlipGrid response. Today was a much easier question to answer, so there was no meltdown and no tears. And it only took five minutes! Hooray! I rewarded her with independent reading for the rest of the half-hour. She chose Superfly again (I think this makes reading #17??). Ironically, as she is heading upstairs, my son is doing a practice exercise involving buzzing through his mouthpiece, which sounds remarkably like a cartoon version of a buzzing housefly.

11-11:30am: My son has yet ANOTHER video meeting, this time with his Challenge class. They reviewed their choices and references for the energy project. My daughter is continuing her reading. The smoke detector inspector (sounds like a great sitcom) just arrived, so I'm glad they're happily doing their own thing while I deal with him. Looks like everything checks out! Quick and easy - it's nice to have something during this process that is nice and easy [gives the side-eye to the kitchen tiles that were supposed to be a quick replace with tiles we had on hand but which turned out to require additional new tiles that don't seem to exist in this universe].

11:30am-1pm: Lunch break and free time. I need a break as much as the kids, which is weird seeing as pretty much the only thing I've accomplished personally today is accidentally gorilla-gluing the window dividers I was supposed to be fixing to the floor. And just to add to the fun, right as both kids were getting ready for lunch, the power went out. I ended up grilling us all English muffins on the gas griddle on the stove top (luckily, I haven't packed the lighters yet!), plus my constantly-starving son made himself a roast beef sandwich. Fortunately, the power came back on after less than an hour, so I don't have to worry about my daughter missing her dance class later today.

1-2pm: My daughter worked on Mystery Doug and learned why we get goosebumps when we're cold. After that, she did Epic reading for the rest of her time. My son did some followup on his biography project, as assigned during his Challenge class, writing up a few paragraphs about what he'd learned in his research. They both finished their work a little before 2pm, so we called it a day then!

And with that, the week is over! Happy weekend, everyone!