COVID-19 Homeschool, Day 47

Feral homeschool continues, and I suspect it's about to get even more feral. Although today is the first day in a week that we haven't had some kind of worker around the house that we need to work around, or a specific appointment or task I need to get ready for that day, I'm feeling the pressure of getting/keeping the house clean and cleared for the photoshoot on Tuesday. Since the photographers will be here first thing in the morning, I need to spend Monday doing last-minute things, like washing the windows, vacuuming and dusting everything, scrubbing the bathrooms and kitchen, and clearing out every sign that our family actually lives in this house - including daily-use items like the toaster, the Keurig, our toothbrushes and hairbrushes, etc. This will be tough to do with children underfoot, so even though it's the Memorial Day holiday, I'm considering making it a homeschool day in exchange for Tuesday, when we will all need to be out of the house once the photographers start.

Which is all to say that I'll be fussing around fixing lots of not-quite-last-minute items, like the broken peg on my cheval mirror, steaming the window sheers, ironing the table runner, etc., and will not be doing a lot of chaperoning today. That said, I do expect the kids to do some work today. My son has two scheduled video meets and my daughter has 2 online dance classes, so even if that's all that happens today, they'll have done something. But here's what we attempted:

8:30-9am: I asked my son to spend some time reviewing and completing his assignment for Challenge, which his teacher will be going over at the 11:00am Google Meeting. Last week he swore he had already finished the parts of the assignment that were due today, so I want to be sure he goes back over them to a) refresh his memory, and b) re-read the assignment to make sure it truly is complete. He has a bit of a history of half-reading instructions, especially when he's doing them well ahead of time, and missing part of what's required, so I want to be sure that's not the case, but without helicoptering too much. He moved on to some math puzzles after he finished. My daughter is starting with Epic reading.

9-9:30am: My son is continuing to go through his teacher's assignments for the week and make sure he completed everything. My daughter got a late start on her Epic reading so she's continuing on that.

9:30-10am: My son is doing a project that involves a virtual exploration of the White House. I am learning more White House trivia than I realized there was. (Did you know that it takes 570 gallons of paint to paint the exterior of the White House? Or that it has 35 bathrooms? And 3 elevators? Which my son thinks must have been very handy for Franklin D. Roosevelt.) My daughter is doing a Mystery Doug problem. I am repairing the window dividers, several of which have chosen to jump to their deaths over the past week. I think they know we're leaving them behind and they're being dramatic.

10-10:30am: There was no White Shark presentation today, so my son did Zearn math instead. My daughter watched Circle Time with Miss Tracey, then took a break. I walked around the house, scrubbing every switchplate and outlet cover I could find, then I started on the painted wood trim in the downstairs bathroom, including the louvered door of the linen closet.

10:30-11am: I wasn't watching the time while I was scrubbing so my son was late signing on to his trombone lesson. Oops. He was even more delayed because he has to stop and put on pants. But he got logged on eventually and fortunately, his teacher was still waiting for him. It makes me heart happy listening to him explain the difference between a tie and a slur, and especially just listening to him play. I love that he seems to enjoy making music as much as my husband and I do. I let my daughter goof off for a little longer, then she worked on her Zearn. I'm still in louvered door scrubbing purgatory.

11-11:30am: My son switched over to his Challenge class, and my daughter did independent reading. I gave up on scrubbing the louvered doors, finally accepting that the highest level of cleanliness it was reasonable to expect without a fresh coat of paint is "tolerably grubby." I can live with that.

11:30am-1pm: Lunch break and free time. You know what? We're done for the day. I'm going to let the kids go for a swim in the pool if they want, or they can just hang out. But they've done enough for today. Happy weekend to all of us! Have a wonderful, safe, and relaxing long weekend, everyone!