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!