Day 1: COVID-19 Homeschool Begins

We survived Day 1.  Or at least until 5:45ish, which is when I had a few minutes while the kids play happily (for the most part) and Garen is cooking dinner.  You may have missed my post from yesterday about our COVID-19 schedule.  Since I posted that, I’ve seen a lot of posts joking about not having a schedule and even the schedule turning into something like this:

I have no idea what the original source is from but thanks Paige for sharing!  I got a good kick out of it.  As I sit here typing (and trying to ignore), I hear Kate screaming about wanting chocolate milk and freaking out over the mosquito hawks in the back yard and realize that the above schedule could be reality but I’m going to just keep trying.

Bottom line is- we survived day one.  We stuck pretty much to schedule.  Naps didn’t happen exactly when they were supposed to but I think I would’ve gotten half as much work done had I not had any schedule in place.  So what did we do today?

• Academics
  • Read There’s No Place Like Space Cat in The Hat that we brought back from the McDonald Observatory while we were on our kid-free Spring Break before the craziness of COVID-19 hit our world.  You can watch a reading of this on You Tube if you don’t have the book- it’s a good one.
  • Also read Cat in the Hat (the original is always a classic)
  • The girls and Garen made and hung up the planets while I had morning conference calls- Yes, y’all, this man is super-dad.  And he’s mine.
  • We did rocket-ships with traceable alphabet and numbers.
  • Watched a YouTube video about the planets.

• Arts/Crafts/Creativity
  • Played playdough
  • Did puzzles
  • Did whiteboard drawings
  • Played legos
• Physical Activity
  • Went for a walk and jumped in puddles
  • Saved worms from drowning (yes, they found about 20 worms that we saved from drowning in the puddles- Clara isn’t afraid of bugs, worms, or anything creepy-crawly)
  • Played outside and rode bikes
  • Unfortunately, I didn’t get my workout (besides our walk around the neighborhood) in but I’ll try to fit it in tomorrow
  • You’ll notice the “creativeness” on their hands.  This is what happens when you take a work call when it’s your shift during art time.  They also “painted” their toes with markers.  I couldn’t help but crack up about that!

I took a break in the middle of writing this to eat, get kids to bed, sanitize the house.  Now, I’m having a nice glass of water that I kinda wish was wine, as I plan out tomorrow with the four offspring.

So, what’s up tomorrow in Graves Academy?

Thankfully we got some great resources from our schools and teachers today.  If you’ve not thanked your kids teacher before, I bet you sure are giving them more credit now….

• Littles- Pre-K
  • Read Green Eggs and Ham
  • Whats the big problem in the story and how is it solved?
  • Count to 100
  • Practice writing 1-20 with a print-out.
  • Practice writing first and last names
  • Make green eggs and ham (and Pancakes since that’s what Anna has requested for breakfast- also for St. Patty’s day)
  • Make green jello
  • ABC Mouse- got a free log-in from Children’s University- we’ll see if we have time and feel up to it
• Anna- 3rd
  • I’m not going to lie, putting plans together for the bigs was a little more challenging for me to decide on.
  • 3-D Shapes- downloaded some print-outs from this website:  https://www.math-salamanders.com/3d-geometric-shapes.html 
  • Mixed Multiplication- https://www.mathfactcafe.com/Worksheet/Grade/3
  • This site helps you make worksheets for them to work on.
  • Word Problems- I’m also getting this from mathfactcafe.com 
  • Imagine Math:  https://math.imaginelearning.com/users/sign_in
  • Our kids have log-ins for these and have already been used to using these in Arlington ISD
  • Read one of her books she bought at the book fair the week before Spring Break
  • Decorating birthday cupcakes- not just Anna but she get’s to run the show and pick the main colors for icing.
  • Pick one of the experiments that she got for her birthday out and do it together
• Will- 5th
  • Place Value Work- if I can find it in his Google site from his teacher (I’m still a little technologically challenged sometimes)
  • Read one of the books he bought at the book fair the week before Spring Break
  • His class will be reading Johnny Tremain together using Zoom, which I think is super cool.
  • I’m honestly not sure what else yet I’m going to do with him.  I might download some more math sheets for his grade level and let him pick out an science experiment that we can do together.  Shoot me any ideas you have friends!
  • Help Garen put together Anna’s birthday present (a trampoline), which will help add to our activity level
• Physical Activity
  • If it’s not raining, we might go on a bike ride around the neighborhood or let the kids ride scooters
  • I’m hoping to get my workout in
  • Hopefully the trampoline will come in from Amazon and we’ll get it together in time to test that baby out.
  • If I can find a few balloons, I’m going to blow them up and throw them outside with the kids- balloons tend to provide lots of entertainment for whatever reason.

In other news, I just got this from Walmart.

Me and my planning self should just stop maybe.  Obviously restocking milk without actually going to the grocery store is going to be a no-go.  (We go through about two gallons a week).  Looks like rationing is about to begin at the Casa de Graves….or I’ll be venturing out to restock at that point.  Don’t be surprised if this happens to you.

Honestly though, I’m still looking at this from the positive side and trying to keep a “glass half full” standpoint.

• All four of our kids are finally under one roof with us!
• We’ve got a house to protect us
• We’ve got plenty of food
• We’ve got enough TP (for now)
• We’ve got each other
• Our jobs are flexible enough that we can take shifts for conference calls, shutting ourselves in our back office
• We’ve got great teachers that are only an email or text message away to help us out
• We’re still healthy and so are our extended families and friends
• We’re celebrating Anna Banana’s 9th birthday tomorrow!

Hang in there through these crazy times.  We got this!