Monday: social isolation day 3, homeschooling day 1

Well, we survived the day.  The day went fine.

Here are the things that didn't go so well:
1. I wasn't quite as prepared as I 'needed' to be.  There were several, "uh, I need to you wait ten minutes while I try to figure this out."
2. Joshua missed having as much Mom time as normal and mentioned it several times.
3. Getting anything else done around the house.
4. Sending Joshua outside without the correct cold weather gear.
5. Trying to teach life skills while doing other work.

Here are the things that went fine:
1. Working on stuff for Hope while directing the boys.  It was only an hour, and they had several questions during that time, but it was doable.  I was slightly distracted from everything, but it worked.
2. Most of the 'subjects' for both boys.  They would be better with improvement but let's not be too hasty.

Art

Morning work

stop motion

Spanish (Duolingo)

Sensory (oobleck)

3. Time management for the whole day.  The boys did their chores before dinner because they were bored and were hoping for more screen time after dinner.  It worked out for them a little bit.  Joshua had to refill all of our emergency/freezer water and made some kind of game from it.

Here are the things that went well:
1. The schedule.  Oh, that worked so well.  Isaac had cut his items out before I woke up.  They loved going to look at seeing what they were supposed to do next.  Tomorrow's schedule has already been arranged.

Here are the other notes:
1. Isaac's life skill was cleaning the fish tank.  He did not enjoy it and wanted to know why he had to learn it because he might never have a fish.   Joshua's life skill was sorting the laundry into pilles for different people.
2. Both boys got out new Lego sets and it was a good break while still being part of the schedule.  Isaac is using one to make a stop motion video and Joshua and I are doing one during 'mom's choice.'
3. We followed the normal routine of screen time/rest time after lunch and then finished the few items we had left.  I thought it worked well.
4. For gym Isaac had to run to the end of the cauld-e-sac twice.  I thought this would take him about fifteen minutes.  Instead it took him about five.  I didn't watch him, but I'll assume he was going to the right place.  Tomorrow I'll up it to three times because it obviously wasn't hard enough.

Sunday: social isolation - day 2

Today went better than yesterday.  I'm not really sure why.

I'm all ready for tomorrow.  The kitchen table has been cleaned off.  The white board was brought upstairs.  I decided that Joshua gets to have school every day too, because I don't think I can do one child with school and one without, especially on the days I need to work too.

While I've seen all kinds of schedules floating around on Facebook, I'm taking a slightly different approach.  I've made a list of the things that 'need' to be done.  We'll cut them out tomorrow and they can choose the order.  Obviously, I can take out things or change the order a bit if needed...recess needs to happen at the same time for both boys.  I can't help two children at once, etc.  This gives them some control while still having a rhythm to the day.  If they finish early, they finish early and can enjoy free time.  If it takes them forever, then it takes them forever.

I especially like how both of them felt the need to write on their papers.

Saturday: social isolation - day 1

Well, today didn't really go as well as I would have liked.  I'm not sure it went poorly, but...yeah.  It was a normal Saturday for us in that we didn't go anywhere.  (Right?  We should be prepared for this.)  But things just didn't quite click.

We did play a bomb game this morning that involved Isaac and Joshua hiding 'bombs' in the office.  Ben or I diffused them and then hid them by the kids.  I didn't think it was that fun, but it also wasn't very demanding.  The kids played it for quite some time so they must have enjoyed it.

Joshua enjoyed bird watching this morning with some new binoculars.  He was very concerned that I hadn't filled up the bird feeder two minutes after he mentioned it.

Also, Happy Pi day!  Isaac had circle homework all week that I don't think he's enjoying, but really should be pretty easy.  We had pizza and pie for dinner.

Friday: preparation

Well, life has gone a bit crazy. 

Isaac has had classes canceled for the next three weeks (after which he has one week of spring break).  He thinks that the next three weeks are going to be fun because he doesn't have to go to school.  I think his expectations will quickly change.

We started errands by getting some more cat food.  We got it a little earlier than normal, but not that much earlier.  The carts were a bit smaller, and Joshua noted that he's growing up because he can push the cart around.

Then we went to Meijer.  The toilet paper is all gone, based on the the nationwide phenomena of buying toilet paper even when you don't need it.  At 10:30am most of the ramen was also sold out as was most of the ground beef and quite a bit of pasta.

We stocked up on a lot of important things like donuts.  I have been planning on making a lot of freezer meals next week, so I did have a large amount of groceries but I was also trying to stock up on a few things.

The biggest problem was the checkout.  The line when around the corner and halfway to the back of the store.  I overheard some employees saying that it was worse than Christmas.  (But really, what did everyone expect?  The recommendations are to buy 2-3 weeks worth of groceries and the schools are about to close.)  My shop and scan app wasn't working.  Oh, what a day for it to not work!  I restarted the phone.  That didn't work.  I uninstalled and reinstalled the app and that finally worked.  Phew!  So I really probably only spent an extra five minutes in the store.

Thursday: remote teaching

Today I figured out a few of the last things I needed for remote teaching after spring break.  That being said, it may be difficult making sure everyone's technology works.  What if one student can't hear?  Will the two students that are having problems getting excel to work reliably on their computer figure it out before class?  (I gave them several options, but still...)  What will happen that I'm just not expecting?

I also decided to forgo trying to teach Microsoft Access completely and will expand on Excel instead.

We've also been getting a lot of emails about COVID-19, as I'm sure anyone who is reading this has also experienced.  Some of them are useful, like church, school, and the karate dojang.  However, I do not need to know that my banks and PetSmart are using through cleaning procedures.  I really just expect that.  I only really need to know if it isn't business as mostly normal and even then, I don't really need to know but would understand the email.

Wednesday: COVID-19

Well, it was a day surprisingly full of COVID-19 talk.

*I went to my karate lesson.  We talked about it there and how it would affect the school.
*I sent a bunch of emails about computers/excel.
*I went to pick up Joshua and the ladies at the front desk were talking about how they can't get any hand sanitizer.
*I got an email from Hope College announcing that classes are canceled tomorrow and will be on-line for the three weeks after Spring Break.
*I dealt with the help session that was supposed to happen tonight (and did, for half the normal time).
*I tried to figure out what my plan is for tomorrow to optimize class planning and the fact that Isaac only has a half day of school.  I have a rough outline, but it's still rather up in the air.  I was really hoping for one more class period to try out a few more things on Google Meet, but I guess I'll just wing it when students come back.  I think I've figured out my problem, but it was only a problem when there were a bunch of people in the meeting and that's rather hard to replicate.

Tuesday: crow bar, conferences

Yesterday Ben was trying to show Joshua what a [Lego] crow bar was.

Ben: what does this part kind of look like?
Joshua: a crow
Ben: What does this part look like?
Joshua: a bar
Ben: if you put them together, what do you get?
Joshua: a crar.

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We had Isaac's parent-teacher conferences today.  Mostly good things, as expected.  He's at a level N in reading, which is where he's supposed to be the beginning of third grade...so he's pretty normal with that.  Math is still going well.  He talks and interacts with other students well, but hasn't really made any 'always' friends.  While we wish that was a little different, he does play with other students at recess sometimes.  The biggest issue he has is writing.  If he has plenty of time he does fine, but sometimes he needs to get his thoughts down on paper faster.  There could be lots of reasons for this, but no matter what the reason he needs to do a better job.

Monday: award

At karate today Isaac and I formally promoted to green stripe after practice.  We've been working on green stripe stuff for the last week, but it was still nice.

Then, they called Joshua up!  I was surprised, but Joshua was especially surprised.  They gave him a medal for being a great sideline person and being very respectful while Isaac and I are working.  He really didn't seem to have any idea what was going on, because he kept facing the wrong way.  However, he was super proud of his medal. 

(And he really does do a great job while we're at karate.  He does periodically call me over if he needs help, but it only happens once in a while and he knows how to do it safely.  He brings a Lego set on Mondays and gets screen time on Thursdays and is able to spend the 45 minutes by himself.)

Sunday: clean up

We told the boys we were going to clean up the basement this weekend. 

So they cleaned up all the Legos during their rest time!  I was quite surprised as they (especially Isaac) hadn't taken that kind of initiative before.  There was still quite a bit of other stuff that we all cleaned up together, but they had done a good chunk of it.

We gave them extra screen time as a (one-time) reward.

Friday: early

I had to get up early for the second day in a row, so needless to say I was exhausted before nap time.  Joshua had an early (ish) lunch and we started screen time/rest time a bit early so I could take a nap.  I had thoughts of getting up earlier than normal, but just couldn't do it.

Joshua handled the day fine though, so he must have had enough interaction with people.  He made an awesome castle during his extended rest time.

Isaac had his well-child check up today.  It was pretty normal...about 50% for height, a low percentile for weight, but following his normal curves.  It was a rather pointless check-up, but I suppose still important.

Thursday: compliment

I was handed a surprising compliment today..."Using Google Meet in the classroom was one of the best ideas [the department] has had in 10 years."

Is it that amazing?  I'm not really sure.  However, I was troubleshooting my excel problem a few days ago and didn't use it for a class and it was terrible.  The students in the corners were craning their heads all around and it felt so much slower and more interrupted.

Wednesday: I have a dream

Monday: cancelled

Joshua's gymnastics class was canceled today due to instructor illness.  They told us well in advance, but then I suddenly had more time than normal with Joshua that I didn't know how to fill.

We ended up going to 'CC's playground.'  Since it was a day she was working, we even got to say hi and got a little tour.  Joshua also played for an hour and a half, which was significantly longer than I was expecting.

Sunday: communion

Isaac took his first communion today.  In the past he's declined, but this morning he asked to do so.  I was overjoyed.

Saturday: progressive dinner

Tonight we had a progressive dinner.  It was a lot of fun.  We saw some people that we haven't talked to in a while and met some new people too.

Friday: love story

Lately I've found it interesting how you can see some parts of a couple's love story, but you never see all of it.

I was reading through some letters that my Grandpa wrote in August 1931 to his sister and found the following:

"I'm going to Battle Creek [where Grandma was living] again Sat morning!  If you could only feel as I do just for a minute, you wouldn't think so badly of me.  I'm not sure whether I can wait that long or not.  ...I've learned what love is."

Thursday: class

I had a few laughs in class today.  I'm usually not funny, so the laughter was nice.

To be fair, the things weren't really that funny.
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Since it was the day after testing at karate we did fun things.  We worked with bo staves.  Usually though, they set up the obstacle course and I know it is one of Isaac's favorite things.  So at the very end they set up the obstacle course.  The next class started and so Isaac was able to run it all by himself to his heart's content.  Just one more reason I really like our school.

Wednesday

First, a few photos:

Ben made a sword while Isaac and I were testing yesterday.  It's improved since the picture.

Isaac got a little triangle snake thing from the dentist and wanted a bigger one.  It was bigger!  The first was about a foot long, this one was about four feet!  It surprised everyone.

Joshua still likes sitting on laps.  Ben got some extra love from both boys today at church.

In other news, I feel like I got quite a bit of work done today.  I finally cleaned up a bunch of piles that had been sitting around for a long time as people are coming over on Saturday.  I checked off several smaller items on my to-do list.  I finally feel like my to-do list is getting shorter...and it's amazing!  (I wouldn't call it short, just shorter.  I'm doing some of the things from the bottom of the list that have been ignored for quite some time.)

Tuesday: karate testing

Isaac and I tested for our next karate rank today: green stripe.  It went fine.  It wasn't our best test by far, but good enough.

Also, the snow day calculator is showing a 99% chance of a snow day tomorrow.  I had some plans, but at the same time it wouldn't be a bad day for a snow day.  However, when I look at the forecast I'm not sure that I agree with the prediction.  I don't see a lot of precipitation in the near future.

Monday: sick

Isaac's teacher has been out sick quite a bit.  She was back this morning but left after lunch.

Isaac and I were talking in the car on the way home about some other stuff, and I mentioned that Isaac should ask her in the morning.  Isaac grumpily said to me, "If you have a fever you have to stay home for 24 hours fever free without medicine."  He sounded like such an adult that I couldn't help but laugh.

I emailed Isaac's teacher the question instead and mentioned the story.  It turned out that his class has had a ton of people out sick and she had given a lesson on germs that morning...and was glad that someone had learned something.

Sunday: around

Isaac was back to his normal, crazy self today, but we stayed around the house anyway.  I was feeling extra lethargic and don't know if I had a mild version of what Isaac had or if the lack of sleep from the previous night had caught up to me.  I reminded myself that, as I learned from when the boys were babies, it's usually the second day after a bad night that is roughest for me.

During quiet time the boys decided to hold hands and run around the table.  Needless to say, it was not quiet during quiet time, but at least they were not quiet together.

After rest time I played a game with Joshua.  He kindly got the pillows off of his loft so that I'd have a soft place to sit.

While we were doing that, Ben and Isaac worked on a triceratops.

Saturday: girl clues

We play on-line Codenames with some friends once a month.  We play guys vs. girls, and always joke about how different the clues are.

Girl clues tend to be more...abstract and we get the answers by thinking 'this is kind of like something'.  Guy clues are much more technical and knowledge based.

Tonight's first game had some especially good clues.  The first one was 'pit boss' and we weren't 100% sure what it was.  We got a few good answers though.  A few clues later we had 'boll weevil' which we also didn't really know.  We talked about it a little and ended up with the words 'disease' and 'maple', neither of which are described by a boll weevil.  We finished the the game by the other two girls feeling 'platypus' in their hearts.  We talked ourselves into that word and won the game!  It was awesome!

(In other news, Isaac was sick today.  He laid on the couch pretty much all day.  I offered him some screen time and he refused.  He told Ben to stop screen time after a bit.  The laying around was the main clue he was sick, but it was confirmed with the screen time.)

Friday: in pictures

Isaac and Joshua decided to do ...a battle?...with markers.  They stood them all up.  Unfortuantly, running by the table can cause them to fall down, let alone curious cats.  They were put up several times throughout the day, although now we have a lot of markers on our floor.

We had to make a stop at Lowe's and Joshua loves driving the cart into dead ends.

We were going by the car wash, so we also stopped there.

We stopped at the library.  Joshua brought his scorpion to show Mr. Rob.  We also read together for a bit; I read my book and he read his.  It was lovely.

I got trapped a lot today.  More than normal.  I'm happier to do traps than get attacked though.  During this trap...I think I had on rainbow and gold chains so I wasn't supposed to move, but I kept trying to warm up my hands on Isaac's belly.

Thursday: normal day

It was a pretty normal day over here.  Isaac had an early dentist appointment though, so I did that.  Joshua was super, super excited that Ben was bringing him to school.  It was probably the highlight of his day.

We were praying tonight and I asked Joshua what he wanted to pray for..."that my treat box becomes less full."  He was so serious about it and I couldn't stop laughing and felt rather bad about it.

Wednesday: blood

I donated blood today.  I had a trainee doing it (supervised, of course) and it took forever.  It's important to learn, but it was also nice when someone else disconnected me so that it didn't take so long.

I also ate lunch with Betsy.  We've had to reschedule many times for assorted reasons, and it was nice to see her again.

We put the kids to bed early tonight.  It's been a while since we've done that, but Joshua was melting down like crazy.  He hit his head (I understand that one).  Then he was too hot.  Then he was itchy all over.  Then he hit his head again.  Then he couldn't do his chores because...I don't remember.  Maybe his legs stopped working.  That seems to be his common malady.  Isaac said his stomach wasn't feeling great and he has to get up early for a dentist appointment, so the early bedtime worked for him too.

Monday: kids

Joshua made me a Valentine today.  (The 4x1 sticks are a V for Valentine.)

Joshua pulled this one out to play by himself.  Both boys know that it's a game that is on the chopping block whenever I get around to cleaning the game closet as I was unimpressed with the lack of strategy on the game and it isn't played much.  (Note that it says "a game of strategy" right on the box!)  Well, today Isaac pointed out to me that it really says it's a game of strategy for squirrels and that I should have read the box more closely.  I got a good laugh out of that one.

Sunday: attack!

Because we can't go a day* without having some sort of an attack in this house, the boys set up a carrot army to attack Ben's carrot castle.  They used all the remaining carrots.  The carrots with flowers are extra strong.

*a day?  More like two hours.

Saturday: pick-a-brick

We pulled out the pick-a-brick today from Ben's trip this last week.

It included a lot of carrots.

This was Joshua's final creation.  You can see Ben's carrot palace with carrot bad guys in the background.

This is mine.  Besides the carrots there were a lot of plant type pieces.

I like my bush.  I didn't at first, but it grew on me.

Friday: power outage

At 6:30pm, all the lights went out.  After the first moment of "what's going on?" I quickly realized the power was out.  The boys were all confused though, as they haven't experienced many.  Luckily, it wasn't pitch black out so we could still see a little bit. 

Also, phones now have flashlights, which is rather awesome.  We got the little lanterns from the basement, along with some candles.  The boys still finished their chores.  Then we had a little bit of extra screen time because I was ready for the day to be done and it's hard to do some of the other things (i.e., Legos) with the lanterns.

I like this picture.  There are candles for light (and a lantern) like the olden days, but then he's using a phone as a calculator.

The power came back on at 8:30, right after I had fixed Joshua's lights for the 10th time and was about to crawl under a blanket.  It really was perfect timing.

Thursday: Valentines and sparring

This morning I got to my office and there were some Valentines on the outside.  The Women In Science and Engineering made valentines for the women around the building.  They didn't forget me.  I was a bit surprised as I'm kind of on the sidelines, but it was super nice.

This evening Isaac and I had sparring at karate.  I'm usually rather intimidated by it, and today was no exception.  I'm usually put with the adults and high schoolers and am always the lowest belt rank (by quite a bit).  We were playing one point matches.  I won the first one, although it was against someone I know so it was a bit easier.  Then I was put against a large high schooler black belt who has a lot of experience.  But I won!  The teacher gave some good advice ahead of time.  I lost the last match.  I watched Isaac a bit too and he did well.  He isn't the most aggressive, but he still puts himself out there and gets a lot of kicks and punches in.

Wednesday: Lego Duck

The LUG (Lego User Group) that I'm a part of is having its members make the Lego duck.  We were given the instructions, but could then make it our own.

I chose blue.  But then I didn't want to make it all blue so I added grey and now it is a winter duck.  It's reading because I like to read.

Tuesday: writing

I was looking through Aunt Sue's book of memories today when I came upon this picture.

It's one of those pictures that I've seen several times throughout my life.  I looked on the back to see if there was a date.

There was.  In Mom's handwriting.  I don't run across her handwriting very often anymore, but it's nice when it happens.

Monday: Pokeball's birthday

This morning Joshua and I made good guy towers and bad guy towers.

I noticed this warning on a new cat toy.  "Adult supervision is recommended for children under 12 years of age."   Really?  For a little cat toy?

Also, it was Pokeball's birthday.  We sang to him and everything.