Home School Head Quarters during Pandemics! Teacher Shopping!

This week I decided to try something different.  I understand that the teachers have different levels of internet and tech savvy as well as comfort with being online. So because the teachers utilize district pages for their instructional tasks that are assigned, I did some teacher shopping.  My  biggest concern is I want M to be ready to go on into 5th grade and not be behind her peers. I know every teacher has their own style and even teach different things throughout the year.  So I was able to pull up other teachers' pages many of whom are more comfortable teaching with videos of themselves teaching the curriculum, where as M's teacher assigns youtube and Khan academy links.  Having a familiar face and someone that is walking her through the work in her exact book is a lot easier.  We are still linking up assigned work that M's teacher is assigning but finding other pages has helped me to find something that will still teach her the concepts but maybe a new spin that might not have been the best for her before.

Here is a look at our typical home schooling week.

B sitting at his work station with a photo of his teacher overlooking. 

When all else fails it's all about plants! In true home school fashion, I began reading the Secret Garden to kids after lunchtime, usually we are enjoying the weather on our porch. Occasionally, I will have them write about what they think will happen next. It has been fun to engage B in the book too,so it is a good mix for Boys and Girls and gardening and then we can watch the movie when we are done,  The language is rather challenging to me and I can understand why M has not made any headway in it herself. We sowed our seeds shortly after we began the book and began planting our seed starters. The kids are writing sentences and journaling or making videos about plant growth and microgreens. 

It looks dandy and happy and all is well!  But let me tell you, there are tears and defiance and kids that sneak away to the lego table upstairs after breakfast. We all have lost our morning routine of getting up by no later than 8am.  We usually start around 10am. Beds are expected to be made 4 days a week before lunchtime to earn hot lunch or dinner choice on Friday night. 

To assist in less work and dishes throughout the day we try on nice days to ride our bikes to the nearby school to grab lunch.  We did take our lunch to the waterfront last week and saw the ferry coming in and out.  A huge train came by and gave us a loud honk!

Staying in touch with friends has meant allowing my kiddos to be online more as well.  I have now made accounts for them on Messenger Kids and my daughter has been using her wifi I phone more. I have had to lock our devices and only open them when needed. 

 We have done drive by Birthdays and greetings to friends we have been missing or to just cheer them up!

 The dog is getting more human time than ever, the dog park is not closed and here are some chalk art drawings indicative of the times!

 

Recess and gym have changed to basketball, tennis on my garage door, bike riding and roller hockey!

                                      

Things have been stressful I won't lie, I am thankful that I am working and have some days where I get away and see people. I love the extra time with my kiddos, learning about them more academically and we have had fabulous April weather. It is hard though to get anything personal done or even tackle the paper trail that is collecting on my counter.  Even writing this I feel guilty as I should be doing chores or paying bills or addressing all the adult things added to our plates in this quarantine time. I can't imagine having a job where I am expected to work from home, while my kids are here too. The moment I log into my own accounts, I am called away to help with a classroom assignment or a frustrated student or it;s meal time again.  I also am the Mom that has loved the idea of homeschooling. This was a perfect way to try it out.  However, someone else is driving this home school boat and weeks 1-4, I was not really feeling like I had any control.  This week is going to be better.  I feel like the kids know when they have met my limits more and shopping for my own teachers in the district has helped me to augment some of the control I am missing of how I would want to have them taught when I clearly don't have the time or expertise to do what I would want to do.   

There has been a lot of wine had in these past few weeks.  I knew it was going to be essential.  When I am uploading my child's work to the teacher's google classroom at 11PM and my uploaded photos won't sync with my computer to transfer the files. I drink wine.

When it's almost 6pm and I have yet to start dinner and I see the hubby's truck pull up to the driveway, and see that I have yet to load a dish from the day, I drink wine! I am working 60 plus hours a pay period and I am teaching my kids full time, to the best of my ability, I am trying to keep house and keep us all alive!  So hang in there everyone! I try to focus on what I am thankful for. We are healthy this week ( I will write that post another day) and our family has food and the ability to connect even if it is modified.  I must go because the hubby just rolled up and I have yet to make dinner or open a bottle of wine!