"THE WORST SCHOOL EVER!"

This week we had a time change, a full moon, a worldwide pandemic take flight, Friday the 13^th, and to top it all off SNOW! We had snow today!

I took the kids back to the school to get some things: our left-handed scissors (Carter and Roslyn are both south paws), our headphones, and our workbooks. We were there for an hour and fifteen minutes. Beckett got a bunch of books to read, Carter got books and quizzes to go with them, and I got some much-needed socialization. I have been in this school, working with my kids’ teachers every day for nearly four hours per day since August. I am going to miss them. Carter ran back to the music room to get his recorder… Heaven forbid he fall behind with that!

The kids made their own lunches and declared it “the BEST school lunch ever!!” Even though they make their own lunch every day out of the same stuff. For P.E. we played a game my sister, Caroline, got Beckett for Christmas two years ago. It is called Silly Street and it involves large body movements. Beckett does not like to lose anything, especially not games that belong to him. He stomped away yelling “THIS IS THE WORST SCHOOL EVER!” Four hours into homeschool and we are already failing!

I developed a schedule that we will loosely use. I won't be rigid about it, but some things will be important to keep.

Their math!! Holy cow their math! I know Common Core math is designed to find ways for everyone to understand math. I get it, but I don’t understand it. I don’t know that I’ll be teaching them any new concepts, just trying to reinforce the ones they already have… I think Reading and Writing will be our main things.

Emergency Homeschooling During a Pandemic

Our governor, Jay Inslee, announced today that all schools in King, Pierce, and Snohomish counties will be closed. He set a tentative date to go back to school on the 26^th of April. A fast moving, mutating, infecting virus (COVID 19) has forced us to stay at home. Currently, all of the deaths from this virus have been in not only our state, but our county. We live in the epicenter of the outbreak in this country and we should be careful to keep it contained. We have not been up to this point because it didn’t look like a big deal – like SARS, Swine Flu, and Bird Flu, which didn’t have a big impact on our country.

Although they say the school closure will be for only 6 weeks – I am under no illusion that we will be going back to school before 2021. There is a possibility that the sunshine and Vitamin D that comes from it will help us fight it off, and cases will drop over the summer. However, as soon as cold and flu season comes around again – I believe we will get hit harder.

After the announcement, I ran to the store to stock up on snacks for my kids. Since they will be home all day, I will need to have something to keep them going. Costco was CRAZY! They have been out of toilet paper, water, and rice for 10 days! I waited in line for 56 minutes to pay for my groceries at WinCo. There were 2 lines that went form the registers to the back of the store! The elderly couple in front of me and behind me will both be watching kids who will be out of school after today – which puts them at greater risk.

Costco has replaced their toilet paper section with hats and plants to avoid looking empty.

WinCo's really long line on the East side of the store.

WinCo was out of most grains and beans. Who knew beans?

I see in communist countries they are locking people down. They are not allowing them to leave their homes. They can do that because the government takes care of them. They are delivering groceries and supplies. In our capitalist society, that will be almost impossible. So many people are living paycheck to paycheck. This will put them in a tough position. I don’t know how we are going to survive this financially as a country. This very will put us in a serious downturn as big as the Great Depression.

In these times of trouble, I am reminded of all the people I know who survived the outbreak of Polio in the 1940s and 1950s. They are still suffering emotional trauma from it. They remember how scared they were. I don’t want that for my kids. I want them to be cautious. However, I want them to learn new things and have new experiences through this. This is a time for our country coming together and growing from this – not developing anxiety that will debilitate them.

I am going to be watching for the good and sharing that with my family.

My kids are very excited to begin homeschooling. Carter is 10 and drew up our schedule. I am going to have to tweak it to accommodate Kindergarten and 1st grade learning. And we won't be going so late in the day.

We are rich!

 Carter convinced me to buy the 64 pack of crayons this year for school. He asked me for a crayon pack with a sharpener, he went to an employee and asked which ones had a sharpener, and he tracked them down. It was only $2 more than the 24 pack and I had spent a lot of time gathering what we still had from last year, and shopping the best sales, so I figured why not.

I remember my parents refusing to buy the 64 pack. They were more expensive than the 24 pack.

So, here we are buying something I thought only rich people could afford. 

Growing up

This boy is growing up SO fast. He is only 8, but he is already bragging about arm pit stench and hair growing where it has never grown.

This morning, he set an alarm for himself, got up, brushed his teeth, dressed, ate breakfast, and packed his lunch (albeit a can of orange soda and a popsicle in a gallon Ziploc bag with ice packs) all on his own in preparation for cub scout camp.

Where did the time go?

Time Out Anthem

Today, Beckett and Roslyn got into a fight. Music was playing, and they got into an argument over the song. Roslyn wanted the next song, and Beckett wanted to keep listening. She skipped the song, and a fight ensued. Someone unplugged it and hid it. Then, there was name calling, and finally crying. It happened so fast, I wasn’t able to step in until the crying part. Beckett went to time-out because he used potty words in his name calling.

He thought he was in time-out for unplugging and hiding the music. The two of them were yelling back and forth about who did it. I tried to separate them and explain why he was in time-out again. They yelled over me.

Beckett then began to sing loudly, the 2^nd Article of Faith for our church:

“We believe that man will be punished for their own sins and not for Adam’s transgressions.”

Beckett knows what it means, because we have discussed it as a family – but he does not know what all the words are. Unfortunately, it comes out:

“We believe that man will be punished for their own sins and not for auto transmissions.”

I tried to get a video, but it didn’t work with all the screaming.

Music

Beckett is very musical. He has a knack for tune and can memorize a song very quickly. I heard him in the back yard today singing and had to go out and watch. I convinced him to do a reenactment for me so you all could see. He had to yell because I couldn't hear him well:

 

He is modeling a video we watched recently. I said he was in the same place they were and he moved the same times the other kids did. He might be a dancer some day…

A girl and her dog

I was putting laundry in and I overheard this conversation with Roslyn and Vortex.

Roslyn: "Vortex, there's a bugg-y on the slide"

Vortex: Listening

Roslyn; "I need him ta go away."

Vortex: Listening

There was a tiny little gnat floating around the slide. He moved on when I approached. Roslyn needed help, and the first person she turned to was her dog. Too bad vortex too afraid of Carter playing basketball by the slide to go help her.

Tagalog

My brother is in the Philippines, serving a mission for our church. He is gone for 2 years. My kids love him. I miss him a lot. They miss him a lot.

Carter came home yesterday, very excited that there is a boy in his class that speaks Tagalog in his home. He had his friend teach him some phrases. He came home to write Uncle Jordan a letter. He needed to fill in the gaps, so he asked me to use Google Translate. He discovered that when he didn't know how to spell a word correctly - Google would offer him suggestions.

From what I know of Tagalog, things need to be conjugated and the word itself changes based on the context - so this probably doesn't make any sense. It is supposed to say:

“Dear Jordan.

You are fast. Do you have a Book of Mormon? What is your companion’s name? Do you have a temple there?

I love you,

Carter

1/25/2017”

I can’t make out the last two words under the date. He doesn’t remember. I Google Translated it myself and it reads “Expensive Kite”

I am mailing it off tomorrow. He is so proud of himself. I am proud of his effort.

Pictures

Carter, Beckett, and Roslyn are growing so much. No matter how I try to bribe them, they just keep at it. Every time I mention that I want them to slow down, they start eating and sleeping more – and in turn, growing faster.

Lisa, where have you been?

Once upon a time – 3 years ago – the Lewis family purchased a new home. It had a basement. We got right to work making it our own. David put new flooring in, changed out the light fixtures and outlet covers, and started to update things one by one.

Then, a storm came. Mother Nature dumped almost an entire month’s worth of rain in one storm. The water came down so hard and so fast, our drainage system couldn’t handle it. It came under our foundation and back up into our floor. It washed away every inch of flooring David had put down, one year, to the weekend, ago. It even washed up most of the vinyl tiles that had been underneath. We had to rip out the sheet rock to avoid mold. 

David went a little overboard and decided to take the popcorn ceiling down in the media room and put up insulation to keep the noise contained.

David did most of the labor himself. We had the help of David’s family to move the big things out of the way and lend us tools; the missionaries from our church to help us tear out the wet floor and do a little painting; my mother to help us fix the problem so it doesn't happen again; and my father to help David get the truck fixed, take a load to the dump, and clean up the rest kids’ outdoor play area. After a year of work, and his entire vacations, we have it 99% finished. We need to caulk the trim, and finish the fire place.

We let the kids choose the colors of their playroom. They chose 10 different colors – all the colors of their favorite sports teams. David decided to use the remaining paint from the rest of the house and compromise. He painted their favoritest sports team’s logos on the wall, and purchased curtains for two others – the Steelers and the Falcons.

So, if you're wondering "Why hasn't Lisa updated her blog since last November?" Now you know why. I will be going back and filling in the gaps in between school work, house work, and teaching preschool.