Birthday Party

One of Carter's best friends had a drive-by birthday party. We drove by, but Carter jumped out while I was chatting with his mom. For the most part, they kept their distance. The two who are standing close together are brothers - so they were safe. It was nice to get my social butterfly boy out to see his friends.

We had a lesson on chickens. We went to a friend's house to get plants for our yard and Roslyn got to help with their chickens. She loves feeding them bugs, but also loves to keep some for her "collection." Snails are their favorite, but also hers.

"I AM SOCIAL DISTANCING!!"

I had to drop off something to a friend. I stood my 6 feed away as we chatted. Her daughters ran out to see Beckett (he is right in between them age wise). Girls have cooties, so he ran away. But, he can't be afraid of them or anything. So, he ran around their yard, while they followed him, yelling "I AM SOCIAL DISTANCING!! I AM SOCIAL DISTANCING!!"

I got this great idea from the internet to help Beckett with his currency. I set it up while they were at recess. I came back later and he had finished it when he was supposed to be outside. 

He had run out of pennies, so I had him go back through and substitute coins he still had for coins he needed. In essence, finding different ways to make each amount. 

With their tickets, Beckett rescued a toy from toy jail. Some toys are not really in toy jail, they are just not in the current rotation and are in storage. Beckett chose this (Carter received for his birthday two and a half years ago) and the boys put it together - together!

Some Days Just Work

Today just worked. I think I have given up on the rotation idea. Carter is just so competitive, he tries to be finished with his work first. There is no reason to make him work at something for 30 minutes when he can complete it in 5. So, I made checklists for the kids. They have responded to that a lot better. 

They were very motivated to get their work done quickly so they could just be done.

And they went above and beyond to do other jobs around the house. 

Carter and Roslyn are big on earning tickets. Beckett is not. He isn't motivated by that. I have to figure out what motivates him so I can keep him back on track.

Despite bad reviews, they decided to keep me on for the rest of the school year!

I am piecing together a portfolio for my 30-day review at my new homeschool teaching job. I was hoping someone would see my bad reviews and let me go while I am still in my trial period. Unfortunately, the governor announced today that I get to keep my job for the rest of the school year. While I am devastated that kids are missing out on all the important things – like prom, graduation, high school drags, and yearbook signings – I knew this was coming. I never expected for us to go back. Heck, I believe this will run into next school year. We might go back in September because things are looking good, but I think they will shut things down again because this isn’t going to go away until it runs its course or until we get a vaccine.

Anyway, here is my review portfolio so when my kids end up with fewer skills next year – I can point to this and say “Told you so.”

A couple weeks ago a neighbor reported to me that Carter told her I make a better mother than a teacher! Since then, his assessment of me has not improved. 

When I was mailing last week’s round of letters, I peeked at a letter to someone I hadn’t expected him to write to. He wrote this! I did mail it, as I find it humorous. But the honesty is a bit painful. 

Today, we started a Time Capsule. Someone very kindly prepared sheets for the kids to fill out. Carter was again brutally honest. I can’t wait to see what the other kids say about me.

Double Funeral When Funerals are Banned

My kids have a problem with sugar. They scoop it right out of our counter top canisters – with a spoon! When the granular sugar was empty, they went for the powdered sugar! I hid the sugar in the pantry downstairs. They found it and ate it. FIVE POUNDS of it! On spoonful at a time. So, I stopped buying sugar. We just do without. Unfortunately, that meant my hummingbird feeders went dry. 

This week, I was trimming the plants on the back porch when a hummingbird fell out. He was dead and still clinging to the branch. I can’t help but feel a bit responsible. He was on the plant closest to the empty feeder. I should have taken it down at least. He expended his last burst of energy to make it to what he thought was food.

We had a funeral for him. Beckett and Roslyn collected flowers for his casket. Carter said the prayer. I said the eulogy. 

Carter decided we should have a double funeral – for the bird and for Vortex. I explained Vortex wasn’t dead yet. Carter insisted he was close enough to death; we should just mourn him now. We didn’t.

Field Trip Gone Wrong

Today we were going to take a field trip to the car doctor an hour-and-a-half away. The engine is still under warranty, so they told us to bring it down. David has done everything he can for this car and it just isn’t working right. Fortunately, it is my spare spare sports car and I can live without it for a bit longer.

David was worried it wouldn’t make it, but I wasn’t. I brought road trip games for the kids. We packed snacks. I wanted to go and find a nice wooded area to picnic. Unfortunately, the car had other plans. It died at the second intersection we got to. It WOULD NOT start back up. David had to tie me up to a tow strap and pull me home. Talk about scary. I was no further away than ten feet from his car the whole time! I was worried I was going to rear-end him and wreck both of our cars.

The kids got an education on why not to rope tow a car and the importance of having AAA. A very nice man from AAA came and loaded up my car. The poor guy had to make the hour and a half drive by himself. Then turn around and drive an hour and a half back empty. Normally, traffic would have been a bear! But, the freeways are pretty empty right now, so I didn’t feel too bad.

And just to be clear, we were all going to stay in the car, hand them the keys and leave. Except for me, who was going to exit MY car and get into David’s.

Who knew he could run out of things to clean?!

Who knew Carter could run out of things to clean?  He has his normal things that are quick and easy, but they had all been done yesterday and the day before. 

He decided to clean the playroom. I cannot express how messy this room was. You could not see the floor! He decided to build a city, but he need more real estate. He wanted to add our spare table, but there was no room. So, he cleaned up the floor, added the spare table, and put all the unused Legos in an under-the-bed bin under the spare table (to clear off the Lego table). The blanket on the floor is for easy clean up of fallen pieces and for the protection of their knees. 

He also set the table for breakfast and got it all ready for our morning scripture study. 

P.E. Fun

My kids have the greatest teachers. We have a school Facebook page and the teachers post regularly, including reading to them every day via video chat. There was a thread where parents were asked to share what they were doing at home and how they were making it work. I commented on how we were incorporating a lot of P.E. and recess time. The P.E. teacher asked me if I needed any suggestions. I have one kid who LIVES for sports and another who hides in the bathroom during P.E. and recess. He had a great suggestion, because he knows my kids so well. Here we are trying it out.

Beckett and Roslyn had a “snowball fight” that was more like military style-dodge ball. They balled up socks (Roslyn thought it would be more effective to make hers like “Snap Peas” and put four balled up socks in each sock. 

Every time Carter got hit, he had to drop down and do two push-ups. It was great fun!

 We also learned about germinating seeds. We are going to grow sweet peppers from seeds, rather than buy starts. We started our seeds today and hope to grow them in our outdoor, covered play area (which used to be a greenhouse).

Homeschooling back when it was cool

This sums up what I've been feeling. The days just wrap together now. I cannot believe this is our third Monday. I miss our teachers so much. Not just because they take my kids off my hands for SEVEN hours a day (which is way too long for the kids), but because they are my friends. Beckett's teacher's birthday is coming up and I am going to miss it because she is home and I am home. 

We have gotten into a good groove. Carter is so motivated by tickets, he has done some amazing things. Last night I hadn't cleaned the pots and pans from dinner. Well, Carter had them scrubbed, dried, and put away before I got up. He also had a load of laundry all queued up - but not started because he was waiting so it didn't disturb my shower! If I didn't have to teach them anything new and I could take them on field trips - I could do this full time.

The lady down the street home schools her own kids - like back when it was unique and cool not like now that everybody's doing it. Her girls are building a gazebo in the back yard. They have to design it themselves. That takes a lot of real world math. I hope I can teach my kids real world things too.

Church

Sometimes church goes well and sometimes it goes like this: