My post from our first week of shutdown last week got longer than I was anticipating, so I’ll break this little adventure of ours down week by week instead of keeping 1 giant running post.
Our schools are now closed “indefinitely,” so maybe we won’t be going back in a month after all. I’ve heard that we will not lose summer vacation because of that, though, so that’s good. Our district is planning to have virtual learning in place for students by the second week of April, so we should be running with an online curriculum after the originally planned 4 weeks of closure. I’ll actually kind of miss our little school routine here once that starts, but I know it’ll be good to get some structured lessons back in. I just feel so heartbroken for the kids that they probably won’t get to see their teachers again to finish out this school year with them and do all of the fun things that were upcoming – field trips I was actually going to get to chaperone (Lana’s to a nature preserve and Della’s big all-day one to Madison, boo!!), another time as Morrison’s classroom helper, Morrison’s star student day, Della’s orchestra concert, Spring Sing and campout day for the whole school, taking flowers from our garden in for the teachers during the last days of the school year, and all the daily hugs and high-fives they look forward to from all of their teachers. They all love them so much, and so do I! And K4 for Morrison is seriously the greatest year ever with its half days – poop! We are sending them weekly emails with updates and pictures, though, so at least they can keep in touch.
So. Here’s the link to week 1 if you want to catch up:
The great shutdown of 2020 – week 1
Now, let’s see what week 2 holds. Our governor just issued a safer at home order for Wisconsin until April 24, so there’s that. We were technically supposed to be on spring break this week, too, but I figure the kids are getting enough of a break from school as it is with all this. So we’ll keep doing some lighter lessons and probably more movie watching this week…
March 23, 2020
- Alphablocks for L and M, Raz Kids and online typing club for D, Little Baby Bum for the twins for about 45 minutes while I did my workout
- Science – Ivory soap cloud experiment (total failure!! we’ll have to try that one again); solar system wind chimes
- Jack Hartmann songs for M
- Spanish and dancing with Elmo
- Indoor cardio exercises
- Lunch break
- Story time from space
- Naps for the boys, shower for me, writing time for the girls and a movie
- Movie and play time the rest of the day! The big 3 and I played a couple games after the twins went to bed, too.
March 24, 2020
- Outdoor scavenger hunt while I did some cleaning. The twins tried to play, too, but it’s still way too muddy for them.
- Easter card-making project – thank you, Aunt Jeanne!
- Lunch break
- Science – making your own kaleidoscope
- Naps for the boys, tablet time for the girls, having groceries delivered and picking up mulch for me before we have to stay home
- Pre-dinner outside play with sidewalk chalk – hopscotch and Twister
- After-dinner game time – Ramen Fury
March 25, 2020
Today was much more “spring break”-ish, mainly because it was so nice outside so I wanted to get everyone out as much as possible. Plus they’ve really been doing great with their school at home, so they deserve some down time. And this was the first day of “safer at home,” so let’s see if we really can flatten the curve of this monster and try to get life back on track and heal this world.
- A fun visit through the window with friends who were out for a walk
- Dreambox for D and M to start the morning; L attempted to build a blanket fort with my mop
- Fort making for the big 3 while I took the babies on a run
- 2 hours of outside play time while I spread mulch – definitely the earliest in the season I’ve ever gotten it in the gardens! The girls got their fairy garden set up after its winter buried in leaves and snow. I think we’re only missing a couple little turtles. The twins did way better than yesterday – only minimal escape attempts and a few falls in the mud. (no pictures of this today, unfortunately, since I had my wet, muddy gardening gloves on the whole time)
- Lunch break
- Naps for the boys (except A, who I knew wasn’t going to sleep right since he fell asleep in the stroller during my run), shower for me, reading and tablet time for the girls
- Our first social distancing happy hour with the neighbors! So fun to see faces and catch up, especially since the forecast for the next couple days looks like it’ll keep us inside.
March 26, 2020
- Morning math class – identifying and sorting the clean dishes out of the dishwasher by shape, counting the number of each type of silverware. Also saves me a chore! 藍
- Social interaction and more math – playing the game of Life
- P.E. class – Twister. There’s one picture I included simply because Avit is the only thing not blurry in it, when it’s usually the opposite!
- Lunch then naps for just the twins today
- More Life for L and M, reading her page on this blog for D, chores and work time for me
- Attempted game of Ramen Fury, but the twins interrupted and destroyed
- Engineering – Legos for all 5
- Another game night – Snakes & Ladders, Ramen Fury
- Indoor camping for the big 3, complete with “clouds,” campfire setups, and story telling as soon as I left the room 殺
March 27, 2020
- Legos all day today! Ryan briefly went to work and the grocery store mid-morning, and I got my workout and a couple chores done
- Indoor picnic for lunch to close out “spring break” week
- Naps for the boys, shower for me, more Legos for the girls. They really made some masterpieces today!
- Special delivery beer dropoff from our friends. The kids were excited to talk to Mr. Hand and Miss Clara through the door and window, too. 😁
- Game of Life after dinner, computer call with good friends in Tazmania, Pat McCurdy safer-at-home concert on Facebook
- Indoor camping for the big 3 again
Come back Monday to see what happens during week 3!
