Day #42: Trying to do All the School
I didn't post last night because I fought a bad headache most of yesterday and it turned out that going to bed at 10 rather than 1 really helped with that, huh, who knew? But yesterday, headache aside, was actually pretty good. Why? Because we did basically no school.
Kindergarten Zoom meeting was optional yesterday and of course there was no way my kid was going to choose to do it so we did not, and there were other things we were supposed to do, but as stated before we aren't really doing much so we did nothing. I sat on the couch and read my book a lot. James played on the computer and with his brother. We learned that when we put the bubble machine on the grass it makes a pretty epic mound of bubbles. In other words, Mama had a headache so we kinda took a sick day, although you for sure do not want to say those words out loud in the age of coronavirus.
And you know what? There were no meltdowns. There were no tears. We actually liked each other most of the time. And there was learning. While reading instructions for a Lego kit (yeah, whatever,) he asked me, mama what does 2+2+2 equal? And then he answered his own question.
And then I confessed to my husband that I haven't been doing much school and he said, why don't you try it. Why don't you try for the next week and a half to do it all? So today we tried to do it all.
He melted down twice before 11, I melted down once. The app he had to write in to do his math was about the most non user friendly thing for a kid learning to do math that you can imagine. One thing I have learned, and this is where some structure is better than just "learn as you go" unschooliing, is that he really needs to practice his numeral writing, so we are going to add more of that into our lives. That's something I can work on. But writing numerals on the iPad in an app doesn't help with that. It's just extraordinarily frustrating. For both of us. We spend the better part of the day on this, yes, he had a break and some screen time during Max's nap, but he didn't get outside until almost 4. And we didn't even do it all.
One thing I have decided: we will ride out the next six weeks or so the best we can but if this goes into next fall (please, God, don't let it go into next fall,) we will purchase curriculum and we will homeschool for real. I am not starting another school year this way. This is not working.
It's starting to hit home for a lot of people how long this is going to last. A vaccine is probably 18 months away. What do those 18 months look like? What can reopen? What stays closed? No one really knows. I am still trying really hard to stay in the present. I can't grieve a whole lost summer right now. I don't have the energy. I need to get through today and tomorrow and the next day first. One foot in front of the other. One step at a time.
I hear more and more about people who have died of coronavirus. It hasn't come near me personally yet which is a blessing but the human suffering often gets lost in the struggle of day to day quarantine. I try not to forget.
I had a good reading day yesterday, so from here on I want to add something new to the blog, what I've been reading in this pandemic. I keep records of that elsewhere but if this is meant to be a historical record of this time my reading life has been part of it. Yesterday I finished Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows on audio, completing my audio reread of that series. I also read Tales of Beedle the Bard and finished We Regret to Inform You by Ariel Kaplan. Today I finished Harry: a history by Melissa Annelli on audio (all my audiobooks are rereads) and started House of Dreams: the life of L. M. Montgomery by Liz Rosenberg.
Today I'm grateful for a breath of fresh air, good books, rest, my headache going away, good friends, walks, flowers, giant pinecones, Max learning the Monkey Max dance, James snuggles, and health.
Kindergarten Zoom meeting was optional yesterday and of course there was no way my kid was going to choose to do it so we did not, and there were other things we were supposed to do, but as stated before we aren't really doing much so we did nothing. I sat on the couch and read my book a lot. James played on the computer and with his brother. We learned that when we put the bubble machine on the grass it makes a pretty epic mound of bubbles. In other words, Mama had a headache so we kinda took a sick day, although you for sure do not want to say those words out loud in the age of coronavirus.
And you know what? There were no meltdowns. There were no tears. We actually liked each other most of the time. And there was learning. While reading instructions for a Lego kit (yeah, whatever,) he asked me, mama what does 2+2+2 equal? And then he answered his own question.
And then I confessed to my husband that I haven't been doing much school and he said, why don't you try it. Why don't you try for the next week and a half to do it all? So today we tried to do it all.
He melted down twice before 11, I melted down once. The app he had to write in to do his math was about the most non user friendly thing for a kid learning to do math that you can imagine. One thing I have learned, and this is where some structure is better than just "learn as you go" unschooliing, is that he really needs to practice his numeral writing, so we are going to add more of that into our lives. That's something I can work on. But writing numerals on the iPad in an app doesn't help with that. It's just extraordinarily frustrating. For both of us. We spend the better part of the day on this, yes, he had a break and some screen time during Max's nap, but he didn't get outside until almost 4. And we didn't even do it all.
One thing I have decided: we will ride out the next six weeks or so the best we can but if this goes into next fall (please, God, don't let it go into next fall,) we will purchase curriculum and we will homeschool for real. I am not starting another school year this way. This is not working.
It's starting to hit home for a lot of people how long this is going to last. A vaccine is probably 18 months away. What do those 18 months look like? What can reopen? What stays closed? No one really knows. I am still trying really hard to stay in the present. I can't grieve a whole lost summer right now. I don't have the energy. I need to get through today and tomorrow and the next day first. One foot in front of the other. One step at a time.
I hear more and more about people who have died of coronavirus. It hasn't come near me personally yet which is a blessing but the human suffering often gets lost in the struggle of day to day quarantine. I try not to forget.
I had a good reading day yesterday, so from here on I want to add something new to the blog, what I've been reading in this pandemic. I keep records of that elsewhere but if this is meant to be a historical record of this time my reading life has been part of it. Yesterday I finished Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows on audio, completing my audio reread of that series. I also read Tales of Beedle the Bard and finished We Regret to Inform You by Ariel Kaplan. Today I finished Harry: a history by Melissa Annelli on audio (all my audiobooks are rereads) and started House of Dreams: the life of L. M. Montgomery by Liz Rosenberg.
Today I'm grateful for a breath of fresh air, good books, rest, my headache going away, good friends, walks, flowers, giant pinecones, Max learning the Monkey Max dance, James snuggles, and health.
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