April is a Camp NaNoWriMo month. I had planned on finishing the project that I had been working on last November during NaNoWriMo. I've been so busy with this home schooling stuff that I just have no spoons left at the end of the day to write much of anything. I'm somewhat despondent over this. I keep trying to summon the energy to write and it just isn't there.
Even short blog posts are hard. I feel like writing is pointless right now when there are countless people dying in mass due to COVID-19. I feel like writing is selfish because I have a house to keep and children to make sure are doing their school work. I feel like writing is bad because I have been triggered into this mindset that I had as a kid for a long time living under terrible emotional duress. This NYS on PAUSE has not been too great for my mental health. As such, it makes doing things for myself very hard.
I feel like I'm trapped in my parents house again. I feel like I'm a kid whose doing their best to model adult behaviors so that they don't get punished for failure despite the fact that I wasn't really getting good guidance on how to do that. I'm not having daily flashbacks to trauma. Yet. Depending on how things shake out with this social distancing and such, I may be dealing with that.
NaNoWriMo is very much an adult thing. I didn't even know it existed when I was a kid. If I had, I would have tried it and been mocked for it. It is upsetting that I didn't have the time to participate in Camp NaNoWriMo. I know that August's Camp NaNoWriMo is going to be shot. The kids will be out of school most certainly at that point in time. I'll be doing the same thing then that I am doing now, playing referee / attempting to come up with as many educational activities as I can to keep them from getting bored and fighting.
The bitter irony that my boys are making their own little books over the last two weeks sticks in my throat. I try not to think about it. I try to encourage them in their creative efforts. And I try not to resent the fact that I wasn't able to work on my own creative writing. I barely get time to journal. I haven't done any therapy oriented writing in the last two months because I just can't seem to get to it. My prayer journals are languishing. It's all a mess here and I am trying to find how to fit it into my daily routine which has dramatically changed to the point that I struggle to sneak in time to brush my teeth in the morning some days.
Gods help me, I don't know what I'm going to do.
roses
Tuesday, April 28, 2020
Monday, April 27, 2020
My shield arm is getting tired.
I do my best to keep a 'normal' face on for the sake of the kids. They are uneasy and alright with the situation things are in alternating turns. For them, COVID-19 isn't fully real because it hasn't changed our household much. They're doing school from home and enjoying it. They are figuring out how to communicate with their friends via the laptops and starting to do things like share things they're writing with their friends. They still get to play out in the yard (mask free) because no one else is out in that yard and the neighbors observe social distancing. The kids are doing a pretty good job of social distancing with people outside of our family, but it's not a big difference from what we usually do. It's just putting a little more physical distance between them and the neighbors.
As Beloved and I have discovered, our lifestyle is pretty much straight up social distancing. We're not antisocial at all. It's just something that we've fallen into over the last several years. Between the work of keeping up with the kids and Beloved having a busy job that leaves him burned out on the weekends, we don't really have a face-to-face social life. Our virtual social lives aren't exactly hopping either, to be honest.
We had some bad experiences on social media (*cough* Facebook *cough*) and tend to be more cautious about social media now. So, social distancing is just our routine with a few modifications, like no trips to the park or stopping at the ice cream shop for a treat when the day is really warm and the kids have been awesome. The thing that is wearing on me is the distance learning stuff.
They've got 40 minutes of work per class for the week. Because we do some work on each subject every day, we manage to get most of it done about mid-week. The work for the day manages to be be completed by the end of the morning. According to the teachers this is fantastic and we're doing a great job. It's hard, however, because the kids get bored and start fighting once we run out of things for them to do.
I try to get them into playing board games but they're not interested. I've had a little success with needlepoint. Attempting to teach Snuggle Bug how to knit ended in a combination of knots and tears of frustration. Crochet was also a source of great vexation. I don't know what to do next with them. I don't know how to keep them distracted from the ongoing tragedy unfolding. We don't watch the evening news but there are advertisements about how deadly COVID-19 is that pop up on their Youtube videos. They have questions and get uneasy at random times through out the day when it occurs to them that there is this thing called a pandemic and that it is dangerous. I'm asked every day at some point if it is here.
I don't know how to explain to them that it is everywhere. I've tried. The scope of it being everywhere is just too large for them to grasp, I think. It doesn't help when there are random anti-vaping ads with scare tactics labeling it an epidemic. This leads to confusion and some anxiety that vaping is somehow tied to COVID-19. Beloved and I have done our best to explain to them that they're being figurative in their description of vaping as an epidemic and COVID-19 is a real pandemic. They're afraid of it being here and all of us getting very sick and possibly dying.
I do my best to keep my response neutral and as reassuring as I can manage. I do my best to be stoic about my own fears about COVID-19's many effects on people who catch it, the risk pool, and the economic impact's potential hit to us. I avoid reading the news. Partly because the stupidity of the president suggesting that we should try ingesting bleach or injecting disinfectants just gets worse every time he opens his mouth. Poison control centers around the nation at the state level are getting record call volume regarding people poisoning themselves on the basis of the crap coming out of that man's mouth.
At the same time, in my day planner, I have been keeping a tally of the state's COVID-19 numbers and my county's statistics. I feel it is important to record this, especially when I witness news about these things getting buried. I've been tracking the spread of COVID-19 through my state since about when the index case became public. It's moved along the lines that I anticipated. Stargazer was a hobby epidemiologist and fascinated with plagues. We discussed the topic many times while we were roommates at college. Where other people were coming up with plans for the zombie uprising, we were talking about what we would to if there were to be a global pandemic like this.
Where other people went out and panic bought toilet paper, I looked at my canned goods and said "Time to stock up." I felt guilty because I didn't have a good hoard of canned goods to begin with because of the way I was raised, expecting SHFT to happen at any time. It was a very stressful way to be raised. I blame the Cold War and my parents being a touch insane. I may not have all the skills I need to do everything necessary to homestead but I know enough to get started and have some of the research necessary to do it.
When stores began rationing, I found myself thankful for the WWII cookbook that I inherited from my late paternal Grandmother. Mom thought I was weird for wanting that particular cookbook, but my brain latched on to it saying "We're going to need this someday." Now, here we are looking at the beginnings of rationing on a more regular basis, I know that cookbook is going to be handy because it has recipes for how to can jelly and other things, complete with instructions on how to do it. All I am lacking is canning jars, lids, and a large pot for water bath canning. All things that I know where I can acquire them. I have a rough memory of how to can things from watching and working with the women-folk of the family when I was a young child bringing in the harvest on the farm. Put that together with a Ball blue book of canning and some materials to work with, I think I could put up tomatoes with out too much difficulty and work my way to other goods.
I keep finding myself thinking about things in terms of what are we going to do if things go sideways. What can I barter or trade be it goods or services to others for things like some ground beef from a local butcher; what can I barter or trade for things we need in the way of non-food needs; etc. These are not normal thoughts. These are the thoughts of someone who was raised in a household whose motto was if SHFT happens, you shoot first and ask questions later. These are the thoughts of someone who was raised with the idea that at some point in their life a world altering catastrophe was going to happen and always analyzed what they could do that would be of value in the event of said catastrophe because their family continually told them that if they were not a valuable contributor they'd be kicked out and left to manage said catastrophe on their own. Imagine being seven years old and being told that if you weren't useful when the bomb dropped and the city folk came in hordes to take what we had, you were going to be thrown to the wolves like Lot's daughters.
So, I do my best to stay stoic and keep a shield up between the kids and the tragedy unfolding. To them, this is an inconvenience and boring. If I can keep it that way and teach them some life skills in the process (like how to bake bread or to do some basic sewing so they can mend their clothes), I will count this a success. But I am tired. Staying stoic is not the healthiest thing for me to do. I'm tending into depression with all of this. My anxiety is steadily rising the harder I try to tamp it down. But I can't break down and cry. Because that scares my children.
As Beloved and I have discovered, our lifestyle is pretty much straight up social distancing. We're not antisocial at all. It's just something that we've fallen into over the last several years. Between the work of keeping up with the kids and Beloved having a busy job that leaves him burned out on the weekends, we don't really have a face-to-face social life. Our virtual social lives aren't exactly hopping either, to be honest.
We had some bad experiences on social media (*cough* Facebook *cough*) and tend to be more cautious about social media now. So, social distancing is just our routine with a few modifications, like no trips to the park or stopping at the ice cream shop for a treat when the day is really warm and the kids have been awesome. The thing that is wearing on me is the distance learning stuff.
They've got 40 minutes of work per class for the week. Because we do some work on each subject every day, we manage to get most of it done about mid-week. The work for the day manages to be be completed by the end of the morning. According to the teachers this is fantastic and we're doing a great job. It's hard, however, because the kids get bored and start fighting once we run out of things for them to do.
I try to get them into playing board games but they're not interested. I've had a little success with needlepoint. Attempting to teach Snuggle Bug how to knit ended in a combination of knots and tears of frustration. Crochet was also a source of great vexation. I don't know what to do next with them. I don't know how to keep them distracted from the ongoing tragedy unfolding. We don't watch the evening news but there are advertisements about how deadly COVID-19 is that pop up on their Youtube videos. They have questions and get uneasy at random times through out the day when it occurs to them that there is this thing called a pandemic and that it is dangerous. I'm asked every day at some point if it is here.
I don't know how to explain to them that it is everywhere. I've tried. The scope of it being everywhere is just too large for them to grasp, I think. It doesn't help when there are random anti-vaping ads with scare tactics labeling it an epidemic. This leads to confusion and some anxiety that vaping is somehow tied to COVID-19. Beloved and I have done our best to explain to them that they're being figurative in their description of vaping as an epidemic and COVID-19 is a real pandemic. They're afraid of it being here and all of us getting very sick and possibly dying.
I do my best to keep my response neutral and as reassuring as I can manage. I do my best to be stoic about my own fears about COVID-19's many effects on people who catch it, the risk pool, and the economic impact's potential hit to us. I avoid reading the news. Partly because the stupidity of the president suggesting that we should try ingesting bleach or injecting disinfectants just gets worse every time he opens his mouth. Poison control centers around the nation at the state level are getting record call volume regarding people poisoning themselves on the basis of the crap coming out of that man's mouth.
At the same time, in my day planner, I have been keeping a tally of the state's COVID-19 numbers and my county's statistics. I feel it is important to record this, especially when I witness news about these things getting buried. I've been tracking the spread of COVID-19 through my state since about when the index case became public. It's moved along the lines that I anticipated. Stargazer was a hobby epidemiologist and fascinated with plagues. We discussed the topic many times while we were roommates at college. Where other people were coming up with plans for the zombie uprising, we were talking about what we would to if there were to be a global pandemic like this.
Where other people went out and panic bought toilet paper, I looked at my canned goods and said "Time to stock up." I felt guilty because I didn't have a good hoard of canned goods to begin with because of the way I was raised, expecting SHFT to happen at any time. It was a very stressful way to be raised. I blame the Cold War and my parents being a touch insane. I may not have all the skills I need to do everything necessary to homestead but I know enough to get started and have some of the research necessary to do it.
When stores began rationing, I found myself thankful for the WWII cookbook that I inherited from my late paternal Grandmother. Mom thought I was weird for wanting that particular cookbook, but my brain latched on to it saying "We're going to need this someday." Now, here we are looking at the beginnings of rationing on a more regular basis, I know that cookbook is going to be handy because it has recipes for how to can jelly and other things, complete with instructions on how to do it. All I am lacking is canning jars, lids, and a large pot for water bath canning. All things that I know where I can acquire them. I have a rough memory of how to can things from watching and working with the women-folk of the family when I was a young child bringing in the harvest on the farm. Put that together with a Ball blue book of canning and some materials to work with, I think I could put up tomatoes with out too much difficulty and work my way to other goods.
I keep finding myself thinking about things in terms of what are we going to do if things go sideways. What can I barter or trade be it goods or services to others for things like some ground beef from a local butcher; what can I barter or trade for things we need in the way of non-food needs; etc. These are not normal thoughts. These are the thoughts of someone who was raised in a household whose motto was if SHFT happens, you shoot first and ask questions later. These are the thoughts of someone who was raised with the idea that at some point in their life a world altering catastrophe was going to happen and always analyzed what they could do that would be of value in the event of said catastrophe because their family continually told them that if they were not a valuable contributor they'd be kicked out and left to manage said catastrophe on their own. Imagine being seven years old and being told that if you weren't useful when the bomb dropped and the city folk came in hordes to take what we had, you were going to be thrown to the wolves like Lot's daughters.
So, I do my best to stay stoic and keep a shield up between the kids and the tragedy unfolding. To them, this is an inconvenience and boring. If I can keep it that way and teach them some life skills in the process (like how to bake bread or to do some basic sewing so they can mend their clothes), I will count this a success. But I am tired. Staying stoic is not the healthiest thing for me to do. I'm tending into depression with all of this. My anxiety is steadily rising the harder I try to tamp it down. But I can't break down and cry. Because that scares my children.
Friday, April 24, 2020
Trying to partner with the teachers is challenging.
I honestly thought that because of the easy access to internet and such, partnering with the teachers would be easier. Instead, I am finding it exhausting and challenging. Not because the teachers are not helpful. But because I am mentally tapped out by the end of the week, which is when I sit down to plan my next week and attempt to align my schedule with the kids academic needs.
So, when I get that weekly call from the teachers, I find myself at a complete loss for words to say "This is what I'd like to do, how does it work for you?" They want to help. They are happy that we're doing what we can and that I am as militant about having the kids do school work as I have been. At the same time, I am getting exhausted from all of this. I don't know how the home schooling parents do this.
I realize that if I let the kids just derp around on the laptops for the afternoon, they will be a bit whiny and cranky when I get them off of them. At the same time, it is hard to get my things done when they are loudly arguing, digging through legos (which is the worst sound ever), or generally being loud in doing stuff. If I don't keep them busy, they fight. I can only do so much with the 20 minutes worth of work in each subject for each day. I still have the majority of the day to keep them active and I am running out of ideas.
I wish I didn't have limited spoons. There was a time I could have handled this better.
So, when I get that weekly call from the teachers, I find myself at a complete loss for words to say "This is what I'd like to do, how does it work for you?" They want to help. They are happy that we're doing what we can and that I am as militant about having the kids do school work as I have been. At the same time, I am getting exhausted from all of this. I don't know how the home schooling parents do this.
I realize that if I let the kids just derp around on the laptops for the afternoon, they will be a bit whiny and cranky when I get them off of them. At the same time, it is hard to get my things done when they are loudly arguing, digging through legos (which is the worst sound ever), or generally being loud in doing stuff. If I don't keep them busy, they fight. I can only do so much with the 20 minutes worth of work in each subject for each day. I still have the majority of the day to keep them active and I am running out of ideas.
I wish I didn't have limited spoons. There was a time I could have handled this better.
Monday, April 20, 2020
Five days? Wow.
I could have sworn I posted something here on Friday. I apparently was wrong. It's been busy here. I have to basically sit and supervise the kids on the laptops to make sure that they do their work. I also have to try to help them navigate the system. Fortunately, one of the teachers called today and did just that for Cuddle Bear. Between them, they got all of the assignments for last week caught up and a start on this week's work in social studies.
Snuggle Bug keeps wanting to play games on the laptop. I have to keep poking my head in the other room to make sure that he's actually doing work. Or I have to just sit there and watch him work. He can navigate the software that they're using pretty well. I, on the other hand, am like a fish out of water when it comes to using it. It is still better than Blackboard was when I was taking online classes. And from what I hear, Blackboard is still awful and easy to hack. You'd figure they'd improve that thing at some point between the 90s and now. It's only been about thirty years.
We spent the weekend busy. Saturday was a big cleaning day. Sunday was a day to check on Beloved's folks and make sure they're doing well with everything going on. They've been bored to tears because their social life has been ripped away. Our Sunday visits have been greatly appreciated. It is helpful because it gives the kids a big yard to run around in safely. We're well away from everybody else because they live even farther in the boonies than we do.
I've started two shawls. One is a version of the crochet Wingspan shawl. I'm doing seven triangles/wings on it in each color of the rainbow. I started with red. I'm now on orange and I feel like I'll be crocheting in orange for FOREVER. This is one of the smaller wings. I think I may have made a poor decision in using a hook and yarn about two sizes larger than what the pattern called for. It'll look stunning when it's done, however. The other shawl is a basic half granny square done in size 10 crochet cotton with a size D hook. This will probably make me go half blind by the time I'm done.
And I'm still working on the big needlepoint project. As I get things to where they're beginning to look like they should, I'll post pictures.
Snuggle Bug keeps wanting to play games on the laptop. I have to keep poking my head in the other room to make sure that he's actually doing work. Or I have to just sit there and watch him work. He can navigate the software that they're using pretty well. I, on the other hand, am like a fish out of water when it comes to using it. It is still better than Blackboard was when I was taking online classes. And from what I hear, Blackboard is still awful and easy to hack. You'd figure they'd improve that thing at some point between the 90s and now. It's only been about thirty years.
We spent the weekend busy. Saturday was a big cleaning day. Sunday was a day to check on Beloved's folks and make sure they're doing well with everything going on. They've been bored to tears because their social life has been ripped away. Our Sunday visits have been greatly appreciated. It is helpful because it gives the kids a big yard to run around in safely. We're well away from everybody else because they live even farther in the boonies than we do.
I've started two shawls. One is a version of the crochet Wingspan shawl. I'm doing seven triangles/wings on it in each color of the rainbow. I started with red. I'm now on orange and I feel like I'll be crocheting in orange for FOREVER. This is one of the smaller wings. I think I may have made a poor decision in using a hook and yarn about two sizes larger than what the pattern called for. It'll look stunning when it's done, however. The other shawl is a basic half granny square done in size 10 crochet cotton with a size D hook. This will probably make me go half blind by the time I'm done.
And I'm still working on the big needlepoint project. As I get things to where they're beginning to look like they should, I'll post pictures.
Wednesday, April 15, 2020
Skipping Art Day for the Kids.
Because my day is completely out of order, we're skipping art projects today. I am going to attempt to make some art today. I also am going to attempt to do some writing. It's just been hard to find the time because I've been so busy monitoring what the kids are working on and doing with those laptops. We did some of our usual routine and I think that is the only reason why the day did not turn into complete chaos. My massive headache in the morning made me extra grouchy and I think I didn't sleep well last night.
Right now, the kids are screwing around on the chromebooks from school while I am waiting for calls on Keen. They were playing math games. When I walked out of the room, they switched to doing other stuff. I caught them at it and then got them started watching science videos. I am going to have to watch them like a hawk to make sure that they don't mess around too much. At least I am not responsible for lesson planning every day. I can just act as a support teacher instead of the main teacher now for most things.
I'm still going to continue to do my best to introduce new things like how to bake bread and sewing on a button. A little bit of home economics is not a bad thing. They're sort of staying on top of their chores. It's been tricky to get them to do so. Since they're home all the time, they feel like they can just put off work until later. Not that I know anything about that feeling.
Right now, the kids are screwing around on the chromebooks from school while I am waiting for calls on Keen. They were playing math games. When I walked out of the room, they switched to doing other stuff. I caught them at it and then got them started watching science videos. I am going to have to watch them like a hawk to make sure that they don't mess around too much. At least I am not responsible for lesson planning every day. I can just act as a support teacher instead of the main teacher now for most things.
I'm still going to continue to do my best to introduce new things like how to bake bread and sewing on a button. A little bit of home economics is not a bad thing. They're sort of staying on top of their chores. It's been tricky to get them to do so. Since they're home all the time, they feel like they can just put off work until later. Not that I know anything about that feeling.
Tuesday, April 14, 2020
Well, I didn't give up on Keen.
It keeps sucking me back in. It's a platform that is familiar and relatively easy to use. And I'm finding myself interacting with clients who are a lot more pleasant than those I had dealt with in the past. I'm even making a little bit of money in the process. I'm not thrilled with Keen's business model. I am attempting to just consider it the cost of doing business. Like if I had to pay the overhead costs of maintaining a store front and the rent went up.
I don't know if it is because I have been on there more or if it is because of COVID-19, but I am seeing more traffic. It's possible it is a little bit of both. The clients are getting more chatty than I recalled them being. I had one chat session last about thirty minutes. It was pleasant and I enjoyed not being rushed to give results like a computer where you get just about instant results when you hit a button.
I am on there from about 12:30 to 3:30 as the kids are doing science stuff and/or music stuff. Today, they sat and played math games on their chromebooks from school. I figured it wasn't a problem because we did academic work this morning. And when they're watching videos it is stuff like Bill Nye the Science Guy.
I don't know if it is because I have been on there more or if it is because of COVID-19, but I am seeing more traffic. It's possible it is a little bit of both. The clients are getting more chatty than I recalled them being. I had one chat session last about thirty minutes. It was pleasant and I enjoyed not being rushed to give results like a computer where you get just about instant results when you hit a button.
I am on there from about 12:30 to 3:30 as the kids are doing science stuff and/or music stuff. Today, they sat and played math games on their chromebooks from school. I figured it wasn't a problem because we did academic work this morning. And when they're watching videos it is stuff like Bill Nye the Science Guy.
Monday, April 06, 2020
Science videos and stuff.
For the last week we have been watching Bill Nye the Science Guy on repeat. I've lost count the number of times we have watched the volcanoes episode. When they're not watching Bill Nye, they are watching videos of kittens (including kittens being born). This has lead to questions about babies and such. The questions are getting a bit awkward at times. Fortunately, I'm not the only one who is being asked these kinds of questions. Beloved gets to answer them too.
We are adjusting to the new schedule to fit the teacher's schedules. Fortunately, it's not a big adjustment. The only problem here is the fact that one of the chromebooks is refusing to load properly. I don't know if I did something not quite right or if it's being glitchy. If I could figure it out on my own, I'd be happy to get it sorted out. I called the school and someone has put in a tech support request for me. They said it may be a few days before they have it sorted out because they are now on a M-W-F schedule rather than the every day schedule.
I am willing to wait and keep doing the things that I am doing over here. The fact that they've done so much for us that we hadn't expected is awesome. I think the kids will be happier with more access to their teachers and their classmates.
The fact that we are stuck at home is alleviated by the fact that we have so much technology. Sure, it's not the latest stuff, but we've got videos for them to watch and music to listen to. We have a small library of books (and some books on loan from the school as well). We are fortunate to have this. I keep asking what I can do to give back to the community to express my appreciation and support.
We are adjusting to the new schedule to fit the teacher's schedules. Fortunately, it's not a big adjustment. The only problem here is the fact that one of the chromebooks is refusing to load properly. I don't know if I did something not quite right or if it's being glitchy. If I could figure it out on my own, I'd be happy to get it sorted out. I called the school and someone has put in a tech support request for me. They said it may be a few days before they have it sorted out because they are now on a M-W-F schedule rather than the every day schedule.
I am willing to wait and keep doing the things that I am doing over here. The fact that they've done so much for us that we hadn't expected is awesome. I think the kids will be happier with more access to their teachers and their classmates.
The fact that we are stuck at home is alleviated by the fact that we have so much technology. Sure, it's not the latest stuff, but we've got videos for them to watch and music to listen to. We have a small library of books (and some books on loan from the school as well). We are fortunate to have this. I keep asking what I can do to give back to the community to express my appreciation and support.
Sunday, April 05, 2020
Tech has landed and other good news.
Friday morning, when the school dropped off their care package of lunches and breakfasts for the boys, they also dropped off the chromebooks assigned to them. Beloved got everything set up for them to get on to our network. Next thing I know, after we did the initial let's log in and make sure you can get into your digital classrooms the boys decided they wanted to do math for fifteen minutes on the programs on the computers. I was astounded but, nevertheless, impressed with how well they settled into using them and how apt they were with the programs.
Their typing skills are very hunt-and-peck but I might be able to teach them a more effective method of touch typing. Billy still wants to write a book. He has expressed interest in making a comic book about "Billy the Mighty Mighty Massive Robot." I have enough art supplies kicking around, I think we may be able to make that happen between class work.
Their teachers are giving approximately the same amount of work over the week that I had been putting together. We're going to keep more or less the same schedule and structure that we have been using for the last few weeks. Instead of doing math problems out of a notebook, they've got the math programs on the computer. And instead of writing short two paragraph essays on random topics, they're getting work assigned to them from their teachers. I'm just going to act as support for them in that process. We're still going to do some social studies videos, but they're going to be along the topics that the teachers are working on them with. If I understood what the teachers have planned, they have videos that the kids can watch in the google classrooms that are set up.
Google classroom is a lot more user friendly than Blackboard ever was. I'm glad they decided to go with this platform. It's got a better interface. There's only one thing that's not working properly and I emailed the teacher about the bug. I think we can get it fixed by early next week if everything goes according to plan.
The kids have had their adhd medication tweaked and today was their first day after adjustments have been made. And it made a big difference in the positive direction. I think that we're going to have a much better week and a less stressful week this week than we did last week because of the medication adjustment and the additional support from the school. Last week was rough. I ran out of ideas about Tuesday. The math problems I wrote and that Beloved had written were solved in less than 5 minutes. (That's kids 2: parents 0, if you're keeping score.) In a desperate effort to keep them interested in something, we watched a lot of Bill Nye the Science Guy (Bless him and his enthusiastic approach towards everything. The kids were laughing and learning.) and the history of steam engines about a dozen times.
I started out with the idea of introducing them to the industrial revolution. Then steam engines came up and they hyperfocused on that. I sort of was able to tie the steam powered loom to early computing, the kids were impressed with that for about 5 minutes. There was a lot of bickering because the weather wasn't great so they couldn't go outside and play. But the weather this week promises to be decent. And I think I'm going to find them more interested in using their laptops to do school work than bickering. They were pleased to show off their work as they were using the various programs.
Their typing skills are very hunt-and-peck but I might be able to teach them a more effective method of touch typing. Billy still wants to write a book. He has expressed interest in making a comic book about "Billy the Mighty Mighty Massive Robot." I have enough art supplies kicking around, I think we may be able to make that happen between class work.
Their teachers are giving approximately the same amount of work over the week that I had been putting together. We're going to keep more or less the same schedule and structure that we have been using for the last few weeks. Instead of doing math problems out of a notebook, they've got the math programs on the computer. And instead of writing short two paragraph essays on random topics, they're getting work assigned to them from their teachers. I'm just going to act as support for them in that process. We're still going to do some social studies videos, but they're going to be along the topics that the teachers are working on them with. If I understood what the teachers have planned, they have videos that the kids can watch in the google classrooms that are set up.
Google classroom is a lot more user friendly than Blackboard ever was. I'm glad they decided to go with this platform. It's got a better interface. There's only one thing that's not working properly and I emailed the teacher about the bug. I think we can get it fixed by early next week if everything goes according to plan.
The kids have had their adhd medication tweaked and today was their first day after adjustments have been made. And it made a big difference in the positive direction. I think that we're going to have a much better week and a less stressful week this week than we did last week because of the medication adjustment and the additional support from the school. Last week was rough. I ran out of ideas about Tuesday. The math problems I wrote and that Beloved had written were solved in less than 5 minutes. (That's kids 2: parents 0, if you're keeping score.) In a desperate effort to keep them interested in something, we watched a lot of Bill Nye the Science Guy (Bless him and his enthusiastic approach towards everything. The kids were laughing and learning.) and the history of steam engines about a dozen times.
I started out with the idea of introducing them to the industrial revolution. Then steam engines came up and they hyperfocused on that. I sort of was able to tie the steam powered loom to early computing, the kids were impressed with that for about 5 minutes. There was a lot of bickering because the weather wasn't great so they couldn't go outside and play. But the weather this week promises to be decent. And I think I'm going to find them more interested in using their laptops to do school work than bickering. They were pleased to show off their work as they were using the various programs.
Thursday, April 02, 2020
Communication breakdown is more than an Led Zepplin song.
In the light of the situation, I am honestly not surprised by the communication breakdowns happening. The school is scrambling to set up a google classroom account for all of the teachers and striving to connect them with the kids. This has been made even more challenging by the fact that not everyone in the community has computer access and internet access. It's been an interesting week.
According to theory, we may be getting the chromebooks assigned to the boys tomorrow but it is looking more like it is going to happen next week. On one hand I am relieved because I am not going to have to come up with lesson plans. I am terrible at it. On the other hand, I am concerned that we are going to fall behind if we don't have the chromebooks tomorrow.
I'm going to do my best not to worry. The school has their hands full and they're juggling a lot of balls all whilst spinning plates on a unicycle. I feel like I should do something to help, but there isn't much I can do. I just keep having the kids stick to the schedule that I have set up for them and try to figure out a way to keep in contact with the teachers. Email and phone calls have been flying around a lot. They keep telling me thank you for doing what I have been with the kids.
I just wish I knew a little better what they've been working on, this way I can push more of that into what we're doing at home. Because I am running out of ideas.
According to theory, we may be getting the chromebooks assigned to the boys tomorrow but it is looking more like it is going to happen next week. On one hand I am relieved because I am not going to have to come up with lesson plans. I am terrible at it. On the other hand, I am concerned that we are going to fall behind if we don't have the chromebooks tomorrow.
I'm going to do my best not to worry. The school has their hands full and they're juggling a lot of balls all whilst spinning plates on a unicycle. I feel like I should do something to help, but there isn't much I can do. I just keep having the kids stick to the schedule that I have set up for them and try to figure out a way to keep in contact with the teachers. Email and phone calls have been flying around a lot. They keep telling me thank you for doing what I have been with the kids.
I just wish I knew a little better what they've been working on, this way I can push more of that into what we're doing at home. Because I am running out of ideas.
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