Books and Movies and Takeout

Day of rest! I actually felt like I really rested from work today. I made a dutch baby pancake with apples fried in butter and cinnamon for breakfast. It really puffed up today. It rained hard all morning, which did not stop the kids from playing outside with the neighbors. They dug some holes in the yard and got extremely wet. They are still working through the bottles of bubbles that Marko bought everyone last week. They like to blow a whole bunch at once and swing at them with tennis rackets. I stayed inside and read a book almost all day. M went for a run. We ordered food from the Turkish restaurant down the street for dinner and took a short walk to pick it up. 

After dinner, we split up...kids downstairs watching Clone Wars and M and I went to the attic to watch Nomadland. I loved the movie. Frances McDormand is very convincing in the role, and the tension between the nomads and those concerned for their well-being was one I very much recognized.

So, that's it. I set a goal to write a blog post every day in February and I did it! 

Girl Scout Outing

We have somehow managed to keep our Girl Scout troop going for an entire year of pandemic restrictions! We alternate virtual meetings and in-person outdoor activities. Today we met for some bike riding at a local bike track. It was raining at first, but luckily it cleared up quickly. The girls had fun just riding bikes around, and we briefly chatted about our upcoming service projects....seed balls for a community pollinator garden.  

Marko had another Scratch class today, and Max had a Pokemon battle with Uncle Pete via Zoom. Uncle Pete won! Laurel went on a walk with her friend who lives in our neighborhood.

I made some progress working on a door that needs to be rehung, and I took my evening walk early...while the sun was still up! I went to the cemetery today and there were lots of deer hanging out and the birds were very noisy and active.

Closing Out the School Month

We have school "months" more than we have years or quarters. We do not do any grades. I will record percent mastery for things like a math test where you can definitively count correct answers, but otherwise, we are mostly just collecting completed work to demonstrate mastery. For a while I tried to plan quarters or seasons, but I am best at setting reasonable goals for a four week period. Yesterday I spent a little time reading over the Pennsylvania standards for social studies to see where we are at. Current events are certainly providing a lot of fodder for discussions about "identifying the requirements to vote in local, state and national elections" or "explaining the effects of physical systems within a community." 

Laurel finished her last Brave Writer Book Club discussion. She enjoyed it a lot. Unfortunately the classes are all sold out for the rest of the term so she can't take another one. We will go back to reading the next novel and using the arrow guide as a family. 

We also completed our art project from Art With Mrs. Filmore. Marko picked the lily pad project for this month. She lays out all the step by step instructions and even talks about the elements of art (line, shape, color, form, texture) and some art history (Monet). I had previously gathered up Modge Podge, glue, scissors, paint, tissue paper. I was a little worried we wouldn't get to it this month, but then I decided to just focus on it today and it snowballed into a really good lesson!

I pulled out my old photo album of the trip to France I made with my aunt, because we actually went to Giverny and saw the water lilies in person. I also found our copy of Linea in Monet's Garden and a big coffee table book about Impressionism. This book actually had a really interesting introduction about how the original "Impressionist" artists got together and exhibited their work and how it was a big shift from the former state sponsored art organizations that were the norm. All the videos from the PBS Art Assignment have already laid the groundwork for us that art doesn't just occur in a vacuum....it reflects cultural and political events. It was interesting to read a little more about what was going on in France at the time. I didn't know about the Parisian rebellion against the Prussians which resulted in 20,000 dead civilians. 

We tried to think of places we have seen water lilies and remembered a huge patch of them in Black Moshannon State Park. However, I think those are actually American lotus. I found a passage in my Incredible Wild Edibles that describes how indigenous people ate various parts of those plants, but that they have more recently been targeted as "invasives" that should be eliminated (mostly by recreational fisherman who have boat engines that get tangled in the thick roots). While we were going down various rabbit holes about French socialists and wild edibles, we were painting with concentrated water colors and applying tissue paper with modge podge and using a salt finish on our painted water. 

The art itself turned out really well. The kids had to use a variety of techniques. We all learned something new about art or foraging or Prussia. We all have questions that remain unanswered, which to me is the mark of a really great lesson. 

Road Trip!

Splitting up the kids creates new and wonderful (and peaceful) dynamics. Today I took Marko and Laurel on a mini-road trip and Max stayed home with M. The most notable difference was apparent to me immediately...the car was so quiet! Laurel and Marko were both instructed to bring as much schoolwork as they thought they could accomplish, plus recreational reading. I also told them to pack snow clothes. We headed for Elk County to deliver some Girl Scout cookies to Cousin Sam, and then went to Parker Dam State Park. 

Marko didn't believe me about the snow. Our snow mostly melted overnight in the rain. He didn't even pack a coat. So when we got to the park, he was very surprised to see a foot of snow still on the ground. It was pretty warm out, though, and very sunny, so he still ran around. Laurel had listened and was wearing her lace up snow boots. I brought our Coleman stove to heat up burritos. I flew my kite over the frozen lake. I love being in the Pennsylvania forest and seeing snow-covered ridges boosted my spirits greatly. 

Meanwhile, back at home, M and Max baked a cake, did some skateboarding and went to zoom meetings. Max had his zoom science class. Max loves being 1:1 with a parent and he will entertain himself for long periods of time with Scratch or Epic books. He still needs help with a lot of things....mostly reaching what he needs and fixing meals, but he's much less screech-y when he's alone. 

We listened to the entire Galentine's Day playlist (think lots of Beyonce) and looked for signs of elk. Laurel worked through several pages of math fractions. Marko mostly read books. They ate our popcorn snack without spilling it everywhere. On the way home, we got a message that Laurel's new glasses were in so we stopped by to pick them up. 

Overall it was a lovely and relaxing day. 

Pruning

Almost the end of a month again! I have been planning one month at a time, so at the end of the month, I look to see what things we didn't get to yet and figure out a way to get them done in the last week. Other options include bumping them to the next month if I think they are deserving of more time. Sometimes I think, why did I want to do that anyway? And then I just cross them out. The other thing that happens a lot is that the kids will just Learn the Thing, all on their own, or in their own way. What we have left to do this month is finish talking about the People Could Fly, deliver Girl Scout cookies and do one of the multi-media art projects from the Art With Mrs. Filmore blog. I crossed out dictation. 

Laurel is plowing through her math book. This is supposed to be a year where she has to submit standardized test scores (although everything is canceled or waived...again...sigh). We are going to do it anyway, just to keep her portfolio in order, and also because you can take the Stanford Achievement Test remotely now. We did a practice test a few weeks ago and she did pretty well, so I scheduled her for the full battery in May. In the past she has expressed anxiety over testing, although her teachers never told me there was a problem and her scores were always good.

Max took another science class on zoom. They put various objects in water to see what would float and sink. First, they had to make predictions. Max's guesses were wild. He really has no concept of particles or density. But I appreciate the teacher leading them through the scientific process. 

We had poetry tea time in the afternoon. Marko baked a chocolate rye cake from the Poilane cookbook. It was delicious. M made him measure everything out on the scale. We read a bunch of nursery rhymes from a book my mom recently passed on to us, that was given to me by my Great Grandmother Benzenhoefer in 1980.  Marlene came over and brought a poem about choosing a pet that she found on the internet. 

And I went on a run today! I did 3.1 miles exactly, purely by accident. I went for a run/walk/hike type of excursion last weekend but I had shoes that were ill-suited for the task. Last week, I found a pair of running shoes for sale on REI and they finally arrived so I could try them out. I haven't really been able to run in about 6 years, since I was pregnant with Max, due to some pelvic floor issues. I found a really great doctor and it is life-changing! 

All Around Town

Everyone is stir crazy from being at home too much and Laurel needed to deliver cookies, so we made a day of it. I had to take them to their dentist appointment first. I adore our dentists. They are so efficient and friendly. Max was nervous because he basically never gets to go anywhere ever, but he calmed down as soon as he got in the chair. 

The kids brought their school work and I packed some random snacks. Unfortunately the weather was terrible. Mid-thirties and freezing rain most of the day. But the roads were in good shape and we were able to deliver the majority of the cookies. To break it up we stopped to find a geocache. The dampness in the air makes it feel so much colder than the air temperature. The ground is covered in an icy, muddy slush. Still we walked a mile to find this geocache. Normally they want to do 3 or 4, but one was enough for today. When we got home, Laurel caught up on her computer work. She's taking a class on Brave Writer and one on Outschool. Marko and Max played with Legos. I haven't been getting out nearly enough so I cooked dinner and then left for a walk as soon as M finished up with work. Tomorrow we will be staying home and focusing on the last few goals we wrote for February. 

Day of Rest

I succeeded at keeping my pajamas on all day, but largely failed at the resting part. However, we finally finished our root cellar project, so I was eager to put up the shelves and organize the basement. Originally, it was a coal cellar, so it was extremely dingy. M did most of the work scrubbing and vacuuming and patching and painting. It looks so nice now, I am excited to do the rest of the basement. We have a very small kitchen, so we keep a lot of things in the basement out of necessity and now they all have their own shelves. The main part of the basement will be clear for driving monster trucks around or exercising or hanging laundry. 

Laurel worked on her Girl Scout cookies some more, mapping a route for tomorrow so we can deliver all the cookies we have stacked up in our dining room. I have a lot of concerns about the Girl Scout cookie program, but I do appreciate all the small skills she is able to learn through it.

I cooked an enormous pot of vegetarian chili. 

I'm going to be honest, I have no idea what the boys did today. They were loud, though. 

Saturday, So What

Today Marko took the next level of the Scratch programming class on Outschool. Like Max, he loves taking classes where he can see other students on the video feed. He took the first level a few months ago and was delighted that the teacher remembered him. 

Laurel had to pick up her Girl Scout cookies so she can distribute them to her customers. This involves lots of counting and recounting, sorting and making thank you notes. Next she has to plan a delivery route and contact everybody by phone or email to schedule a time for delivery. She was able to deliver some to the neighbors on our block, who all really stepped up to support her this year. 

Max spent a long time this morning copying his chores from the 3x5 index card I laminated for him. I did not tell him to do this, but it is basically a copywork assignment that he did on his own. His handwriting is still a mix of capital and lowercase, but he has pretty good control over his pencil. 

It was Saturday, but still a day full of learning, some of it planned, some not.

The house smells amazing now because we roasted a chicken and some parnips and carrots for dinner. M went for a run and I went for a walk. I did all the laundry and I'm ready for a day of rest tomorrow. 

Snow, snow, snow

Winter is dragging on. February is always like this. Facebook is good for reminding me of that, prompting me with photos from the past 11 years where I am praying for 2 hour delays when I was teaching, and then later praying for no snow days, because that meant a houseful of kids for the whole day...my own kids, and then the neighbors and then the kids of whatever other desperate mom who called me in a panic that morning. Limit 8, I would say to myself. Ok, maybe 10 would be ok. No more than that. 

M used to bring home all the brown bananas from his break room. I always had like 20 pounds of brown bananas in the freezer. I made banana bread if I was expecting a crowd. Sneak in some flax seeds for the good omegas. I sprinkled sugar on top instead of mixing it into the batter. Popcorn was my other go-to snack. Easy on the budget, fills up the belly. 

Anyway, February has always been dreary and gray and cold and often snow covered, but it's different this year without Ms. Molly and the library, or Phipps or the museums or working at the Blue Goose to break it up.

Today we combatted the winter blahs by having a play date with our pandemic pod buddies. They loved playing in the backyard snow fort and were out there for a long time. We made a dutch baby and apples friend in butter for the snack. Their youngest child just turned 2 and he is warming up to us, letting me take care of him while his mom steps out for a little bit, without tears! 

As for school, it was a very hands off/unschooly day. 

Laurel did her live chat for the Arrow Book Club. They all did tons of Just Dance songs and the Nintendo LABO games where you put on a backpack and physically punch your way through the game. Max has been refusing to do anything for himself but we had a little breakthrough, maybe since we had another 5 year old with us today? Anyway, he dressed himself in his snow clothes independently, even the boots. 

Marko has been obsessed with Grimm's Fairy Tales lately, which are so scary! The kids had a conversation about the scariest details in Grimm's vs. the People Could Fly. One thing we are doing well is reading a lot of different myths, legends, folktales and fables from around the world. We have a huge collection of books, and there are more on Libby from the library, or Epic, which is a subscription children's ebook service we use. I think this lays a really great foundation for future study of history, world religions and cultures, and even current events. How people view the world often has to do with a subconscious knowledge from tales they've been told. 

I got yet another headache, which I think is actually the same headache rearing its head every day, so M took over after work and watched Clone Wars with the kids and ordered a pizza. Hopefully I can rid myself of this headache this weekend once and for all. I need to cut back on caffeine generally, and also watch my salt/electrolytes. I also have some a very tight psoas muscle which flares up from time to time. I thought I was having a gall bladder attack or my appendix had burst before, but it's really a muscle spasm. So painful and scary if you don't know what your body is doing. Oddly, this sometimes causes a headache, as well. 

An Avalanche of ToDos

I made a list of all the things I need to do to close out the school year. It's only February, but if we are going to drive to California, we might want to have the formal, school-y, legal stuff all done by early May. I have to organize our medical records. Our pediatrician was closed at various times during the year, so we missed some well-child visits. 

School "year" has become sort of irrelevant to us, on a practical level. We have decided sometimes to take time off of certain subjects or programs, but I can't find a time when we are like, ok, we're done learning for a while now. Sometimes the least structured or planned days provide the most opportunities for growth and learning. Sometimes you can only learn things at a certain time of year. You can't cross country ski in July! We are all very curious and like to learn new things, but sometimes the challenge is in the pruning...staying focused on a small number of things at a time so you can actually master or finish things.

Max continued with his science class on zoom today. He insisted on wearing headphones this time so I didn't hear as much of it, but he was pretty engaged the whole time. They are studying states of matter, and sorted little cards we had cut out before the class. I am amazed at how engaging zoom classes can be for little kids, and how much Max seems to learn and retain from this class. Online education is totally possible, maybe even really great for little kids! What it is not good for is occupying them for large amounts of time while their parents work. This class only lasts about 30 minutes and I have to help him prepare materials beforehand. 

Marko read about the Perseverance landing on Mars. He signed up for a daily science email newsletter and that is how he found out it was happening today. He was absolutely amazed by it. We didn't watch all the videos, but I am now extremely curious about the potential discoveries. 

Laurel's homework for her anxiety class was to teach us the class content for the week. She made us each draw little cartoon representations of the "worry" voices in our heads, and then she explained how our bodies physically react to perceived danger. Then she taught us a 4-7-8 breathing exercise. 

In the evening, I went to a zoom meeting for our Girl Scout service unit. There is a lot to do to try and get our Bronze award project going, plus the service unit wants to organize activities in the spring and summer where we could somehow get together but also not all be in the same place at once. I would love to make some archery happen. 

The key is going to be picking the right things to work on, and mentally setting the rest aside. 

Some Days

M went back to work today and I got a migraine so the whole day felt like a blur.

We did poetry teatime with leftover king cake and an extra special treat of coffee for the boys, who used to have little cups of coffee with M every morning but don't anymore. Max drank his cup down in one gulp like it was a shot of whiskey and asked for more immediately. Marlene brought them a book of poetry for children by Robert Louis Stevenson. The sun was out most of the day, but by the afternoon I was sitting in my bedroom with all the curtains drawn trying to keep it as dim as possible. 

Laurel and Marko did their copywork and math without too much complaining. Laurel actually seems to have developed a lot of confidence in math since we switched to doing it on paper and pencil. She works out problems, then checks her answers in the answer key. If she gets an answer wrong she works out the problem again. Occasionally she can't find her mistake, but normally she does and it seems to be a really good way to reinforce it. My favorite thing is when she gets Max to sit next to her to help her by holding the times table chart. 

I put their snacks outside today, and that was an effective way to get them out for fresh air and a little sunshine. They tromped around in the snow in the backyard, gathered the shattered bits of icicles that fell down last night and chatted with the neighbors. 

In the afternoon, they put together a birthday present for their little friend and Laurel and Marko walked to the mailbox together to send some thank you notes. 

We had a sudden realization that if Western States actually happens this year, and M is going to run in it, we have to leave to drive out there....like really soon! We've been in stay-at-home mode for so long, it's hard to imagine being anywhere else. We want to make sure covid cases are definitively on the decrease before we head out. Still trying to avoid getting it and spreading it! 

It feels like wishful thinking, since we said the same thing last year and pretty much all things got worse and worse as the year progressed. Part of me is afraid of what we'll find when we go. M and I have been criss-crossing America by car and foot and bike since the start of our relationship. Two lane roads and regional fast food cooking have been an integral part of those journeys. I love meeting people in libraries and at bus stops. Listening to subtle accents and finding out what they think of Pittsburgh. Seeing what the "local authors" shelf is stocked with in the bookstores. We know that this pandemic has hit some communities harder than others. Will people be wary of outsiders? 

Mardi Gras

It got wild here tonight! We had an impromptu Mardi Gras party in our house. M loves New Orleans, especially the food and the music. He made red beans and rice for dinner, and also baked a king cake. I had a few decorations and masks squirreled away so we surprised him by taking down our Valentine's decorations and putting up green, gold and purple streamers and tinsel. We even had a sazarac before dinner.

At dinner time we were talking about the power outages in Texas and the kids turned out all the lights and lit candles. A show of solidarity, or perhaps a rehearsal since it is not unheard of to lose power around here during the winter. The water mains also burst all the time. M put on some music and it suddenly became very festive. The kids ran upstairs and put their best clothes on. Everyone was wearing a mask and we danced for an hour. Shadow the Cat woke up for her all-day nap and was shocked to see how noisy the house was and that our faces were covered in feathers. She immediately retreated. The king cake was delicious.

Earlier in the day, I took the two older kids to the eye doctor. Marko's eyes are fine, but Laurel's prescription changed again. After that, even though the temperature was plummeting, Laurel still wanted to go on her lunch/walk with her friend who lives down the street. She invited Marko to join them and treated everyone to pizza and ice cream with her allowance money. I can't believe they were game for eating pizza outside in 20 degree weather, but they were in great moods when they came back. (And had very wind-chapped cheeks.) 

Max had his science class. Today they did some exploration of states of matter using balloons that were filled with ice, water or air. It was slightly messy, but they were all making good observations (Max said the water used to be the shape of the balloon, but when he popped it, it became the shape of the bowl). I've enjoyed watching her teaching strategies, as I think she does a really outstanding job of keeping the kids involved. She uses their names a lot, and asks specific questions of each kid. She gives a lot of wait time for them to answer, without appearing impatient. Thirty minutes seems to be a good amount of time for this kind of engagement. 

We had to move poetry teatime to tomorrow. Hopefully there will be leftover king cake. 

Ice Dam Disruption

We have some serious freeze-thaw action happening in our city right now and I spent all morning fighting with a gutter. I think the problem is at least temporarily fixed. Our furnace is making a troubling noise. Old houses always seem to break in multiple ways at once. We are plugging away at the painting/waterproofing work on the basement, but it is so slow going. Homeschooling took a bit of a back burner this morning since we were trying to dislodge life-threatening icicles from my neighbor's house and chipping ice off the driveway in anticipation of the freezing-rain-snow-sleet-whatever is going to hit later tonight. 

Laurel hopped on to her online classes today, tackling another week of writing responses about the People Could Fly. She is doing this pretty independently and enjoys interacting with other kids, even though it's all just on the message board. I helped my neighbor, who is also in 5th grade, with an essay he had to write. It was about this Thai football team from a floating village. When they were kids they wanted to learn to play so they built themselves a floating field. It was wobbly and small and had no edges so they had to get very good with their footwork to keep the ball in play. What was originally a hardship, actually helped them get so good they became very competitive in mainland tournaments. An amazing story! 

Laurel and Marko did some math pages. Max worked on Scratch. It wasn't a totally productive day of school, but some days are like that.

We ate pizza for dinner. We spent a lot of time trying to describe the style of pizza that M makes. It's focaccia dough, super light but very thick and cooked on cast iron skillets in a very hot oven. The bottom is crusty, the middle is airy. It's not like anything I have ever eaten at a pizza restaurant. The best pizza tonight had apples and gorgonzola.

Party Time

Laurel organized a Valentine's Day party for our kids and the neighbor kids. The weather is so gross right now so we hosted it inside, with masks on and the windows cracked with the ceiling fan going. Laurel made up a game where she collected pink objects and hid them in a bag. Kids took turns taking out an object without anyone seeing it and describing it until the others guessed what it was. She prepared two crafts....pompom love monsters and heart shaped faux stained glass with contact paper and tissue paper. She had everyone decorate a bag with their name on it, and they all exchanged valentines they made before the party. I printed out scavenger hunt clues and hid them around the house and yard. They played Just Dance, which is a Nintendo game where you play by following the moves on the screen and getting points if you do them right. At the end of the party, she gave out favor bags with little things she bought at Walgreens with her allowance money. She went down there with Marlene, so I didn't even know what was in there! Everyone was thrilled to have a little holiday fun and the kids' valentines to each other were so sweet. They really love each other. 

Saturday

I ran six miles and walked six miles today. It was supposed to rain or snow but it did not. The sidewalks were very icy and slushy in spots. I have not run that far in a long time, and it felt great to stretch my legs. I walked part of the day with two friends. 

We didn't do much schoolwork today. Everyone crafted some valentines decorations and played around with the synthesizer. Laurel went on a walk with her friend. I met with my troop co-leader to discuss some work we need to do to help guide the girls on their next project. We sat outside with hot water bottles in our laps! Sitting in the cold keeps meetings from going too long.

In the evening, we all piled on the couch again to watch the last episode of James Herriot. I'm really sad it was the last one. I love finding things to watch on television that we all love. I probably need to start making a list. We have a million subscription services and we are definitely not using them enough. When it comes time to actually watch something we do a lot of scrolling and arguing as a family. M and I enjoyed the Queen's Gambit and Ted Lasso this year. With the kids we watched the Great British Baking Show and the Mandalorian. Both of those made us break out in applause or cheers from time to time. (James Herriot just makes us want to time travel to 1930s Yorkshire.)

Happy Birthday to M!

We are celebrating another birthday, the last of the five of us to have a birthday during this pandemic year. M asked for a pork shoulder so he could smoke it (nevermind the six inches of snow on the ground). The kids got him an analog synthesizer and a muscle massager. I got him a new knife. We are about to have a bbq feast with greens, mac n cheese, baked beans, texas toast style bread and of course, pulled pork. I baked a pumpkin ginger bundt cake with lots of extra spice. I'm going to attempt molasses whipped cream to top it. 

Laurel did a live chat for her Brave Writer class today, and she was very nervous. There is no video in this class, but the teacher opened up a discussion thread and the kids were all supposed to add comments and respond to each other for an hour today. I was impressed, and a little surprised, when we were able to talk about her anxiety before the class started. Talking about her feelings normally results in an explosion of feelings pouring out, which makes it then hard to move in to a new activity! But she is taking a class on stress and now knows about the physiological responses your body has to stressful situations. 

Marko did 2 columns of problems on a math page and read a myth about ursa minor that he found in a magazine. At one point while he was working on the math worksheet, he came to find me to tell me that he was just trying to lie on his bed and imagine the answers on the problem. Is that working? I asked him. He said not really, I think I'll go back to doing it on the paper the way you showed me. And off he went and he did finish the problems on paper much faster. 

Max spent most of the morning playing with M's new synthesizer. I sent him out to play in the snow in the afternoon. 

Tonight we'll video chat with M's parents and watch some more James Herriot. 

Ending the day on a high note

It snowed again! I was up and outside early shoveling the driveway. My neighbor gave me a bag of salt, which was very helpful to get rid of the ice before I had to drive over it. I went to the grocery store to get food to cook for M's birthday tomorrow (he wants to smoke a pork shoulder). While I was shopping the kids made pancakes and did some duolingo and typing lessons on the computer.

Later in the morning, we watched a presentation from the National Archive by a Harriet Tubman actor. I wanted us to enjoy it a lot more than we did. The feed was a little grainy, although the actor was very enthusiastic. It definitely felt more like checking a Black History Month box than anything else and that was on my mind all day.

Max had another science class on zoom, which concluded the unit on the senses. He spent a lot of time looking at his own video feed and making faces at it, although he did answer questions when the teacher called on him. 

There was a somewhat spontaneous sledding outing with the neighbors. Miraculously, there were no other children on the very popular sledding hill in our neighborhood and the snow was very fresh. I remember bringing the five of them to that hill once when Max was a baby. They were 7, 6, 5, 4 and 1 at the time and I must have been completely insane, although I guess the idea of staying in the house all day with all those kids was more insane. I carried Max in a backpack because the snow was too deep for a stroller. When I took him out, he promptly face planted in the snow and started screaming. Now everybody can walk and the "big" kids take care of Max.

Tonight I skipped my evening walk to watch a presentation from Amber O'Neal Johnston about embracing heritage in your homeschooling. It was spiritually inspirational, but also contained practical tips I can imagine doing without too much additional effort. It also helped me to rethink our reaction to the Harriet Tubman video, and even my choice in viewing it with them. So much more to say on that, but I think I'm going to rewatch the presentation when they post it and take some notes.

Homeschooling feels like adjusting the focus on binoculars. At first, maybe you don't even have them pointed in exactly the right place, but tiny movements can bring clarity. 

Wednesday

The best thing about this day was dropping my kids off with my friend so I could watch Jeopardy while mopping my dining room floor. Wild! M and I also got to hang out for a short while. The kids had a great time crafting and climbing on this jungle gym they have in their living room. We have mostly avoided any sort of pandemic podding, mainly because we hate negotiating and, frankly, we kind of like pandemic life just fine. (Not the half a million fellow Americans dying part. Just the empty spaces on the calendar part.) Possibly, we are introverts. Life feels very "enough" this past year. But it has worked out great to have a little playdate swapping with another family that can be inside, just to get us all through the winter. 

Shout-out to Myles, who was actually ON Jeopardy and the entire reason I watched. He did great! Although, spoiler alert, he did not win. I did have a thought that maybe Jeopardy was something my whole family would like to watch together, although a lot of trivia questions are sort of generation-based, and Jeopardy definitely skews 40+. We can try it out with old episodes on Netflix, as I am unsure how i can watch it live without a tv antenae or something.

Laurel is getting more comfortable with her online classes. She can be very good about getting things done when she writes her goals out for the day. I just listened to a lecture on developing executive functioning in kid and it really hit home that I tend to do more "doing for" than coaching sometimes. Something to work on. 

When I went out for my evening walk (yeah I got two blocks of solo time today, what's it to ya?!) it was snowing like crazy, again! The trees were very beautiful. I got to talk to Leah on the phone while I was walking and we planned a half a dozen possible road trips for the upcoming year. What will happen? Something will happen, that's all I know.

Preschool on Zoom

More of the same old, same old, except it snowed quite a bit last night so the kids started the day by playing outside. My neighbor lent me his snowblower for the driveway, but I only did the front part where the mailman walks. 

Max is enrolled in a science class for 4-6 year olds. It's hilarious to watch. The kids are all 4-6 year olds, and the teacher is very animated and really keeps their attention. Today, we had to prepare by hiding objects inside of socks that the kids would use their sense of touch to identify. She sent a graphic organizer for them to record (i.e. draw) their scientific observations. Every kid seemed to love this activity. 

Laurel and I had a Scout meeting via Zoom. The girls had so many ideas about their Bronze award project, it was a little overwhelming for me to think about how to direct their energy.

Fresh Start

Monday feels like a fresh start, especially since I did a lot of resting yesterday. Or at least it felt like that for the first hour. After that, we hit a rough patch with kids fighting with each other. I accept that this is a normal part of family dynamics, but it drives me crazy. And when they are loud, it makes it very hard for M to work. Miraculously, we still got an acceptable amount of schoolwork done. The housework, not so much. 

Laurel's online book club for The People Could Fly kicked off the first week of discussion. The kids are supposed to write thoughtful responses to the study guide questions and then respond to each other on the discussion board. She was excited to do it, but actually writing the responses was difficult for her. 

She also took a pretest for a section on fractions. She cannot remember the difference between factor and multiple. However, her familiarization with the times tables is getting better all the time. I've been letting her use a printed copy of the times tables while she does problems, but I'm hoping she won't need it by the end of the year. We had a virtual meeting of our aunt/niece book club, which was delightful as always. 

Marko worked on a very long, but simple page of greater than/less than problems. He practiced Duolingo (currently studying Mandarin and Spanish....why not?). We get a magazines from the Cricket company that are thematic. This month they were all about games. I'm using a 3-2-1 exercise with them for responding to stuff they read. Write 3 interesting words, 2 important facts and 1 question you still have. It could be any categories, but it gives a framework for responding.

Max is working through a new BrainQuest workbook I got him. He's starting to have the skills for handwriting and the interest to do it well. 

Laurel and I went to an ice skating party with the Girl Scouts in the evening. The service unit rented the whole rink so it would not be crowded. The girls were thrilled to get together. They skated for the entire 2 hour session! It has been challenging to figure out ways to keep our troop connected, but we are very adaptable. Even after we resume in person troop meetings, I think we'll still keep zoom available as an option for snow days or times when we can't get the space we need. Everyone is getting more comfortable with being outside a lot more, with dressing for the weather, and finding new ways to do our favorite things. 

Day of Rest

I am seriously dedicated to the idea of a weekly sabbath.....a day of rest from chores and school and a time to lounge about the house, reading for as long as I want, drinking endless cups of coffee, playing games with the kids, napping, television and ordering takeout for dinner. I keep my pajamas on and my phone off. 

We played Battleship this morning (Max won). Now they are constructing an enormous fort in the living room. Marko is cooking lunch. Laurel is reading (of course). M is on a long run.

There is a strong temptation to get ahead of the week by planning and cleaning right now, but I will not give in! Rest is important and I will do better work on the other 6 days if I take a break now. 

Cross Country Ski Trip

Laurel and I drove out to the Laurel Highlands to meet some other Girl Scouts for cross country skiing. We made a last minute change to meet at Kooser State Park instead of the ski area, in order to avoid crowds. The weather was perfect. Lots of snow on the ground and blue skies above. The park had a fair amount of people in it, but it was easy enough to spread out. 

M and the boys stayed home and I honestly don't know what they did all day. I was pretty tired when we got home because cross-country skiing is a deceptively taxing workout. We ate leftover pizza for dinner and piled onto the couch to watch two more episodes of James Herriot. Max fell asleep in my lap. It was very cozy. 

Dreaming of Yorkshire

Today we read about Sojourner Truth and discussed whether or not you should always follow the law (probably not), and pondered more about Carol Moseley Braun's quote about working to perfect this democracy. We also talked about changing your name and if that would help you feel more powerful if you had to do very hard work, or if it could make people take you more seriously. Do you lose a part of yourself if you change your name? 

Laurel and I watched some how-to cross country ski videos because we are going on a Girl Scout outing tomorrow. Supposedly the snow conditions are perfect.

Marko did the wrong math page, and then paid Max to do the page he skipped. Max is great at skip counting but he can't really write too well yet, so I think Laurel actually did the writing but I'm going to call it collaboration and not cheating. Laurel finally finished the chapter on decimals, thank goodness, and will be moving back into fractions next week. 

My sister sent Laurel her old flute and we're basically just at the how to clean, assemble and position your mouth stage, but if I recall, it took me my entire fourth grade year to learn a simple song on the clarinet, so I think this is normal pace. I really want to encourage music in our house but the flute is loud. The piano is loud. The accordion is really loud. 

Laurel sewed a little bag with her new sewing machine. She also went to the Walgreens to shop for a Valentine's supplies.

Marko and Max worked on Scratch for a long time. 

Friday is pizza day and M outdid himself with a bacon-mushroom-swiss chard pizza that might possibly be the best thing I have ever eaten. We watched 2 episodes of the new James Herriot, which left all of us feeling cozy and sleepy and dreaming of Yorkshire. 

Late Night Tacos

This day skewed late because we decided to have tacos for dinner and smoked the pork on our grill, which is not an entirely predictable process, time-wise anyway. Delicious-wise, it's very predictable. I made red cabbage slaw and black beans and rice. Avocados were on sale and perfectly ripe for once. Marko helped me cook the tortillas so it went fast. A feast! On a Thursday. We started the day off with pancakes, bacon and orange juice and I gave them pasta and meatballs for lunch so it was a day of favorite foods for all the kids.

Schooling went ok. Max took another science class on Outschool. The teacher is great, and I think it's good to see other kids and wait for his turn to talk and things like that. Marko blew through all of his assignments very quickly. I struggle with what to assign him because he very quickly hits a frustration point if I aim too low, but the second grade workbooks often seem too easy. Laurel spent a long time on math and is improving her accuracy, but she can really only work with NO distractions. Not a possibility in this iteration of homeschool. We've been pulling a card from this deck that has all noteworthy Black women and then reading about them. Today it was Carol Moseley Braun. We watched this interview where she gave this quote about constantly striving to "perfect our democracy" that really resonated with me. 

Laurel took a walk around the neighborhood with her friend...how cool that they are big enough to go off on their own a little bit now. The boys played Kirby Clash for a while. There is something that Marko is trying to achieve on his Pokemon game that I don't totally understand but he spends a lot of time verbally planning what he's going to do before he starts playing. It's an interesting genre for me to observe. There are a few games that are the kid equivalent of electronic slot machines in Reno, but most of them require a fair amount of reading, problem solving and teamwork. 

Marko started to listen to The People Could Fly on Audible and he went on an ebook borrowing binge from the library, clogging up my kindle with Percy Jackson titles. 

I spent some time doing modules on my CPR recertification class and participated in a homeschool parent discussion board. 

Also, my Girl Scouts became locally famous for the dog rescue situation on Saturday. My dad texted today to say that he heard about it on the radio! The mama dog is ok, by the way, but the pups were never found. 

Car School

The sun came out today! Sometimes getting in the car and going somewhere is a good way to get the kids to finish their work. Today we went back to my parents to sled some more. The track was slick. Laurel and Marko both had math to finish. Laurel is working on dividing decimals and it's so tedious. I can do it very quickly and I wonder when she'll get fast at it. Was I fast at it in 5th grade? Max brought his big workbook and did some pages, all the while complaining that I was driving too fast and ruining his handwriting. 

One of my favorite routines we've adopted is Max's "Five Books." We each have to read to him and he reads to one of us every day. Today my mom gave us a bunch of her old books and Marko read a book about winter animals to Max while we were in the car. They really giggled over the weasel and the prairie dogs.

Laurel and I did some reading on Ida B. Wells. We learned that she actually owned a part of a newspaper in addition to being a journalist. She had to permanently leave her home in Memphis after she wrote an article about a lynching, and was threatened with being lynched herself. There's a new book about her that was written by her great-granddaughter that I want to check out. 

Last night some of the kids had trouble falling asleep, so I tried to get them to exercise more today. This mostly resulted in me doing a whole lot of tabata. I'm definitely tired! 

Snow, snow, snow

I just spent an hour slipping and sliding home on my evening walk. (Every night, M puts the kids to bed while I go for a walk by myself. It is the key to my sanity.) Tonight it started snowing quite heavily while I was out. I stopped by the grocery store to pick up a few things and was very focused on staying upright so I would not break the jar of pickles I had in my bag. Next time, I'm going to bring a pair of yaktrax! 

Laurel is really enjoying getting to read and respond to the introductions on her BW book club board. She was also highly motivated to sit down and start reading The People Could Fly (tearing her away from Rick Riordan books is a bit of a challenge these days). She also dressed up and put on jewelry for poetry teatime. Every Tuesday, we are eating a treat, lighting candles and reading poetry. 

Marko whined his way through all of his school work but he did get it done. We read a little bit about Chinese new year and then looked at the globe while paging through the How People Live book section on the different ethnic groups of East and North Asia. He picked up his Duolingo mandarin practice again for the first time in a while.

Max took his first zoom class and talked about the sense of hearing and made a telephone out of two paper cups and a string, and a flute out of straws. The hardest part for him was waiting for the class to start. Today Max remembered that there are haiku poems in his Cat Kid Comic Club book and he brought it to share with us at poetry teatime. His decoding skills are improving every day. 

I cooked blueberry almond breakfast cookies, lentil soup with butternut squash, and chocolate mousse made with silken tofu. 

M spends a lot of his day talking on zoom, but this afternoon he had a particularly important meeting that required the type of quiet our children were not able to give him. We made an impromptu trip to my parents' house to go sled riding right before the sun went down. It was cold, but the snow is all fresh and powdery and they had a good time. 

I keep thinking of the Chronicles of Narnia and how the witch came and made an endless winter. The Groundhog saw his shadow so six more weeks of winter for us anyway. 

Easing into a new month

February came in with a snowstorm! This disrupted our morning schedule a little bit since we had to spend some time outside shoveling the sidewalk. 

Max woke up thinking about Dutch baby pancakes, so I made one of those for breakfast. Some of our apples were getting sort of squishy so we chopped them up and fried them in butter and cinnamon. 

Laurel is enrolled in two online classes that start this week, so she spent the morning reading class expectations and upcoming assignments, and responding to all the cute little introductions the other kids wrote. We are reading The People Could Fly by Virginia Hamilton for Brave Writer this month, and one of her classes is a book club based on this. The other class is more of a life skills class called Don't Worry, Be Happy. She completed the first module of that one already and says she likes it so far. 

Laurel did not make it to her math worksheet, but she did do some Duolingo French study. Marko did his math worksheet and some handwriting practice. 

We returned a lone library book that somehow didn't make it into the huge pile that we returned a few weeks ago. The library is closed to patrons again, but the librarians are still in there filling orders and organizing curbside delivery of books and games and all kinds of good things. 

We delivered a birthday present to one of our little friends who turned 5 today. We built a lot of snowmen with them and went on a walk in the woods near their house during which every child shed a few tears. The woods were beautiful and the snow fell gently all day. 

The kids finished listening to the Greenglass House and the ending was kind of intense and scary and sad. It's the first book in a series and I'm sure they'll end up reading the next ones. The story within a story literary device that was used in this book was something they really connected with. Their play often revolves around telling a story while they act things out or build with legos. 

Max prepared his materials for his first zoom class that will take place tomorrow. It's a science class for 4-6 year olds so I'm eager to see how this teacher makes it work, but he's very excited. He needed paper cups and string and straws and tape, and they are all counted and laid out on a tray so he'll be ready. 

I made baked beans from scratch, from a recipe for a Heinz English style sauce. They turned out pretty good and stretched the pound of sausage and 1 bunch of kale I had on hand for dinner.

It was STILL snowing after dinner and I went on a long walk and got soaking wet.