blessings, Current events, Homeschool, Reading, Screen time

Out and about but only virtually

Virtual school days

We took a virtual tour of several museums in a Google Expeditions lesson about the Impressionists. We only have one VR viewer, which came with our MEL Science kit, so we had to share. It was a lot of fun, and there are a ton of other Expedition “tours.” Poppy said it was nice to feel a little bit like she was somewhere in the outside world for a minute, which was a little bit funny and a little bit sad. What strange days we’re living in!

We had a return to our long-lost 30 Minutes of Free Reading, and it was a delight. Pete started reading “Something Wicked This Way Comes,” and Poppy picked up “Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets” for a re-read. I’m working through a young adult biography of Vincent Van Gogh and his brother — aptly titled “Vincent and Theo” — as part of the Read Harder 2020 Challenge.

The kids’ schools start their “Virtual Days” tomorrow,” so they’ll be occupied with that from here on out. I’m hoping to keep our reading time in the schedule, though.

That’s entertainment

Poppy spent a good bit of time playing Minecraft with a friend, and Pete started making a movie. I don’t know what it was about, but he hauled a lot of NERF stuff out with him. We also watched an episode (or two) of “The Good Place.” I loved it the first time I watched the show, and it’s more poignant watching it this time around. It’s also the first time Poppy and Rockford have seen it, and hearing their reactions has been fun.

Quarantine eats

Dinner tonight was Thai Peanut Chicken from the crockpot. It was pretty good.

Good things

  • Stumbling around Pete’s room on our museum field trip
  • The weeping cherry tree near our house
  • Reading time
    • blessings, Flotsam / Jetsam, Homeschool

    It’s pandemic time!

    I’m trying to do a little bit of journaling every day during these weird, anxiety-laden times, and I thought perhaps I’d share a little of that with you.

    Back to homeschooling, sort of

    The kids’ schools are closed for the next two weeks at least, and today was our first day of pandemic homeschooling. The schools are planning “Virtual Days.” They aren’t starting that until Wednesday, though — in part because not all of the students had taken their school-issued laptops home with them on Friday — so today we just winged it.

    Poppy had an essay to finish on “Lord of the Flies” for English class, so she worked on that for part of the morning. Pete and I, meanwhile, read an article in Scholastic magazine about Jordan Reeves, a young lady who made a confetti-shooting prosthetic arm with a 3D printer. He also watched an episode of “Marvel’s Hero Project” about Jordan, and then he made a short comic about another hero, Chef Jose Andres, who seems to fly in to every natural disaster to provide food and encouragement. Later we all did a chemistry experiment (three cheers for MEL Chemistry!) and watched an art video on Google Arts & Culture.

    Adventures in e-Learning

    I’ve been volunteering as an ESL tutor since November, and yesterday the organization I work with announced that they were canceling all in-person tutoring for the time being. I only have one student, and she suggested we try to continue our lessons over WhatsApp. So I downloaded it and we gave it a try this morning. We had a few hiccups — all technical difficulties on my part — but I think it’ll be a fine way for us to continue for a few weeks. (Although I am, of course, not convinced this will be over in just a few weeks. I’m consistently pessimistic, at least.)

    The bright side

    Everything is just worlds of anxiety, and I’ve been struggling with small, daily panic attacks for the last few days. I’m trying to be optimistic, though, so let’s talk about some things I was grateful for today.

  • Our chemistry experiment was a lot of fun.
  • Dinner was delicious. I made mini Korean meatloaves with roasted broccoli and mashed sweet potatoes. The meatloaves and broccoli were from an eMeals menu a few months ago.
  • The kittens were all stretched out and sleeping peacefully on my bed this afternoon when I went back to spend a little time in a quiet, dark room trying not to panic.
  • I talked to my dad for a bit this afternoon, and he’s doing well.
  • “Britain’s Best Home Cook” on Hulu.
    • Bandwagons, Reading

    I’m trying to Read Harder this year

    A friend of mine was posting about all of the books she’d read last year as part of the Book Riot Read Harder Challenge. It’s a list of 24 “tasks” such as “Read a graphic memoir” or “Read a book by or about a refugee” meant to challenge you to read books you might not otherwise be inclined to seek out. There’s also a spreadsheet for tracking your reading that includes space to log whether you purchased or borrowed the title. I’m looking forward to seeing how much money the library saves me this year. <I>And</I> the spreadsheet generates charts and graphs about the titles you’ve read! I am only sorry I didn’t start the challenge sooner.

    So far I’ve read:
    "The Girl from the Well" book cover“The Girl from the Well” by Rin Chupeco (Read a retelling of a classic of the canon, fairy tale, or myth by an author of color and Read a horror book published by an indie press).
    “The Girl from the Well” is a young-adult horror story told largely from the perspective of an onryō, the vengeful spirit from traditional Japanese stories. Like the one from the movie “The Ring,” which scared me so badly I couldn’t close my eyes for a whole night. “The Girl from the Well” was creepy but not terrifying. I slept fine after finishing it.

    "Teaching My Mother How to Give Birth" book cover“Teaching My Mother How to Give Birth” by Warsan Shire (read an audiobook of poetry
    Shire wrote “Home” (no one leaves home unless / home is the mouth of a shark), which you’ve likely seen at least part of on Facebook. I have a hard time with audiobooks because they lull me to sleep, but this one was only around 30 minutes long. I enjoyed hearing the work in the poet’s own voice, and most of the other poems in “Teaching My Mother How to Give Birth” are at least as visceral as “Home.”

    "Isaac's Storm" book cover“Isaac’s Storm” by Erik Larson (Read a book about a natural disaster)
    I was captivated by Larson’s “Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania” when I read it a few years ago, and so I was excited to see that he’s doing a reading for his new book at a local bookstore. The clerk at the store said she liked “Dead Wake,” too, but “Isaac’s Storm” was her favorite Larson book. It’s the story of the hurricane that devastated Galveston, Texas, in 1900. I didn’t find it as engaging as “Dead Wake,” but it is well-written and well-researched.

    "All Systems Red" book cover“All Systems Red” by Martha Wells (Read a sci-fi/fantasy novella (under 120 pages))
    “All Systems Red” is the first in a series called “The Murderbot Diaries.” It’s about a cyborg security agent on assignment with a research team on a distant planet. I don’t think it really breaks a lot of ground in the “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep” genre, but it is a very quick, exciting read. Regardless of whether or not it has anything unique to say, I’m a sucker for this kind of story. I think I have the second novella on hold at the library.

    "Jubilee" book cover“Jubilee” by Margaret Walker (Read a doorstopper — over 500 pages — published after 1950, written by a woman)
    I saw this described somewhere as a “non-racist alternative” to “Gone with the Wind.” The story is set in Georgia and Alabama and is based on the life of the author’s great-grandmother. It opens with the death of Vyry’s mother, a slave on Vyry’s father’s plantation, and follows her through the Civil War and Reconstruction. I expected the “doorstopper” challenge to be a slog, but “Jubilee” was so captivating it flew by.

    I’m currently reading “Born with Wings: The Spiritual Journey of a Modern Muslim Woman” by Daisy Khan for the “read a memoir by someone from a religious tradition (or lack of religious tradition) that is not your own” category. It’s interesting, but it’s taking me awhile to get through. Probably because I keep forgetting to bring it in from the car so I’m only reading it while waiting for the kids to finish their activities. I’ve also started “The Witch Elm” by Tana French for the “read a mystery where the victim isn’t a woman” category. I know people who adore French’s books, but so far I’m finding it difficult to get into this one. I hope that changes, because it would also qualify as a doorstopper book.