Tag Archives: COVID19

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.