First week

We successfully completed our first week of homeschool.  Preston is stuck on his geometry, not because he can’t do it, but because we don’t know how to do the end of chapter testing, and he has to finish to move to the next level.  Luckily, he is taking a college literature class and can work on that.  Quincy has been a lot of help this week, but none of her classes were online to begin with, so she hasn’t done much more than the mandatory reading we enforce.  Harper and Saige’s teachers both utilize a multitude of programs online.  We have done reading, math, spelling, typing, and more.  They have had fun - the programs seem like games and they seem to love doing the work.  We have done some extra stuff as well.  Mostly though, I have been doing stuff to keep us busy.  I am a person who could get carried away watching the news if I’m not careful.  I don’t want to focus on the virus all day.  It gets too depressive. 

So instead, we put together our new lawnmower.  We made dog treats for our dogs, and in the process, Saige asked if we could please deliver some to our neighborhood dogs as well. It was cold today, so this was a good way to get out and take a little drive.  We didn’t go far, just around the mile, but we delivered 8 bags of treats.  We had photos of dogs eating treats texted to us, and one video.  It made the kids really happy.  It was a way to stay connected to people who we genuinely like, but can’t see right now. One funny part of this project was that we made peanut butter treats.  They are literally like a peanut butter cookie without any sugar.  Preston came up out of the basement because he could smell cookies.  They smell good but apparently do not taste good! 

I figure this was a lesson in math, handwriting, grammar, civics, and baking.  It took 3 hours of our day, and the girls loved every single minute.  

We also had some art time.  My girls all love to draw and color.  Harper reports that their art teacher isn’t good about letting them do things the way they would like.  She told me it was fun to draw something and not have someone telling you what colors you can use.  Where I came from, art is subjective.  We are sticking with that.   

Overall, the first week wasn’t too bad.  We are taking a break from school stuff over the weekend, as Jim has big plans for us!