Ready or not, here we come, online school year! I know we've had the kids home since March and it's really been an extra long summer break, but now that we are here, on the eve of the first day of school, it feels too soon! I am remembering my senior year of high school and how I chose the quote "Stop the world. I want to get off." for my yearbook entry, which sounded like I was depressed, but really I was enjoying life so much and when it came time for that chapter to end, it just felt like the world was spinning too fast. I think it's always like that with change. At least for me. The kids seem to be adjusting to the idea okay, though Allie has been tearful and shouting about things that wouldn't normally set her off. I think the older ones realize it's not as big a deal as if they were preparing to be getting up early and leaving the house all day again. I think Joshua might be a bit relieved not to have to walk into that big high school just yet.
The last week has been tiring, but good, as I've gotten to see what my new job will be like from here on out and I've enjoyed it. The kids are super cute and I'm getting to actually teach them some--how to write their letters and numbers and begin to read. They make videos of their work, which I check online, and some are just hilarious as they wonder big thoughts out loud, like why in the world animals are reading books in their story anyway, since that can't happen in real life. It's been a bit of a learning curve figuring out various features of zoom, like sharing the screen of my cell phone camera so they can watch me draw on the whiteboard on my desk. The first day of that, I had texts from Matt coming up on my screen as well, asking me what I wanted to do for our anniversary (which parents could read) and once I put in the incorrect password and had to awkwardly wait a minute before it would let me sign in, but overall I feel like I've got it now.
As for the kids, we have set up the their learning spaces, posted their schedules, planned their wake up times, assembled their supplies, and had one crazy night of open house online in which we ran from kid to kid trying to take notes and not miss anything important. So I guess we're ready?? The girls will ease in slowly the first few days and have some small group orientation time and some time off. I am online with a group of kids just about every half hour so I'm glad Matt will be there for the first day to help make sure everything is going smoothly. Allie met two of her classmates in the neighborhood this afternoon. She was a mix of clingy and chatty, depending on the moment. Overall, I'm so thankful that she seems socially on target for her age and really enjoys other kids.
Here's how the end of summer has gone...
After enjoying their time with cousins on our VA trip, the kids got together to make Part 2 of their movie, The Mask. Gray was former scientist, Dr Phil, helping avenge his twin brother's death (himself in part 1). He later got on a Bible Study zoom with the marker beard, not realizing it was still on, but sadly (in my opinion) did not turn on the video feed so no one got to witness it.
Mama and Daddy were so kind to take the girls for my first week of school, which made my week so much easier since I had to be gone a lot of the days to work at the school. The boys are so independent and once Matt left for his friend trip, I really took it easy in the cooking department, which was such a nice break. We played a game a few times and had some marathons of the The Office. Meanwhile, the girls loved their time with Mimi and GrandGene and would have been glad to say longer. I worked a ton and by Friday, my teacher didn't have much for me to do, so I set off to the hospice thrift store, where I happily shopped for 3 1/2 hours and found the furniture needed to set up school areas for the kids, plus other odds and ends like 50% off Christmas decorations. Bargain shopping is my favorite! I even got to work on refinishing one of the tables that night while watching one of my favorite old movies, as the boys were doing a movie night in the neighborhood.
Saturday morning, Gray and I headed to VA for a lacrosse tournament. It was so weird being around that many people again and I felt a little uncomfortable because most of them weren't wearing masks (we were outside of course) and it's just been so long since I've been in a crowd.
It was a super hot day and Gray had fun but we were glad to finish up and head home.
The next day was Joshua's turn to play. He had a great time, as several of his good friends are on the team.
Matt enjoyed his annual Galax trip with his buddies and then drove with one of them (who also had a lacrosse player) over to the tournament to watch Joshua. His friend's kid is a senior and had late games so they had a really long, hot day that ended in a bit of sunburned necks.
This past week was fairly uneventful. The kids played with friends. I worked all day and tried to keep everyone fairly quiet and busy.
Allie continues to show her knack for learning things quickly and can now braid.
Here she is meeting her teacher on the zoom Open House. Later, she got her iPad for school and is sooo proud to have a device of her own. The kids were all so excited about it and crowded around to let her show them.
Julia was thrilled to get back on the ice yesterday for a free skate.
Katelyn met her there to show her the ropes.
Matt and I have our 17th anniversary today and went out last night. Gray bought himself a new nerf gun this week and that has revived everyone's interest in nerf wars. The kids had us hide the guns all over the house and they all 4 battled while we were gone. There were rules, eye protection, tears from Allie and her exclamation that "They 'hud' them too hard!". In the end, the kids seemed closer to each other when we got back and we were thinking we should do this more often. We were going to pick up food and eat outside, but the weather wasn't great to so we dined in at a place downtown...the first time we've eaten in a restaurant in forever. It was a long meal, but so good, and we appreciated the time to talk, just the two of us. Afterwards, we drove to pick up milkshakes for the kids. Great ending to this weird summer in which things were nothing like I ever thought they would be, but full of blessings at the same time. Holding my breath that we'll say the same about this virtual schooling!!
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