Distance Learning: First Week Done

 William started First Grade this week. It was not at all how we intended our son to experience school but with Covid-19 infecting every area of life since March, distance learning is how it needs to be. Six weeks ago we attended a virtual town hall meeting with our school district. It became very apparent from that conversation that I had two choices: 1) expect the district, our school and William's teacher to create and execute an actual distance learning plan and be able to teach my son in Spanish (He's in an Immersion school) better than what happened in the Spring; or 2) Take on the job myself and homeschool him (forgetting about the language, since I don't speak Spanish).

We discussed both options and prayed about it and we kept coming to the conclusion that it would be better to ride this out with the support of the school and keep him at least somewhat exposed to Spanish so when in-person classes became an option he could still attend and not be completely behind in the language. We have been working on math and reading over the summer so we don't have any real concerns of being behind in those subjects if distance learning is a flop.

So, how did the first week go? It was interesting. The first grade teacher seems to be very experienced and I can tell she did her work this summer to make online class doable for six and seven year olds. She started things off very easy -- Just one zoom call a day and three assignments that had the kids drawing, writing and reading. Even with that little of an expectation, William still struggled with motivation to do the work. He didn't fight me on the zoom calls, but was never really looking forward to them. 

Our quiet corner was converted to a school corner using my old standing desk. We hope to get him a better desk soon, but this actually works quite well.

 Things William learned this week include: how to use a touch-screen chromebook (provided by the district) and login to his zoom call and use a new program called seesaw. If I let him, he can do all of these things on his own. I was impressed with the way they had set up the computers so this could happen! He met his teacher and found out who was in his class. 

Next week they'll add a couple more zoom calls and make the school day a bit longer. The end goal is that he'll have school from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. with several breaks for at-home work/projects and lunch, but they're working up that slowly. That is a bit longer of a day than I was planning, but hopefully we'll still have time for getting outside, distance playdates, and free play. 

But the really crazy part of our week was what was going on outside. A heatwave hit last week bringing the temperatures up to 100 degrees. We hit the beaches several times and enjoyed the feeling of an actual summer. I can't tell you what it was like to stand in the water, watching my kids splash in the waves, running free and realizing how trapped I had felt most of the summer. All our plans had changed. We stayed home except for the essential trips to the grocery store and the daily excursion to the park. There was very little that felt free. And here I was, watching my kids jump, run, and laugh as free as the birds. It filled me up.

On Sunday night, we had our first thunderstorm in years. Lightening filled the sky throughout the night and into the next day. 

Monday was such a weird, gloomy day. 

Tuesday was hot and sunny so that afternoon we headed to the beach and relived the freedom we experienced on Saturday. It was the most perfect day. 

Then we woke up on Wednesday and saw a red sun and a foggy sky. Fires. There were fires on all sides of the bay. The air was thick with smoke and ash. Everyone started checking air quality reports. 

So, with the exception of a short playdate outside with a friend on Thursday, we have been inside our home, once again feeling stuck with nothing to do. Not at all how I expected this first week of school to go.

And William lost a tooth! 

 William started First Grade this week. It was not at all how we intended our son to experience school but with Covid-19 infecting every area of life since March, distance learning is how it needs to be. Six weeks ago we attended a virtual town hall meeting with our school district. It became very apparent from that conversation that I had two choices: 1) expect the district, our school and William's teacher to create and execute an actual distance learning plan and be able to teach my son in Spanish (He's in an Immersion school) better than what happened in the Spring; or 2) Take on the job myself and homeschool him (forgetting about the language, since I don't speak Spanish).

We discussed both options and prayed about it and we kept coming to the conclusion that it would be better to ride this out with the support of the school and keep him at least somewhat exposed to Spanish so when in-person classes became an option he could still attend and not be completely behind in the language. We have been working on math and reading over the summer so we don't have any real concerns of being behind in those subjects if distance learning is a flop.

So, how did the first week go? It was interesting. The first grade teacher seems to be very experienced and I can tell she did her work this summer to make online class doable for six and seven year olds. She started things off very easy -- Just one zoom call a day and three assignments that had the kids drawing, writing and reading. Even with that little of an expectation, William still struggled with motivation to do the work. He didn't fight me on the zoom calls, but was never really looking forward to them. 

Our quiet corner was converted to a school corner using my old standing desk. We hope to get him a better desk soon, but this actually works quite well.

 Things William learned this week include: how to use a touch-screen chromebook (provided by the district) and login to his zoom call and use a new program called seesaw. If I let him, he can do all of these things on his own. I was impressed with the way they had set up the computers so this could happen! He met his teacher and found out who was in his class. 

Next week they'll add a couple more zoom calls and make the school day a bit longer. The end goal is that he'll have school from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. with several breaks for at-home work/projects and lunch, but they're working up that slowly. That is a bit longer of a day than I was planning, but hopefully we'll still have time for getting outside, distance playdates, and free play. 

But the really crazy part of our week was what was going on outside. A heatwave hit last week bringing the temperatures up to 100 degrees. We hit the beaches several times and enjoyed the feeling of an actual summer. I can't tell you what it was like to stand in the water, watching my kids splash in the waves, running free and realizing how trapped I had felt most of the summer. All our plans had changed. We stayed home except for the essential trips to the grocery store and the daily excursion to the park. There was very little that felt free. And here I was, watching my kids jump, run, and laugh as free as the birds. It filled me up.

On Sunday night, we had our first thunderstorm in years. Lightening filled the sky throughout the night and into the next day. 

Monday was such a weird, gloomy day. 

Tuesday was hot and sunny so that afternoon we headed to the beach and relived the freedom we experienced on Saturday. It was the most perfect day. 

Then we woke up on Wednesday and saw a red sun and a foggy sky. Fires. There were fires on all sides of the bay. The air was thick with smoke and ash. Everyone started checking air quality reports. 

So, with the exception of a short playdate outside with a friend on Thursday, we have been inside our home, once again feeling stuck with nothing to do. Not at all how I expected this first week of school to go.

And William lost a tooth! 

Our Week in Utah

After making the difficult decision to cancel our flight to Minnesota this summer we decided to make the drive to Utah to visit my sister. Turned out, my parents, sister and sister-in-law along with their three kids would also make the drive to Utah. So our family reunion still happened! (Minus my brother and brother-in-law.)

My sister Molly and her husband just bought a house so we timed our trip perfectly to help with the move (and add to the chaos they already had going on). We split up between the two homes - so everyone had a place to sleep. 

My mom and I worked on feeding everyone and watching 5 of the 8 kids. (The youngest kids stayed with their moms so they could nap without interruption.) The cousins had a wonderful time together. They played dress up, acted out Pokemon characters, played outside with a slip n' slide, water guns, soccer and a sand box, picked peaches, and chased chickens (sorry chickens). My sister also had a personal inflatable jump house so we used that nearly every day.

The other adults tended to the new house -- patching, sanding, painting walls and crown molding and adding ship-lap to the ceiling. My dad and Chris also spent a lot of time working on the back yard. The last day together we got the moving truck to move the large furniture pieces and last of the boxes over to the new house. We didn't get to really help them settle in, but they did get a couple big projects done to make their house feel more like their own.

Most days were hot; the temp ranged from 96-104 while we were there. That made us limit our outside time quite a bit, but the evenings were amazing. After dinner we headed outside with the kids for ball play. My niece and I had a great time being silly with a giant exercise ball. 

One of the highlights was getting to meet my newest nephew, Grayson. He was just shy of 8 months old when I got to hold him for the first time. He is such a happy little boy but somehow still capable of giving my sister grief with sleeping and eating. I attempted to give my sister some help in this area and rocked him to sleep . . . but I couldn't get him to stay asleep unless I held him, so I did. I held this little man for nearly an hour and cherished every minute of it. 

The week went by fast and before we knew it, it was time to say goodbye. I was very hesitant about this trip before we left because of Covid-19 and all the risks that it posed in traveling and being in the same house with my entire family. But the week together was a blessing. After 4 months of not being with any people, spending 7 days with my people was amazing. 

There were hugs, and closeness and masks were only worn when we were out in public places. It was so freeing. My boys hadn't played with anyone in close proximity since shelter in place began (other than each other, of course) and you could just see how much they needed this time with cousins. How much they explored, played and were just being together was so sweet. A burden lifted for a time.

The boys did a great job on the road too. It was a 12 hour drive and thankfully we hit very little traffic and our stops were brief that we made it there and back with relative ease. The boys loved watching a few TV shows (Octonauts) and movies (Lego Movie, Zootopia, and Toy Story 4) on the drive and did well with the pile of activity books I brought along too. Yes, they asked a hundred times if were close and complained a little when they couldn't get comfortable to nap; but overall, they did well. 

Our summer plans were nothing like we originally planned, but I am so grateful we had the opportunity to visit my family and help my sister. Here's hoping none of us get sick...

After making the difficult decision to cancel our flight to Minnesota this summer we decided to make the drive to Utah to visit my sister. Turned out, my parents, sister and sister-in-law along with their three kids would also make the drive to Utah. So our family reunion still happened! (Minus my brother and brother-in-law.)

My sister Molly and her husband just bought a house so we timed our trip perfectly to help with the move (and add to the chaos they already had going on). We split up between the two homes - so everyone had a place to sleep. 

My mom and I worked on feeding everyone and watching 5 of the 8 kids. (The youngest kids stayed with their moms so they could nap without interruption.) The cousins had a wonderful time together. They played dress up, acted out Pokemon characters, played outside with a slip n' slide, water guns, soccer and a sand box, picked peaches, and chased chickens (sorry chickens). My sister also had a personal inflatable jump house so we used that nearly every day.

The other adults tended to the new house -- patching, sanding, painting walls and crown molding and adding ship-lap to the ceiling. My dad and Chris also spent a lot of time working on the back yard. The last day together we got the moving truck to move the large furniture pieces and last of the boxes over to the new house. We didn't get to really help them settle in, but they did get a couple big projects done to make their house feel more like their own.

Most days were hot; the temp ranged from 96-104 while we were there. That made us limit our outside time quite a bit, but the evenings were amazing. After dinner we headed outside with the kids for ball play. My niece and I had a great time being silly with a giant exercise ball. 

One of the highlights was getting to meet my newest nephew, Grayson. He was just shy of 8 months old when I got to hold him for the first time. He is such a happy little boy but somehow still capable of giving my sister grief with sleeping and eating. I attempted to give my sister some help in this area and rocked him to sleep . . . but I couldn't get him to stay asleep unless I held him, so I did. I held this little man for nearly an hour and cherished every minute of it. 

The week went by fast and before we knew it, it was time to say goodbye. I was very hesitant about this trip before we left because of Covid-19 and all the risks that it posed in traveling and being in the same house with my entire family. But the week together was a blessing. After 4 months of not being with any people, spending 7 days with my people was amazing. 

There were hugs, and closeness and masks were only worn when we were out in public places. It was so freeing. My boys hadn't played with anyone in close proximity since shelter in place began (other than each other, of course) and you could just see how much they needed this time with cousins. How much they explored, played and were just being together was so sweet. A burden lifted for a time.

The boys did a great job on the road too. It was a 12 hour drive and thankfully we hit very little traffic and our stops were brief that we made it there and back with relative ease. The boys loved watching a few TV shows (Octonauts) and movies (Lego Movie, Zootopia, and Toy Story 4) on the drive and did well with the pile of activity books I brought along too. Yes, they asked a hundred times if were close and complained a little when they couldn't get comfortable to nap; but overall, they did well. 

Our summer plans were nothing like we originally planned, but I am so grateful we had the opportunity to visit my family and help my sister. Here's hoping none of us get sick...