Pandemic Home School Diary Day 5

On Friday of our first week of pandemic home schooling, we hit a milestone. My teenager got stressed out about how much work she had to do. I’m simultaneously proud of and uncomfortable with that fact. That’s kind of the mood of the day, as it was both the most and least successful day so far.

Success

Thanks to our Thursday afternoon “curriculum meeting,” everyone knew what they had to do on Friday, and the dry erase board could serve as a reminder to everyone, rather than just to me. That meant I didn’t have to sit down with the girls in the morning to get them started.

Instead, I started work before they had breakfast. I passed through the kitchen at nine to refill my coffee, saw that they were settling down to work, and then did the same myself. Then I … kind of forgot about them.

Freelance

I edited the first of the drafts I wrote on Thursday and turned it in. Then I started to edit the second one, which took a lot more time. Besides editing the writing, I had to confirm approximately a bazillion links and source photos. It took the rest of the day, and I didn’t quite finish.

Home School Homework

The girls interrupted me a couple times to ask questions, but mostly worked independently. My teen’s figure skating coach sent me a home practice plan, which I forwarded to my daughter. The fifth grader’s math teacher sent a new video, which I decided to postpone to Monday.

At lunch, the teen was stressed out about being able to finish everything, and the fifth grader was suffering burnout. I did make the Friday list pretty long. So I told both girls that I wouldn’t check anything until Monday, when the whole list would be due. It was up to them to decide how much school work to do Friday, and how much to finish as homework over the weekend.

Failure

This means that heading into the weekend, I have no idea what the kids did yesterday. They seemed to work quietly and diligently all day, but they might have been watching YouTube videos. Maybe they went to their dad for help now that he knows what they’re working on, but I don’t know because we didn’t have a family curriculum meeting. It seemed pointless when they hadn’t finished the existing list, plus they had a busy afternoon.

I realized too late that by making the whole list due Monday, I had accidentally undercut the math teacher’s Friday deadline for the video. I really liked that he’s doing those, and I wanted to comply. So that made me feel bad.

Free Time

School ran late because we were all trying to finish things up and none of us noticed what time it was. We had a full family frenzy cleaning the living room, and then the girls had about an hour of free time before kung fu. I’m not sure how they used it because I went back to work.

Their kung fu class was available remotely again, but thanks to the good weather, the teacher was holding the class outdoors at a park where they could spread out. We decided it was okay to attend in person. It was the first time any of the three of us had left the house since Sunday.

It was also the first time my teen had been behind the wheel since her skating practice last Sunday. She did fine, but we realized our old approach of making her drive whenever we go anywhere wasn’t going to get her 50 practice hours now that we don’t go anywhere. Next week we’ll have to start scheduling driving practices.

The girls were thrilled to see their teachers and their friends in person, even if from a distance with no contact. They spread out on the lawn in the sunshine and practiced weapons forms. I read a book on a park bench. After class, my teen mastered the kip up, earning a lifetime of envy from me. I did martial arts for a decade and never could manage that.

Friday Night

In celebration of completing our first week of home schooling, we had a completely normal Friday night: home made pizza and a movie on the couch. It was the teen’s turn to pick. As usual, she picked a movie that’s not out on video yet (Little Women) and had to default to something we’ve already watched – Legally Blonde.

Covid Count

According to the Washington State Department of Health, on Friday March 20, King County had 793 cases of COVID-19 with 67 deaths.