Here’s a long update of the last two weeks. I probably should have split this into a couple posts. Ah well.
Like everyone in the country, we have drastically altered how we are living. Ben and I are extremely fortunate that we can already work from home, so we have job security and I have been able to fully help the kids with their school-work-from-home.
Walking Ralston Creek
Walking Ralston Creek
A little spring sunshine
A pair of owls have been visiting the house
The other owl.
The schools scrambled to get everyone set up. We already have chromebooks at home, so we could leave those for other families to check out. Sam’s teacher sent him home with notebooks, pencils, crayons, etc, just in case.
We did one week of remote learning before spring break. The kids took to it really well. I’m not sure they are learning as much as they would have in a regular class, but I’m satisfied that they are learning SOMETHING and staying engaged and have a schedule for each day.
Music class
Morning meeting with his teacher and classmates.
Go Noodle for indoor recess.
Outdoor recess in the snow.
Art class – Sam loved this and did 3 instead of 1 picture, and continued drawing from videos over spring break.
Jack’s workspace, occasionally interrupted by Nimbus knocking down all his doodads.
Even Jack’s piano class has gone virtual, using Skype with his teacher.
After the week of school, and after the winter storm abated, I took the kids to Grand Junction. Ben and I and my folks debated the safety and ethics of coming. We are virus-free, as far as we know, and so are they. We wouldn’t stop on the drive over and wouldn’t be going anywhere but house-to-house, so I couldn’t see any harm in coming. In the end, I’m really glad we made the trip. It would have been a LONG week of no schedule and nothing to do at home. At least they could putter around a different house with different toys and books. Then the same day we got back to Arvada, the state issued a shelter-in-place mandate. So once again, we were doing something at the last possible time (previously done for the zoo, a movie date, and then a local trip).
Seeing Betty from a safe distance outdoors.
An impromptu eye check and we discovered Jack needs glasses! Grandpa figured out his prescription and we ordered frames from Zenni Optical. Quickest (and cheapest) glasses initiation ever!
We went for a hike on the Mica Trail. It was so cool! Quartz and mica shimmered everywhere, and lots of interesting terrain for Sam to scramble over. It was moderately busy, as everyone was trying to get out of the house where possible. But everyone kept a good distance apart, even when passing each other on the trail.
We taught the kids Rummikub and they loved it! Requested that we play it every evening.
Sorting their massive coin collection.
On the look-out for another visit from the Masons.
We made spaghetti from scratch.
Dad and Sam and I made an apple pie.
Sam filled 1 1/2 notebooks with art while we were there.
Now we are back home for a few days before remote school starts on Monday. I’m being relatively lazy with the kids. I’m sleeping in. They get to play video games later in the morning and earlier in the afternoon than I usually allow. It’s a shame the weather turned cold again or we would go on more walks. Oh well.
We got the new Animal Crossing game and are all infatuated with it. I was hard core into Animal Crossing on the Game Cube back in 2002-2004. This new version has lots of good updates but is the same game at heart. The kids are loving its exploration and creative aspects. It’s really great for all ages and a good way to pass the day inside.
Leave a Reply