Homeschooling: week 5+Easter!

Easter Sunday

I have to start this post on Easter, because ours was lovely. We don't do our egg hunt on Sunday (not throwing any judgment on people who do, we did it on Sunday growing up). I just decided I wanted to keep Sunday focused on Christ, and didn't want to compete with the Easter Bunny. So we usually do our hunt Saturday (Friday this year because Gordon worked Saturday).

We had our family sacrament meeting and talked about the blessing of resurrection. Later we also watched the old school animated living scripture video where the resurrected Christ appears to the Nephites. As a kid I don't remember quite as much death being in those videos haha.
As much as my kids love being with their extended family for any holiday, they are less enthused about the traditional holiday meal (ham or turkey). I also didn't want to spend all day cooking to listen to them complain. I decided we were going to have something everybody would enjoy, but how to make that meaningful? Google was my friend in this, and we had a super simple Easter meal that helped us remember the true purpose of Easter.

As you can see from the picture below, the time I spent doing their hair was not appreciated

We didn't realize Scarlett was sticking her tongue out until after (obviously), and we couldn't get a better one after that

Friday Easter Egg Hunt

B trying to force feed Scarlett mini eggs

We had eggs and soldiers (a soft boiled egg with toast cut into strips-soldiers, you dip the toast in the runny yolk). This is something my mum made often for us growing up.
Bread- Jesus is the bread of life, and it also symbolizes His body that He willingly gave for a sacrifice for us. The bread is "buried" in the toaster and then "rises" again (Gordon came up with this, and Isaac and I laughed so hard). But seriously. It's a legit analogy. Soldiers also guarded the Saviour's tomb, just like the toast is cut into "soldiers".

Eggs- represent birth and new life. We can be reborn and have a new life because of Christ.
Gordon and I had scotch eggs (hard boiled egg, wrapped in sausage, breaded and deep fried).

Homemade ice cream and frozen berries- often groups of people delivered to a promised land called it "a land of milk and honey". Christ delivered us so we could return to our promised land (eternal life with Heavenly Father). I thawed the frozen berries so there would be juice, which stained the ice cream red. It reminds us that through the Saviour's Atonement that we can have this promise.

We had a simple yet wonderful discussion with our children about each aspect of the meal and what it had to do with Easter. Bonus-everyone ate it, enjoyed it, and I didn't have to spend long cooking or cleaning. We'll have to wait for next year, but I think a new tradition may have been born.

Monday

No school. We had a lazy day. Actually Gordon was very productive. I took a day off. I have a feeling his productivity (aka little unfinished house projects), is going to clash with my cleaning routine. But it will be nice to have him home.

Tuesday

Bit of a rough start after 4 days off. Can't tell you how much I enjoy being reminded about school work is a "waste of time". This kid wants a whole room in his house dedicated to his lego. He'll thank me when he can get a job to pay for that , because "he wasted his time" learning to read, write, and do math.

I sat at the kitchen table for an hour with him doing various activities. And it was only an hour because half of that was him trying to escape, and me reminding him that I've passed grade two and didn't need to sit there and learn his stuff. I've been letting Mia play in the mornings, and doing her schoolwork with her when Isaac has free time. Isaac thinks this is a bad deal. He complains about how he has all day school and she has half day. He forgets he went to kindergarten once too.

Mia has been learning dance choreography from the Descendants movie off YouTube every morning for exercise. She offers free performances regularly throughout the day. Right now it's 4 moves long.

He did however basically complete all his assignments by lunch, so the kid can come through when he wants to. Minecraft was a big motivator today. Gordon is retracting his statement about this being a "break".

We also started our Covid time capsules! Just a fun way for the kids to remember some things about this time in their lives.

Mia got to have her first online lesson with her teacher. She is so motivated to learn-it is honestly day and night teaching each of them...which is why I started splitting up their one-on-one time with me. They just need different focuses. Whereas Isaac needs to the push to do the work, which he understands and could do very quickly if he wasn't so whiny about it, Mia has the focus and will to learn, but needs more time spent on explanations and the actual subject matter. She works hard though and diligently repeated everything her teacher asked her to say. So glad I can speak French!

Wednesday

Ohoooo I did an hour long run at the end of this day. It was a rough one folks. You know those days where your buttons are ultra pushable and your kids are button mashing like their lives depend on it? Yeah. I just wanted one hour where no one needed me for anything. Actually when Gordon asked me what I wanted (because according to him he could see my blood pressure rising), I think I said in barely contained frustration "I just want to wash the floor in our bedroom!!". That's all I'm gonna say.

Thursday

This morning was better, but it is a task keeping track of everyone's assignments are when they are due- mostly to make sure we are spreading out some of the big ones over several days, and then making sure we keep on top of the daily ones. I also try and balance activities so it's not too much of the same thing (writing, reading etc), or a lot of sitting at once. I feel like a juggler.
However, I feel like I do a lot of sitting and planning nowadays. I'm so used to being go-go-go it's been a real struggle for me having to spend an hour here or half an hour there doing "nothing". I mean, I'm not doing "nothing",  I'm supervising/explaining/encouraging (sometimes with great emotion haha). But I am not a dawdler or procrastinator so having to say "come on, focus" or keep people on task every two minutes is exhausting and kind of drives me crazy. Like pulling my face down, pulling my hair out, please-help-me kind of crazy.

I also got a call from work asking to go in, so then I had to rearrange things so Gordon could take over from me with minimal effort.

Mia had to do a Cosmic kids yoga and go over some French words for it. Again, I send a hats off to the families where the parents don't speak French. It's lots of work for me, and I speak the language. Isaac's teacher has been posting answer keys lately and I'm sure that helps.
 
Gordon is also realizing this wasn't the break he thought it was going to be. I did try and tell you...

Friday

Today was rocky. For me though. Kids were fine. Woke up and got kids breakfast. Looked at my to do list for the day. Looked reasonable. Double checked grocery list for later. I hate getting groceries now. And work still up in the air. Cancelling casuals is the new black lately. Maybe I work 7-11, maybe not. Better get things done just in case. Should I try and get Isaac's floor washed, or is that too ambtious...?Scratch that, Gordon hasn't sanded his drywall patches yet. Would be a waste of time. Still got 3 rooms to do though...
Ping first assignment notification. I don't even have to look. It's the same one every morning at 8. Started school at 9am with unwilling participants, who didn't even have to get dressed before because it's Friday-so why where they complaining again? When school was in, we had to be out the door at 8am, so seriously why are we whining about this? Ping another assignment notification-oh look I already had Isaac do that worksheet when I was solo teachering it, lucky him. We take turns reading to each other about India (from a french kids encyclopedia-his choice). Ping another assignment notification-spelling test. K I penciled that in yesterday. Ping-another assignment. K I guess we start working on that next week. Ping another assignment that's optional and just for fun... do we even have time for that...?
First hour is done. Kids have an hour for snack, exercise, creativity. K now I tackle something on my to do list. Clean bathroom. I can do that in 30-40mins. Phone rings, can you work 7-11 (on a different unit than where I was booked). Yeah if the other unit doesn't need me. K we'll call you back. Yep you're definitely working either here or there, we'll call you later to let you know. At least that uncertainty is off my mind.
Gordon asks me if he can shave and shower as I finish wiping the last spot off the sink. Ummm...shower yes, shave no.
Ping notification. Mia zoom meeting in 10 mins. Oh crap I forgot about that. Hmmm... I'm still in pjs. Gordon can do that with Mia downstairs, so I can do Isaac's French spelling test...better hurry that shower up. Toilet and bathroom floor will have to wait.
Isaac only had about 15 mins of work, but he manages to drag it out for the full 30 minutes. Ping there's Mia's daily assignment. Earlier than usual. I skim through it, but as per usual there are many details to sift through to get to the actual heart of it. Watch a video, do some drawings, write her name. Got it.
Get dressed and kids fed so I can get groceries.  Gordon thinks we need to fill the freezer with meat. Oops forgot about rest of the bathroom. Better get that done. Pull up Mia's video. Send him the timeline of what the kids need to do if it takes me a couple hours (between lining up, physical distancing, mentally converting prices per kg of meat into prices per lbs)... which it nearly does. Ping another assignment. Phew just agenda, that's normal. Recheck list of assignments and mentally plan next week's workload to make sure it's not too much. K think we're good.
Get home with a buttload of groceries, bins littering my floor to be sorted. Did Isaac do his spelling test? Did he get a picture so he could hand it in? Did Mia watch her French video? Shhh brain, calm down. Phone rings, work wants me to come in from 3-7 instead of 7-11. Look at the clock. It's 2pm. There are 4 units in our program. I generally flip between two, sometimes a third if I'm desperate, avoid the 4th. It's the third. I'm supposed to be working 7-11 on another unit. Oh they don't need you. Okay but one of the two units said they did. Well they don't, so if you don't come in from 3-7 you'll probably be canceled. Yeah that's what's gonna happen then. Want to slam my phone down, but I growl instead. Call the unit that called me earlier to see what's going on. They said I'm supposed to be going upstairs where I was originally booked. They'll call me back. 5 minutes later, different manager calls, can you work 3-7. Pretty sure I very clearly said no. Are you canceling me for later or not? They'll call you. Phone rings 15 mins later. We have to cancel you. So they don't want me on surgery, even though they said they did? Well so and so said that so and so said that they don't need you (even though neither of those so and sos spoke to me this morning). Fine. I'll just carry on with my day then.
Came across this in my room. Much needed comic relief.

Scarlett told me they were using my shoes to fly

Everyone ate supper without complaints. Mia even ate non McDonalds chicken (albeit with an extra McDs sweet and sour sauce that was in the fridge). We had popcorn and watched a movie. Gordon fell asleep on the floor and B used his back as a table on which to balance her bowl of strawberries.
There are precious moments here in these walls that have become our haven. B calling for her sister Mia whenever she needs help. Scarlett asking me what everything is in French. B setting up tea parties for her sisters (pictured below). Me getting to be so closely involved with what the kids are learning. Growing their strengths and nourishing their weaknesses. Us having weekends and evenings free because all of our schoolwork is done during the day. Some days the battle is with the kids, some days the battle is with the housework, and some days the battle is with my perfectionist myself. I'm not sure how things will shake out or look once we get to the other side of this, but while we're on this side we bravely soldier on.