School Papers

Just a few remnants from real school life.  For all of the complaining they did about early mornings and long days and waiting in line and noisy classmates, I know the kids are missing the challenge, structure, fun, and reward of working hard in school. 

 

Meet the Chrysalides

It was a big and icky week for the caterpillars!  One morning, as if on cue, 19 of our 20 caterpillars made the ascent to the tops of their cups, flipped upside down, and started wrapping themselves up in their cocoons.

It was quite an amazing process to watch!

And on Saturday morning, we took them out of their cups and placed them in their new butterfly pavilion home.  

I made each kid at least sit by me while I took of their lid and moved their caterpillars.  Emma was the brave one that was willing to help clean out her cup and rescue one chrysalis that had fallen down.

And now they're all tucked in their new home, growing and changing

and definitely still alive because they jiggle around when they get bumped.

This stage of the process has been quite disgusting to watch, but we're excited to see how they look next week!

"Homeschooling" Week 5

As expected, the contact from the school and the work load of "optional" assignments increased this week now that school is officially cancelled through the end of the academic year.  Leah came to me with a slight look of despair and panic in her eyes at 9:00 this Monday morning and said, "Mom, I have 15 emails from my teachers and they're all giving me assignments." This after a month of nearly no contact at all. Shake my head indeed and we had a good talk about which classes to tackle first- pre-Algebra and U.S. Studies?  Yes.  P.E. and choir?  Maybe take a backseat.

We have had some sad moments again this week over the loss of time at school learning and playing and seeing friends, no more choir concerts or recorder concerts or field trips or talent shows or turning in tickets to earn prizes.  We've realized how much we have to enjoy what we have while we have it because we never know when it's going to change or disappear altogether.

But we're still spending a few hours each day dedicated to school-at-home, and it calms my worries and structures our days nicely.  We are still learning and working and trying every day, and having a whole lot of fun in between. 

Badminton!  Sometimes in a thunderstorm- 

The weekly science lesson with Daddy- this week was all about molecular composition, I think.  

Noah attempted to ride his bike without training wheels (he's getting there!) and was the cutest ever when he was showing off Laney's tricks to his classmates- 

I had good helpers in the kitchen- 

There were bedroom forts- 

 and LEGO mornings like their lives depend on it!

We finally finished the 2,000 piece puzzle! We all held hands and sang "You've Got a Friend In Me" to memorialize the occasion. 

A trim for Laney- much needed as it uncovered a hiding tick in her ear- blech!

I attempted a parking lot girls night out in the midst of a spectacular spring thunderstorm (that's not me but I wanted to catch the rainbow!)  

while Jason and the kids attempted a campfire in the driveway- 

 once the rain stopped

  

We built King Benjamin's tower at family church to kick off our week of secret service- 

during which we all discovered a lot of this around the house- 

 

There were low points too, like the technical difficulties during Adam's weekly AELP meeting, which included uninstalling the computer camera and then unplugging the computer altogether once he finally got connected to the meeting (that was my fault, but Adam handled it very kindly!). 

Also girls camp and youth conference were officially cancelled for the year.  Thankful again for technology to make up for the in-person events.

Of note, Jason went to work two times this week.  The kids noticed around the afternoon of the second day.

Overall it felt like a good week.  It feels like we're making a slow turn toward summer break.  Sure, we aren't doing Little League or signing up for swim lessons- we don't even know yet if the pool will open up this summer.  We aren't counting down the days until the end of the school year, and we don't know if we can even look forward to the one summer vacation we have planned and haven't cancelled yet.  But life at home, in our happy little house, is good.  We're happy, we're having once-in-a-lifetime experiences, we're safe, we're healthy, and we're together!  This week, I am feeling especially blessed with the joy of contentment- we have more than enough and we're so grateful for it!

Signs of Spring

Green fields and blue skies- 

"Let's bask in the sun like lizards!" 

and all those blossoms.

 

 

Hello spring!

Adventures

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, 

And sorry I could not travel both

And be one traveler, long I stood

And looked down one as far as I could

To where it bent in the undergrowth; 

Then took the other, as just as fair, 

And having perhaps the better claim, 

Because it was grassy and wanted wear; 

Though as for that the passing there

Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay

In leaves no step had trodden black. 

Oh, I kept the first for another day!

Yet knowing how way leads on to way, 

I doubted if I should ever come back. 

I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I-  

I took the road less traveled by, 

And that has made all the difference. 

(The Robert Frost poem I quoted when we decided which way to turn on our journey, to which Emma admiringly remarked, "How poetic!")

Meet the Caterpillars

The Easter bunny must have known that there would be no caterpillar growing in Emma's second grade year, and no chick hatching in Noah's kindergarten year, because we found ourselves with four cups of caterpillars to care for on Easter morning.  

Day 1- The caterpillars are cute and tiny and just barely wiggling around. 

We hope they all survive to butterfly-hood!

.

Day 2- Maybe they're growing bigger already??

Day 5- Boy these fellows grow fast!  Just a few days later they are all fully mobile and look hairy!

Day 8- Okay, now this is just getting gross!  The cups are filled with big fat squishy caterpillars that have pooped all over the place, filled their cups with stringy webs, and have hairy, silvery spikes all over their bodies.  Hopefully this all means they're going to wrap themselves up into cocoons soon!

 One of the girls said, "I feel so bad that you have to look at these disgusting caterpillars while you're working at your computer." 

 They are quite an icky little form of entertainment!

"Homeschooling" Week 4

Boy this week sure seemed like a long and hard one.  Looking back on the pictures I'd say it's because it was cold enough all week that we didn't get out hardly at all.  

  Or maybe it was because we found out this week that we won't be going back to school this year.  

All of the kids were stunned just like I was stunned.  We all knew it was a possibility but when it became reality, it was a hard truth to swallow.  Jason tried to tell the kids that summer break was starting this week, but I quickly reminded everyone that their teachers are probably going to start expecting even more (as in something) from them starting next week until the end of the school year in May.

All around, it is a hard time.

 There was still plenty of school work done all around, 

always with a selection of books to read out loud, 

 sometimes by the fire, 

sometimes with a pup to snuggle,

or classmates to Zoom with, 

 or another pup snuggle break.

Sometimes we had a house full of quiet learning, 

 sometimes we played a silly game for a break. 

 

  I loved this morning, because Adam said, "I've been wanting to make this for forever and now I finally have the chance!" I'm happy to see everyone taking advantage of the long and slow days to rediscover and enjoy some of their favorite activities that get set aside during busy and full school days.

Jason and I signed up to donate blood this week, and leaving the house meant face masks finally became our reality.   

Leah and I tried a few different options first.

 

Gas was under a dollar a gallon this week. 

 Hidden Mickeys always make us smile!

  We hosted a "hidden" talent show with some of our favorite friends and had so much laughing with them about toe water painting, lock picking, eyebrow dancing, two-ball juggling, nose recorder playing, a human helicopter, a puppy trainer, belly flopping and the difference between ravens and crows.  Most of all it was fun to see their faces again! 

One night last week it was super windy and we were all getting a little stir-crazy, so we all headed down to the basement for a family camp out/change of scenery.

 

 

Leah taught us all how to do "Cups" one night, we visited with the Morales ladies, we played lots of games, and especially enjoyed several varieties of Jeopardy, starting with Jason's science class for the week.

We made treats, watched movies, laughed and cried and reached out and grieved the loss of the familiar and the certain and most of all, spent another week feeling so grateful that we're all in this together.