A Normal School Day in Quarantine

Since mid-March, the State of Connecticut has been under "lock-down" orders with only essential workers being able to attend their jobs.

Since schools and colleges were the first to close, I was lucky to begin working from home right away (I work at a college). Lewie was dismissed from school (on Friday the 13th), and he (along with his teachers) had to quickly get acclimated to online learning.  At first it was difficult; his teachers were sending dozens of emails a day with requests for assignments.  I'm almost sure we missed a few of them as many of the assignments didn't have clear instructions on when and where we should submit them.

It was about week three of the quarantine when everything "clicked."  His teachers all met and decided to send "daily plans," and in these plans, Lewie and I could decide how to schedule his day.  If some days were "light" on work, he could work on his art and music projects that were also due for that week.  If a day had more work than usual, then we would save some for the following day or the weekend if necessary.  His teachers were flexible about late submissions, and later, we would learn that he wouldn't receive a final report card, so getting perfect grades weren't necessary.  Instead,  I offered a generous allowance if he would do the following everyday - Monday through Friday.

1. Wake up early, take a shower, and get dressed.
2. Begin school work at 9 a.m.
3. Attend any and all virtual classroom meetings scheduled for the day.
4. Complete his work by 2 or 3 p.m. (with a lunch break and a few snack breaks in-between).
5. Take a walk with me three times per week.
6. Help me with chores when asked.

The rest of the afternoons and weekends were, more or less, free time, except for practicing his trumpet.  

As much as it was difficult to get used to homeschooling while working from home, I started enjoying it--a lot!  I've always wanted to be a stay-at-home mom, and here was my chance.  Granted, when day dreaming about homeschooling, I always pictured Little Lewie and I going on day trips to local history, science, and art museums.  Unfortunately, going to museums wouldn't be a reality, but still, we could go on hour-long walks, take frequent breaks, and enjoy each other's company.   I wouldn't have my usual work schedule--the one that keeps me in the office until 6, 7, or 8 p.m. each night--and I didn't have the one hour commute to work each day.  All of a sudden, I had TIME to spend with my family.  

I want to remember this moment, so here was a typical day:

First, we would begin with the pledge and the morning announcements.  (Our principal made sure to incorporate it as the first post in Schoology every morning.  She said it was important to maintain as much of the regular school routine at home for kids as possible, so they could have some semblance of normalcy.)  Here was a typical post. 

Please stand for the The Pledge of Allegiance.

And now let’s have a moment of silence.  

Now let’s say the School Pledge together:

At Laurel ***** School we treat each other with respect, take responsibility for our learning and strive for a safe and positive school for all. 

Please be seated.  And now for our Words of Wisdom. 

© Project Wisdom, Inc. 2018

Good morning, Laurel *****. This is Mrs. M***** with a few words of wisdom. 

During this time when we are all spending so much time at home and with our families, we thought we would share this. It was written by Kitty O’Meara and posted on Facebook by the Domestic Curator.

 “And the people stayed home. 

And read books, and listened, and rested, and exercised, and made art, 

and played games, and learned new ways of being, and were still. 

And listened more deeply. 

Some meditated, some prayed, and some danced ….

And the people began to think differently …. 

And when the danger passed, and the people joined together again, 

they grieved their losses, and made new choices, and imagined new dreams, 

and created new ways to live and heal the earth fully, 

as they had been healed." 

Let’s use this time to heal, think differently, dream new dreams, and make new choices. With something to think about, this is Mrs. M***** . Make it a great (distance learning) day . . . or not. The choice is yours.

Each morning, Lewie and I would spend a few minutes discussing the Words of Wisdom for the day.  They were always so inspirational--reminding children to dream, imagine and create and to be kind, honest, and thoughtful about their everyday choices.  (I couldn't help but think we would all live in a nicer word if adults followed this philosophy, too!)

The next part of our morning routine would usually follow this order--Reading, Writing, Science, Math, and History.  Lewie and I would have to read a Newsela article and either annotate, answer Power Words questions, take a quiz, or write a summary.  In Science, we would have fun GenerationGenius videos to watch with questions to answer.  Some of our favorite lessons were on the water cycle, weathering and erosion, and the Earth's orbit and rotation.  Granted, I didn't have to watch these lessons with Lewie.  He still would have learned and earned good grades, but I WANTED to watch them because I was learning, too.  Interestingly enough, many of the topics that were discussed in Science went right along with our National Park trips.  For example, when they talked about the process of weathering and erosion, they used the Grand Canyon as an example.  We enjoyed reminiscing about our Grand Canyon trip and what it looked like in real life!

Math would usually come next.  In the beginning, I was able to help Lewie understand some of the lessons, but by Week 4, Lewie was using a system to multiply that was foreign to me, and I found myself incapable of helping him with the assignments.  By this time, his math teacher was now scheduling "virtual tutoring sessions" on Monday and Tuesday at 1 p.m. each week, so I'd have Lewie join those if he was confused.  Since I have a love/hate relationship with math, I wasn't sad to drop the responsibility and leave it to Lewie's teacher.

History was saved for last. It wasn't one of Lewie's favorite subjects, but I tried to make it fun for him.  To be honest, I LOVED reading his history book lessons and helping him with his assignments because we were learning about my favorite time in history--early Colonial America.  We started with the Great Explorers and quickly moved to lessons about the first settlements made in Virginia and Massachusetts by the Puritans and the Pilgrims.  (I have a list of early settlements I want to visit in real life.)  Right now we're reading about the lifestyle and the economy during the 1700's.  It's hard for me to believe there were fewer than 100,000 Native Americans and Europeans living in the U.S. when today there's close to 328 million! 

Lewie's art, music, and gym assignments were completed at various times throughout the week.  Here are the last four art projects Lewie had to do:

Finally, our favorite activity of the week came from Lewie's gym teacher.  In his first video sessions, he taught us how to exercise with lunges, push-ups, mountain climbers, and burpees.  However, by week 3, he was incorporating all these exercises into movie themes like Star Wars, The Lion King, Toy Story, Beauty and the Beast, etc.  My personal favorite was the "Gym Wars" on May 4th (May the 4th be With You!)  Here Lewie was training (using proper fitness exercises and form) to defeat Darth Mur***.

Here is sample of the humor:

Episode X

THE RISE OF THE LEDGE

The Galactic Empire is back and stronger than ever.

Chancellor Corona has released a deadly plague amongst the Resistance.

All storm troopers and members of the First Order are immune to the virus.

The force seems to be weakening and Darth Mur*** is on the attack.

Aboard his spaceship, COVID-19, he seeks to put an end to the Resistance once and for all.

Little does he know, a new generation of Jedi hopefuls are waiting in the wings.

The intro of the video is definitely worth a view, or at least a peak,.  Lewie and I couldn't stop laughing as Darth Vader was named after Principal Mur***.  His teacher provides Jedi training in his bathrobe, and his lightsaber is nothing more than a vacuum attachment (crevice tool).  

In his other videos, like The Lion King or Toy Story, we are watching certain video clips and testing our memory and sensory skills.  Doing exercises is linked to how many images (like a candle) we see in a clip or whether we answer questions correctly about a scene.  By far, his videos were a hit with the kids and especially our family.  (Now if I can only motivate myself to do a few more crunches in real life.  The frequent "work breaks" at home have been more like "treat breaks" or "chocolate breaks.")

Schooling at home has had its struggles and rewards, its tears and its smiles, and its disengagement and its excitement.  These days, Lewie's main goal is to get through these last few weeks of school, so he can officially call himself a fifth grade graduate.  There are lots of distractions with the warm weather, a new puppy, and friends wanting to "game" with him online, but we'll get to the finish line.  We'll get to the finish line and remember this year as the year of "family," "dreams," and "home."