Thoughts from Quarantine Day 10

3-26-2020 a continuation from yesterday

8:30am I wanted to take a sweet video of the kids unloading the dishwasher. The video proved that siblings will argue about anything. Video link here.


9am Kenzie has started making a clicking sound with her tongue. It is pushing me toward the brink of madness. We dive into their daily binders so I can distract her from the clicking.

Here is a little snapshot of their work.  Every day they ask me to photograph every page. Every. Single. Page.

5 years old - grade K
Firefighter or Inigo Montoya?

7 years old - grade 1
"wewu" - the sound of a police car apparently

Kenzie starts working on word ladders and reading comprehension. This kid loves words. She loves them so much she uses them nonstop. There is never a time that she isn't speaking and spewing her love of words onto others. Such passion.

Ketcher takes this time to wander the house and open multiple sets of Legos onto the living room carpet. Once the sets have been spilled out, and the carpet sufficiently covered, he joins us at the table.

It's math time. Usually, I stagger math because I can't help both kids at once but Kenzie pulls out her worksheet (sent home on the last day of school) and says "This is easy!" and gets started. It is easy for 1.2 minutes and then I am going back and forth with each kid taking turns while the other one cries in waiting.

I am teaching Ketcher about tens and ones. He is not getting it. I ask what is 20 + 1, he stares at me blankly and says "Eleven?" I didn't sleep much last night and my patience is very thin today. I take a deep breath. I try to explain it louder because that makes total sense, right? Kenzie keeps jumping up and down behind us yelling "I CAN SHOW HIM! I CAN SHOW HIM! LET ME SHOW HIIIIIIM!" I am so annoyed by the jumping and yelling that I scream "SIT DOWN AND WORK ON YOUR OWN MATH!"

I regret yelling immediately and start thinking she could teach him better than I can. There's no going back now, so I keep plugging away and eventually, he finishes the problems in his notebook.

Now I have to help her. I read through the 1st-grade story problem. I don't understand what they are asking. Something about a graph and 2s. I tell her to just ignore the graph and answer the questions.

Ketcher is now asking me to play Legos with him. Over the past 5 days, we have been working on a giant temple from Ninjago. We are in the final stages. If he tries to work on it without me, the whole thing will break apart. I must distract him.

I say, "Ketcher lets do science now!"  He runs over and gets out his science notebook. He spends a while cutting, coloring, and pasting the items from the sheet into the notebook while I finish helping Kenzie with math.

We all talk about living and non-living things. We finish up and I set out some snacks. I organize our binders with tomorrow's worksheets and feel like I held it together pretty well considering how tired I am.

11am Time to do laundry, make lunch, and pick up the house.

1:00pm Kids are at "recess" right now. I told them to go play outside but they decided to go downstairs and inventory the playroom. They are screaming all of their words. They may have a hearing problem. I need to get that checked out after this lockdown is over. Every word is penetrating my brain. I just took out my hearing aids and it has helped. We gave the youngest a kazoo on Saint Patrick's Day.  I wish I could go back in time and slap myself.

Time to get some work done.

2:00pm Somehow these two are still playing together and things have gotten quiet. Real quiet. I am deliberating between sneaking down and seeing what they are up to, and just assuming the worst. I decide to keep working and let the damage continue.

2:03pm Aaaaand they're back.

2:05pm I send them outside to collect items for our Nile river model. It is just a cake pan with tin foil folded in the middle to hold water. They are collecting dirt, grass, and rocks.

Is this the Nile River or just a way to get the kids out of the house?

3:00pm I cleaned out my inbox while they were outside. Right now they are pouring water into the Nile River. It is getting "muddy". I send them back outside to dump their models into the yard.

We are done with "school" now.  I turn on Magic School Bus on Netflix and start prepping for dinner. I will have to work tonight after they are in bed so I pour more caffeine in my cup. It's been a day. Tomorrow will hopefully be better.

Sending lots of calm and love out there to all of you reading this now.

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I hope through these writings, I stay more connected to everyone. I don't do well with complete social isolation.

I have linked most of our homeschool sources throughout this post.

Here is the list of contents in our morning binders.

Tips for binder work: 

1. All the subjects and worksheets will not be done in one day. 
2. After a worksheet is completed add a new one to the page protector. Our worksheets come from the packets sent home on the last day of school, or interactive notebooks (referenced above), or a basic Grade level workbook like this. 
3. The checklist and all the Word/Number of the day sheets are in page protectors.  Use a dry erase marker to complete them, and then wipe them clean so they are ready to go for tomorrow.
4. Mazes and word searches are age-appropriate. These should be fun, not hard. 
5. History/Geography contains maps of the area I am reading about from The Story of the World: Volume 1 by Susan Wise Bauer or pictures that I printed that might capture their attention (like the Mummy from the Louvre we photographed back in 2006. 
6. The first book of the day could be included in the front cover of the binder. I give each kid a very easy book to read so it's enjoyable and not hard.

As always, thank you for reading!!!
~Amanda

Out with 2015, in with 2016

2015 was a bust. In with 2016!

As much as I want to write about all my complaints over the past year, if you have been reading my blog, you already know. It was a tough year.

To summarize for my new readers:

Two toddlers, a new puppy, a husband with a broken leg, very sick children for almost the entire summer, and a health scare for my Mom. That pretty much sums it up.

Moving on...

The new year usually brings new projects. I believe it's the way to deal with the end of the holidays. Focusing on something new means we don't have to dwell on the next 6 months of winter (up here in the mountains anyway), a relentless work schedule, and not having anything to look forward to.

In years past, I have jumped on the usual bandwagon of resolutions: working out, eating healthy, saving the environment, and whatever else calls to me at the moment.

My 2016 resolution was set about a month before year end: I need to work on my priorities. I spent 35 years - well maybe just the adult half - working on my career. I made some epic mistakes in 2015... taking on more work, trying new avenues of income, thinking going into an office was the answer to whatever I was looking for. I realize now my priorities were seriously misaligned and none of that was going to make me happy.

My two nuggets are tiny, they need me. I love my work, but I love my family more. So the time has come to enjoy the work schedule I have, and relish in the freedom working from home gives me. I need to live in the present, because these kids are all the sudden starting to grow up fast.

Kenzie turned 3 on December 1st and she went from toddler into being a preschooler. To start, I decided to give night time potty training a try. It's been nearly 3 weeks and she has not had an accident. She has started to get up at the crack of dawn and run around the house until everyone else is awake, but her undies stay dry and I never have to put her in diapers again. Woo hoo!

She has realized her little brother is a potential playmate. When the moon is full, and the stars are in the right alignment, they can actually play together for the better part of an hour without either of them crying. As if a mystical unicorn is frolicking in the yard, I peak nervously through the doorways to catch a glimpse of this wonder. It is fragile, magical, and I never want to disturb it.

I haven't been able to capture it yet... so here's a picture
of a unicorn.

Finally, if you follow me on instagram @ayoung102 you already know what's coming: I started doing school time every day with her. I was nervous that I would get frustrated, or she would get frustrated, but it turns out, she is ready to learn. School time is now our favorite part of the day. She asks for it on the weekends. She always wants her "school toys". Watching her learn is probably one of the greatest joys I have witnessed as a parent.



Banangrams matching game

Dot to Dot for Tiny Tots

Ketcher is now the crazy toddler of the house. Fortunately for him, Kenzie put us through the ringer and back, so we are seasoned at dealing with tantrums and anything else he throws our way.

While she is "working", Ketcher gets to play with toys without having them stolen from him. He gets to use her school toys, in whatever manner he sees fit, and it actually is really easy.

Farmland Math - "I got this!"

There are times when I even get to write a little for myself while they are in "school".

So, that's the update at the moment. Many more good things to come this year!

Thank you so much for reading!