At the beginning of the week, we sat down as a family and created a list of things that needed to be done each day, so the kids could have a routine and get some learning in. We made the list as open-ended as possible so Jay and Rose could decide what to do when. That freedom to choose seems to help them take ownership of their tasks and work more independently. I did not want this situation to turn me into a hovering taskmaster mother! I am all about fostering independence in my kids! So far the routine plan has worked relatively well. The kids know that they have to complete everything on the list before they can start their daily two hours of free screen time.
The daily routine:
- Family Come Follow Me scripture time at 8am
- Practice piano
- Daily chore (changes each day--vacuum, clean bathroom, fold laundry, dust, sweep, clean playroom, or whatever other form of child labor I can concoct)
- Morning "recess"-- at least 30 minutes of outside play
- Online school-- do 2 lessons in Khan Academy or I-Ready (online math, reading, etc. lessons)
- Cursive lesson-- I found a sweet series of 3 minute cursive lessons on YouTube and since the local schools don't seem to teach cursive, it is now required in our house.
- Daily enrichment activity-- bake, art, science, garden etc.
- Afternoon "recess"-- 30+ minutes outside
- Screen time: 2 hours
We didn't add specific reading time because Jay and Rose read SO MUCH (usually around 2 hours per day, if not more) that I didn't want to impose time limits to their already excellent reading. Dishes are also not on the list because that's an automatic daily chore that didn't need to be reiterated. I plan to add typing practice to this list soon. I wanted to have much longer recesses, but I've noticed in the past that whenever I attach too long of a time frame on outside time, all the kids seem to do is come in to ask how much longer. They tend to play more than 30 minutes if they don't have such a huge timer hanging over them. Adapting to confusing kid-psychology is worth it, haha. My main goal is to work with my kids rather than against them! Usually the kids finish this daily routine sequence by lunchtime (minus afternoon recess). The best part is they are free to choose the order and timing of their work and I don't have to be a slave driver.
The hardest part about the quarantine for me personally (so far) is that my quiet alone time has been severely diminished. We moved Jeff's computer into our bedroom so he can teach remotely behind a closed door, mostly away from the household chaos. So my bedroom is rarely a place of quiet retreat. Our house has a dank unfinished basement full of shoes and toys, plus a kitchen, an adjoining family room in the front of the house, the girls bedroom and Jay's bedroom in the middle of the house, and the computer room connecting to mine and Jeff's bedroom. That's it. I love having a small house because it's easy to take care of. But when everyone is home, quiet is simply not to be had, especially since the computer room is right next to our bedroom. Less quiet time leaves me feeling frazzled and desperate!
On Wednesday, after the kids had finished all of their school work, chores, and exercise, they were piled into the small computer room playing Minecraft together with Ian from next door (since Ian is basically part of our family, he's allowed into our quarantine bubble). Jeff was recording videos for his French class in our bedroom--he reads stories, talks about the news and weather, etc. in video clips that he shares with his students. There was nowhere for me to go--noise everywhere! I just wanted to be in a room alone! The family room was too open, and I did not want to be disturbed. Where to go? It was crazy windy outside so I couldn't go to my front porch rocker. Desperation brought adaptation: I grabbed a pillow and some blankets and set up a little retreat on the floor of my skinny closet, and closed the door. The sounds were muffled. Nobody knew where I was. Sweet silent anonymity! Pillow at my back, cushion underneath, book in my hand. I kept the pillow and blanket in my closet for future use.
We can do this. We are doing this.
We're roommates AND office-mates now!
Crammed in my closet with a book: there are worse fates. This reminded me of all the tornadoes that had us hiding in the closet during my childhood in Tennessee.
Enrichment this week consisted mostly of making various flavors of instant pudding. We finally used up all of the expired pudding mixes that I bought back with the girls had their tonsils out, haha.
Banana pudding pie with peanut chips and chocolate chips mixed in was my favorite.
The weather was pretty looking, but the winds were FIERCE this week! It's so nice having the canal full of water again. It was filled in mid-March while we were in Denver.
Chore: dust the blinds. I've been putting this one off for months! Score!
Jeff taught Rose how to make an egg-in-a-hole grilled cheese sandwich.
Amb-in-motion.
More canal reflections because I ran every day and the water was always pleasant to look at.
More pudding-stirring. We went through too much milk with all this pudding, but the kids loved it.
They made chocolate-and-vanilla layered pudding.
Amber is fiercely affectionate.
Standing in line at Walmart. This is the norm right now--introverts rejoice!
The girls crawled under the kitchen table and gave me foot massages after dinner one night.
Then they started playing with my legs--doing "leg lifts" by lifting my legs up and down with different poses. It was a strange form of entertainment, but they were hilarious, acting all out of breath while lifting my legs over and over.
My favorite stretch of the canal.
Temperatures dropped into the 20s a few nights this week, causing the irrigation water to freeze in furrowed icicles. A strange sight, but they have to leave the water running or else the pipes burst.
The girls held a General Conference hair salon for me. I wonder when they'll start doing each other's hair. My scalp was scraped practically to the skull from all the brushing!
Our best full-family general conference selfie--hahaha.
I felt simultaneously loved, trampled, and pampered.
Rose always takes a picture of her hairdo inventions to show me.
Our internet is LAME and SLOW and paused out the YouTube feed of General Conference, so we had to watch the last half of one session using the data on Jeff's phone, with the sound connected to the bluetooth speaker. It worked. We ended up streaming just the audio of the final conference session via BYU Radio on our Alexa device. It is much harder to listen without a visual! But conference was beautiful and amazing and uplifting and historic and faith-building and I am so thankful to be a part of the true church!
Nail polish smells up our whole house, so I made Rose go outside to paint her nails.
My entire family was sending pictures of pillowy puffy cinnamon rolls during general conference, so I finally made some after the last session. I cooked them too long, but they were tasty.
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