Homeschooling 2020

The girl's last day of school was March 13.  They left school that Friday thinking they'd be heading right back again on Monday, and now it has been over two months since they've stepped foot inside of the building.  It was Sunday night when I got an email from the school district that schools would be closing until at least April 13 when they would reevaluate and see what would be done from that point.  I knew that the school district was getting together to talk over things and decide what to do, so I had told the girls of the possibility of school closing.  I wanted them to be prepared for that possibility, especially Avery who is so social and absolutely loves school!  The decision to close the school wasn't made until late Sunday night when the girls were already in bed, so it was on Monday morning when I told them they wouldn't be going to school for at least a month.  They took it pretty well, but in reality I knew it shook their whole world.  All of the sudden there was no church, no school, no play dates, no visiting aunts, uncles, grandparents, or cousins, no going into the store for them.  So much changed and continued to change daily.
I tried to make the best of it, I set up a "Home School Schedule" for us to follow while we were at home.  Each morning they still had to follow their checklist to get ready for the day and once Logan went down for his morning nap we would start on some school work.  I had a simple activity for the boys to do and a few different subjects (math, writing, social studies) for the girls to work through.  Once they were done they could head outside to play until lunch time.  After lunch we would have reading time then they would head downstairs for quiet time for an hour and a half to two hours.  It worked really well and the kids all did great with the schedule and loved school time.  I loved it too, our school time gave me time to just sit with the kids and spend some nice time with them I otherwise wouldn't of had. 

After a week and a half of this (it felt like longer) the girl's teachers sent home some packets of worksheets for them to do so we switched to doing those instead of what I had gotten together for them.  After another week and a half it was spring break and the school had announced that they would not be going back to school until at least May 1.  Since the closure was extended they had figured out how to "distance learning" and got everything organized for that.  Each student in the district was provided a Chromebook and we went and picked up their school supplies and work packets from the school.  We also worked to get things ready here at home.  We moved the furniture around in our front room and set up a folding table for the girls to share.  We bought them both headphones so they could listen to their class without being distracted by each other.  I put all of their supplies in a bin for them to easily access it as well as keep it organized.  We blocked off the front room with our large playpen/gate so the boys would stay out during school hours.  We were ready to go, and on the Monday after spring break, April 13, the girls had their first day of online school!
Pretty much every school in the country and in several parts of the world has been doing some sort of distance learning.  Each district is doing it a little differently though.  For my girls, they are doing school through Zoom each day.  The school day starts at 9:30 and ends at 12:30 with two breaks in that time.  They do math, writing, and reading.  Their teachers have prerecorded lessons as well as live instruction, the girls do worksheets during this time, and they have break off sessions for their reading group.  So it is three hours on the computer, but it isn't them just sitting there staring at the screen.  I have zero complaints, I think their school and teachers have done such a fantastic job at organizing everything and communicating with us, I have been very impressed!  As for the girl's specials classes, (science, music, media, and P.E.) the different teachers each put together a prerecorded lesson and an assignment for the students to do once a week.  They generally take 20-30 minutes to complete.  I have the girls take time to do one a day, with one day off, in the afternoon after quiet time. 
The first day of online school went well for about an hour.  Then our internet went out and we couldn't get it back on.  Thankfully someone was able to come out that same day and fix it.  So the girls watched the recorded lessons and did their work later that day.  Since then it really has gone well.  I don't have to help them with much, they don't complain about having to do school, I think they have really enjoyed being able to see their teachers and classmates.
My kids and I do well with schedules so I put together a "block schedule" for each girl to help organize our day and help them get done what they need to.  We start out with a morning block where they eat breakfast, get ready for the day, and read.  Then it is the school block, I have their individual school schedules written out here so they know what they'll be doing and when their breaks are.  After this is our afternoon block, we eat lunch then it is quiet time either downstairs or when the weather is nice, outside.  When quiet time is done it is snack time then they move on to their evening block.  They go and do one of their specials during this time then we eat dinner and have family time.  The last block is their bedtime block, they clean up, get ready for bed, then can go downstairs and play in their room until it is time for bed.  It has been good to have our day broken up into these "blocks" and has helped keep some structure and to get the things done that we need to. 

We got Mary some blue light blocking clip-on glasses

because she was getting headaches

Sometimes Avery ends up on the couch

Schools were officially closed for the rest of the school year a few weeks ago, so we have continued with our online schooling.  We have one more week to go!  Mary's teacher has told them that this last week will be a fun week, no assignments!  She is excited about that!  I hope the end of the school year is good, I don't know what emotions it might bring out in them.  I think it is going to be weird to end the school year by closing a laptop instead of having a class party and field day!  I may have to come up with some kind of special celebratory dinner that night.  I sincerely hope they are able to go back to school in the fall, especially with Ethan starting Kindergarten.  We will see what the future holds.