Our district chose to consider the first week as a week to breathe and settle. So much was still in flux at that time that they didn't want to rush into anything without having the time and opportunity to make mindful decisions. No one knew how long this would last; teachers were informed on Sunday night that they wouldn't be teaching in person the next day through until April 6 at the earliest; families were suddenly thrown into an unexpected situation.
I think it was the right decision for our community to take a "time out" from formal education that week. Knowing that we would be in this situation for at least 3 weeks, I started some school-at-home routines during the first week. Routines are my friends and they always have been. Math games, some reading expectations for Ethan, some writing expectations, embracing the opportunity to learn something new that we wanted to learn, etc. Routines, but relaxed.
The next week began our district's optional distant learning. We were able to incorporate some of the activities into our daily routines, and hold a few of them back for the third week at home, which was technically our district's spring break.
We've had our struggles, but they are pretty mild in comparison to what many, many others are experiencing.
One of my challenges has been keeping Kate's brain engaged and motivated. She had such an awesome 3rd quarter at school with appropriately challenging activities. She's an intellectual kid who was being given the opportunities to grow and shine during her 5th grade year.
Whereas active and social kids are missing their friends and sports practices, she's missing the thinking and learning parts of school.
It took me a little time, but I found some ways to tap into her mind. The Daniel in the Lions' Den imovie was one of those ways. Last week I set her loose to research oceans and create a window mural that we could paint on the front window. She did, and loved every minute of it.
Below is a time-lapse video of the last half of painting the coral reef she designed (we didn't think of setting a camera up until that point ... oops!). The video doesn't capture Ethan and I measuring the window and installing a grid set-up with tape and string ... that was part of Ethan's math activity for the day.
As with the lego video, Kate and I were really proud of our work and we have ideas of what we could do "next time." :)
And, now, we have just received access to the Distance Learning 2.0 which begins on Monday, April 6. It will take us a little while to adjust to the different expectations, but I am confident that in time we will find a way to make it work.
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