A Week in the Life {COVID-19 Thoughts, Sports, Sunset Paintings & More}

Monday, March 9th

We jumped right into our school day with great attitudes and willing learners.  Mia is so happy to be reading and we're so proud of her!

She is able to independently do comprehension worksheets that go along with her stories.

Zayden is loving his Usborne color by number book!

This little missy keeps herself busy by coming to her toy bucket, taking out every toy, and spreading them all around.

The older two had Maker Monday at the Extension Office and got to use 3D printer pens and watch a large 3D printer!

I snagged the game Pretty Pretty Princess at Goodwill with Mia in mind (brought it home and cleaned it!) and she got everyone to play with her.

Zayden won!

A good sport.

Not a fan of the clip on earrings.

Wishes she could play!

Tuesday, March 10th

Homeschool PE!  Last day of wiffle ball.

Daddy text and said he was moving offices, could we come help.  We whipped that room into shape in no time.  He has a lovely view into the server room.

Evie is getting so interested in books!  Usborne are, of course, our favorites!

Wednesday, March 11th

Living room school!

Natalee has to wear her braces with stretchers straight legged for 2 hours every other day.  On the opposite day she wears them all night long.  Wearing them straight legged hurts, I know it does.  We're so proud of her - she always does it without a reminder.  March is cerebral palsy awareness month.

Working on another color by number.

Thursday, March 12th

Homeschool PE

First day of soccer!

Our little two were especially excited.

I appreciate that the coach works on teaching the kids skills and technique.  It's amazing how much they can improve in a short period.

Friday, March 13th

I let Zayden use my reusable pens to practice his name.

Mia working on number families!

Art time!  We are painting sunset silhouettes.

Finished products.  Natalee chose to use black paper for her silhouettes.

Xavier

Ameliya

Zayden - the giraffe is tall and the elephant on the left has a long trunk!

Mommy
My weeping willow needed more space.  LOL.

Mia and Zayden had youth sports at the Y on Friday night.  It was the last night of basketball.

The kids improved their skill set so much in two weeks.

This was probably our last truly busy week for awhile.  I use this blog as a scrapbook for our family, and so, it's time to record the time in our family history where I note that a novel coronavirus is sweeping our nation.  COVID-19.  It is rapidly spreading and China and Italy have been hit hard.  USA is seeing more recorded cases by the day and things are shutting down here - schools, businesses, etc.  The WHO has declared a worldwide pandemic and the USA is in a state of emergency.  Our home is well stocked with necessities, and our school days can proceed mostly as normal.  It is discouraging to see our activities get canceled or have to let go of them for the safety of ourselves and others, but as I've told the kids, we want to be germ stoppers not germ spreaders.  This quote is pretty poignant to me as people stand on both sides of the pandemic fence - some are panicking and some feel like this is all a hoax.
"EVERYTHING WE DO BEFORE A PANDEMIC WILL SEEM ALARMIST. EVERYTHING WE DO AFTER WILL SEEM INADEQUATE”
Michael Leavitt
I'm not panicked, but I'm serious.  Most of my children can fight "colds," but our parents, my nephew, Natalee, perhaps Xavier....they are in the "will have a harder fight" category.  We also have an infant in the house.  We'll do our part in flattening the curve of community spread and we'll deal with our disappointments by holding on to each other.  I told a friend a bit cattily this morning "We're disappointed, but I like my children alive, so there's that."  If I like my children (parents, grandparents, etc) alive, I know those with severely immuno-compromised family members feel the same way.  These are unprecedented times.  I suspect people who lived through the polio and smallpox epidemics felt much the same way.  We, however, have technology on our side (although sometimes it seems like -too- much) - never have we had a social isolation/quarantine situation in which we can still community so readily with our loved ones, where we can order supplies in, and where we can reach out for what we need or to fill others' needs.
Someday, this will be in the history books of our children's children, and I hope it is written that "Americans did the right thing and were able to largely stop the spread."