My daughter had her first Zoom chat with her class and was so excited (but also really nervous beforehand). It sounds like they will make it a weekly thing. The district did send out instructions to all the teachers today about safety settings to use.
I had to resist crying during her Zoom call because it made me simultaneously happy and sad.
We put magnatiles all over the garage door yesterday and that was fun.
We’ve been out of school for three weeks tomorrow. My daughter’s been a champ and has been her usual happy gregarious self, really enjoying the Zoom and Google Hangout times she’s having with her classes and friends. But this morning I think it hit her a bit because she said she woke up crying, having had a dream that she’d never get to see her three best friends again. It about broke my heart. She asked if she could FaceTime them and of course I agreed. I hope it helps!
My son, on the other hand, could not be any happier about being at home. He’s a homebody anyway and has just come out of a rough time earlier this year after his teacher went on maternity leave and his sister was in the hospital. I told him he’d most likely not be going back to school until August and his reply was “YES!” Lol. I mean... yay that he enjoys being around us? I hope going back to school isn’t like pulling teeth in August.
We just got the official notice that the kids cannot return to campus for the rest of the academic year. All schooling will be done online. My kindergartener and I may have cried. My 8th grader took it a bit better, but he's sad. No 8th grade dance. No ditch day at Disneyland. No 8th grade promotion ceremony.
Post by timorousbeastie on Apr 2, 2020 11:40:17 GMT -5
Michigan canceled school for the rest of the year as of today. I knew it was coming, but I didn’t expect to feel so emotional over the thought of no kindergarten graduation for DD. ☹️
Post by BicycleBride on Apr 2, 2020 11:41:10 GMT -5
Today is DS’s 7th birthday! He was having a having a hard time with it earlier in the week but he’s been a real champ so far today. We are having a family zoom tonight so that should be fun. There is only one family member I can’t figure out how to get on the zoom call mostly due to him being very rigid so he’s just going to be on speakerphone. DD May be more excited about DS’s birthday than DS is. I still have to make a cake and get them to finish the rest of their schoolwork so fingers crossed for that.
I am over my children. Why do they have to be so loud all of the time.
I feel this. Tuesday and Wednesday were really good, but as the week goes on I get more tired and they get more antsy and we annoy each other more.
I am very over mine. So loud all the time, and the yelling and whining are making me too much of a yeller. I keep second guessing myself on if they are REALLY too young for me to leave them at home alone while I take a walk by myself.
Michigan canceled school for the rest of the year as of today. I knew it was coming, but I didn’t expect to feel so emotional over the thought of no kindergarten graduation for DD. ☹️
We haven't officially closed for the year, but everyone is talking as if it's the reality and I'm so, so upset about missing the kindergarten graduation. It's little and silly, but I got to go to one for my son and I run one every year since I teach kindergarten and I'm just so sad that I won't have that for my daughter.
That's the hardest part of all of this for me, honestly. I already have a hard enough time with my kids getting older and I want to hold onto their childhood's as long as possible, and this feels like a year of missed memories with them and I can't ever get this year back. I'm just sad. All the time.
Velar Fricative me too They also have a 70 year old tenant living in their basement and she's insisting on staying put. They don't share living space but do share HVAC.
I am not freaking out yet because it does sounds very mild but they're just like 3/4 days into it so still a ways to go. Really glad they are all relatively healthy to begin with. The youngest is 5, oldest is 12. They just got a new puppy recently so that has been keeping spirits up.
My son, on the other hand, could not be any happier about being at home. He’s a homebody anyway and has just come out of a rough time earlier this year after his teacher went on maternity leave and his sister was in the hospital. I told him he’d most likely not be going back to school until August and his reply was “YES!” Lol. I mean... yay that he enjoys being around us? I hope going back to school isn’t like pulling teeth in August.
One of my kids (first grader) seems to be thriving, especially since H was laid off at the start of this week and can focus on a some structured educational time with them. This is a kid who doesn't do well socially, doesn't have a lot of friends and often gets frowny faces on the daily behavior report. At home, he whips through is work.
First grader #2, who likes going to school and generally does well without any concerns from the teacher, has been more challenging. While I have suspected anxiety or the possibility of mild autism spectrum with kid #1, I am now beginning to think kid #2 may have ADHD. He gets really upset when it's time to sit and focus on an assignment. He also reverses 2-digit numbers quite a bit (91 instead of 19).
Like many of you, I am so sad for my 5th grader that she won't get to go to science camp or have a promotion ceremony. Obviously this is minor in the scheme of things.
We’ve been out of school for three weeks tomorrow. My daughter’s been a champ and has been her usual happy gregarious self, really enjoying the Zoom and Google Hangout times she’s having with her classes and friends. But this morning I think it hit her a bit because she said she woke up crying, having had a dream that she’d never get to see her three best friends again. It about broke my heart. She asked if she could FaceTime them and of course I agreed. I hope it helps!
My son, on the other hand, could not be any happier about being at home. He’s a homebody anyway and has just come out of a rough time earlier this year after his teacher went on maternity leave and his sister was in the hospital. I told him he’d most likely not be going back to school until August and his reply was “YES!” Lol. I mean... yay that he enjoys being around us? I hope going back to school isn’t like pulling teeth in August.
My kids are kind of like this too. DD seems to be handling it okay most of the time, although when asked if she wants to video chat friends she says no?! Meanwhile DS1 is the kid who has always complained about going to school (he's only in Pre-K) so he's completely thrilled to be staying home. Also constantly complaining about me having to work. DS2 is fine, he's a stereotypical self-absorbed 2yo.
Post by picksthemusic on Apr 2, 2020 12:34:46 GMT -5
I'm out of the house today at work (I am in a patient-facing clinic today), and I can't say I miss my kids. I've been with them the last two days straight and with no other activities outside the house to do or keep us busy, we were going stir crazy.
Luckily they have Zoom classes today and school work to keep them busy so DH can WFH, but I also am going to brave Costco today on my way home and probably another grocery store since we need some staples. We are really trying to clean out our stores of food from the garage fridge/freezer so we don't have to shop much, but I keep finding things I need to make things with what we have.
Completely unrelated to Covid, but I have a fine motor question. We were homeschoolers before Covid made the rest of America homeschoolers.
DS just turned 7 and is ahead in math. He's doing level 2 Singapore. (Should be in 1st grade based on age.) He's been struggling this week with adding and subtracting hundreds because the font in his workbook is so small. We tried having him transpose everything into a notebook and that was hard, too. Sometimes we will do a few problems on a whiteboard, but doing an entire page of work while referencing a workbook or textbook is a bit much for him. He loses his place.
Is there some sort of fine motor bootcamp I can do at home? He's needing to write as small as, or smaller than, the line spacing in a college-ruled notebook. With carrying/borrowing he's having to cross out regroup a few times and write even smaller. Keeping those tiny numbers lined up is frustrating him. He can do the math, but man the text is small for someone his age. Especially in his review workbook. (Utilized for extra practice.)
Should I push him to continue to work on writing the small type, or should I grab printer paper and write out all of his problems in a larger font on that?
CloudBee even in 2nd grade writing small is a challenge!
It's really frustrating for him. Then they go ahead and throw this tiny font into decorative shapes / boxes to make it more appealing to a child. Thus cutting off even more space for him to write. And he feels like he shouldn't let his carried / borrowed numbers bleed outside of the stupid shapes they've put the problems into. LOL.
His penmanship has improved significantly over the last few months, but at an age appropriate size. Being ahead has caused frustration with font in all of his workbooks suddenly being smaller. I'm supplementing traditional Singapore Math with Math in Focus for review. Thankfully the font in those workbooks is larger.
I should be recording some of the weird things my kids play during this time. 5 minutes ago my toddler was a giant squid, now she is a baby kitten that her sister has locked in a pretend cage and is feeding bacon to. I'm glad that even with the 4 year age gap they find ways to play together.
Completely unrelated to Covid, but I have a fine motor question. We were homeschoolers before Covid made the rest of America homeschoolers.
DS just turned 7 and is ahead in math. He's doing level 2 Singapore. (Should be in 1st grade based on age.) He's been struggling this week with adding and subtracting hundreds because the font in his workbook is so small. We tried having him transpose everything into a notebook and that was hard, too. Sometimes we will do a few problems on a whiteboard, but doing an entire page of work while referencing a workbook or textbook is a bit much for him. He loses his place.
Is there some sort of fine motor bootcamp I can do at home? He's needing to write as small as, or smaller than, the line spacing in a college-ruled notebook. With carrying/borrowing he's having to cross out regroup a few times and write even smaller. Keeping those tiny numbers lined up is frustrating him. He can do the math, but man the text is small for someone his age. Especially in his review workbook. (Utilized for extra practice.)
Should I push him to continue to work on writing the small type, or should I grab printer paper and write out all of his problems in a larger font on that?
My ds has writing and math disabilities -- they recommend using graph paper to keep everything lined up. That does mean rewriting the problem though.
DS is driving me batty, and I’m trying to be kind about it. He is running all over and bouncing off the walls. I feel so bad for him. I keep trying to get him to do some sensory outlet (even jumping on his mattress on the floor), but it’s not helping much. I may need to just drive him to a field and let him exhaust himself. His motor is running at like 90 mph. It’s raining and I want to curl up with a book
Michigan canceled school for the rest of the year as of today. I knew it was coming, but I didn’t expect to feel so emotional over the thought of no kindergarten graduation for DD. ☹️
When you say canceled, is it in person school or just done with the 2019-2020 school year. See ya 2020-2021?
Our district just sent us grading guidelines to follow. Basically, a kid's grade can only go up from what it was at the end of 3rd quarter. I completely understand the why of this. AND it means that kids could literally do nothing the rest of the semester and still pass because nothing can count against them. I am sure 90% of my students will still do their work, but there will be a LOT of students figure this out quickly and it's over.