Week 9, Day 38 of the CrononaCrazy Day Drills

Wowzers, today was jammed packed with FUN. Today was field day.  Remember that fun day where you get to play outside all afternoon.  Yep, except ours was filled with a bike ride with maw and paw at Ottawa Metro park.  We loaded up our bikes and went on the bike path.  I had never been very far on the path, so I was probably just as excited as the kids to explore. We loved it. I was originally going to run, and was pretty stoked that I took my bike instead so we could go further. Who knew it went right by the Whippy Dip ice cream stand?  This needs to be included in our schedule.

Now as far as school was concerned, we did get our math and reading done. I took a picture of Isaac in his 'spot' because he loves to sit there with his iPad on the floor and his head up against the couch. So funny.  We also got to bible time today (today's lesson was on Ruth) and the kiddos got to Zoom call with their church class. They did a cool scavenger hunt and we were at maw and paws since we were loading up the bikes, so they were running through her house finding things. At one point Isaac went running by with Paw's toothbrush!

We also had baking class today. Group effort.  Peanut butter blossoms. I don't care if it's a holiday or not, these should be a normal cookie to bake in my book.  Olivia is always the fastest un-wrapper, so we task her with that chore. Isaac, well he says he's the best mixer, but I'm pretty sure he's licking the beaters over there. They turned out great and they'll be gone in 2 days.

The last thing we worked on today was our writing prompt books that Mrs. Gomez sent home with their school supplies.  It's a book that they must have filled out at the end of the school year because it asks questions like who you sat beside and who was your teacher. It's a little book and pretty cute. I've asked the kiddos to take their time, so we're only doing a few pages a day and when we're all done, I might take pictures and upload to snapfish to make little keepsakes for them. It's a pretty unique last 9 weeks, and school year in general, so it might be fun to look back on them later.

Week 6, Day 27 of the CrononaCrazy Day Drills

Kicking off Friday with a Zoom call. That's what Olivia found herself doing at 10 a.m. this Friday. It's the first time she has seen her classmates since the CrononaCrazy has started. She was so excited she went to bed early and set an alarm for an hour earlier so she could be sure to be up in time. To say she was excited is an understatement. She asked to use my computer so she could use my headset and change her virtual background to something Disney.  I was laughing on the inside, but of course let her set herself all up.  She then told me I could leave. I heard her from the other room telling her classmates they were on mute. 🤣

 Isaac and I worked on his reading this morning and then I asked both of them to fill out the writing prompt.  Isaac didn't really feel like writing, but coloring. His favorite sport he listed today was track, which prompted an outdoor trip to the track. It was 63 degrees and just a perfect day on the track. So much so, I sent the pic to a few track buddies and said I wished I could include the smell- you know what I mean if you spend years of your life there. Ah, that smell.

We got home to a super sweet surprise. My SIL Wendy stopped by and left some treats on our porch.  She put cute cards to both me and the kiddos inside and then texted me down the road and said to go out to the porch before they melted. She also left me some Truly's 😘 It's like she read my blog and realized how bad I needed a drink!  I've never had one, so I'll let you know what I think.  I hear the student's talk about them all the time, but never had tried. So thanks Wendy for the drinks and trying to make me 'cool.'

Because I'm leaving for my sabbatical later this afternoon, I left the kiddos choose what they wanted to do. They picked this game that their grandparents sent to them called cups. It's a cute game and it has a bell.  Who doesn't love to hit the bell? We played several games of this before I said I had to get packed up to leave. Homework for this week is done and handed in.  Until next week my friends.  The hope is to come back rested, ready and refreshed!

Week 3, Day 13 of the CrononaCrazy Day Drills

Can we be real here for just a minute? I have seen so many memes on social right now, but one of my favorites is:



Then you see my example. You want to set a tent up in the basement? I'll allow it. You want to bring every blanket and stuffy you own downstairs to the tent including the mattress? I'll allow it.  You want to stay up until midnight or after? I'll allow it. If it means that you don't get up until 9:30-10, heck yeah I'll allow it.  Remember I'm a night owl so momma needs her sleep in the morning. When you're heading to bed at 3 am, the 7am stomping by my room to see if I'm up yet, isn't cutting it. They have very STRICT instructions that if they don't want the no good, very bad, very grumpy monster teacher, you let me sleep until at least 9. Have mercy on your soul children if you wake me before the 9 am alarm. 

Ok, back to Day Drills.  So today is April 1. We finally made it to April. Yep, didn't think that was ever going to happen there for a minute. April FOOLS DAY.  I'm working with a bunch of fools, so no need to play any pranks. I had just the top red filled out this morning when they got up they were so excited...until I started writing. 

We kicked off today with our Bible time series. Today's lesson was on David's dreams. We had just read this story this summer and they had remembered reading and talking about it from the summer.

We did 'science' earlier than scheduled time. It got bumped up because there was a really neat Facebook Live session with the Cleveland Zoo that we got sucked into. We watched them talk about tree kangaroos. Interesting stuff. I linked it above, so hopefully if you'd like to steal a peak, you should be able to watch too.  You just might learn something! 

Now as we were watching the zoo, our doorbell rang.  In typically Agozzino fashion, we were all still in our PJs and we just thought it was the delivery guy who we know and sometimes yells hello through the door after ringing the doorbell. BUT, it was an hour early for him (and anyone who knows about UPS, they are like clockwork). So the kids thankfully didn't just open the door, but yelled for me to do it. When I opened the door, the kids screamed in delight!  It was Ms. Cady and Mrs. Kristoff came to say hello.  These are Isaac's teachers, but since Mrs. Kristoff also tutored Isaac over the summer, she knows both my kiddos well.  The video above is when I finally had the sense to go grab it.  They brought Isaac skittles (which he downed before I could get a picture) with this adorable note. BEST. TEACHERS. EVER. #elidatogether 🐾

We did reading and spelling. We did our hot dots, but it's actually pretty funny how these Chore Charts are working out.  They were just waiting and begging to scrub the floors again...uh, ok.  Bathrooms were today! I have three just upstairs.  We took the opportunity to scrub the floors, take everything out of the cupboard and drawers and wipe them down with disinfectant and organize and put everything back. Best idea ever. 


Gym was fun. Today Olivia rode her bike with me while I ran. We went 3.75 miles down around the outside of the mall that looks like an abandoned building with not 1 car in the parking lot. Isaac chose to stay home with his dad today during gym.  

Last part of today was Math. That good looking sub came back tonight and worked with both kiddos.  He was already working with Isaac when Olivia and I got back. He had a expo marker and was trying to diagram out the fractions and Isaac looked like a deer in the headlights. 😂 They eventually finished then Olivia came walking in with her iPad and Jerm was like "what?"  I said "I saved both kids Math for you."  I'm pretty sure the sub was flirting with me the whole time. He kept talking to me and stalling me from getting my work done.   

Week 3, Day 11 of the CrononaCrazy Day Drills

It's Monday...in every sense of the word. We set up the day and logged onto Schoology only to find the error screen. Upon some research, we weren't the only ones who were experiencing some technical difficulties. I would love to say we just rolled with the punches, but if something needed punched, it was the iPad. I have the patience of Job for the most part, but my lack of sleep must be getting the best of me. I wanted to lose it. Not to mention, when it did start and I looked at Isaac's grades on his reading assessments, I went through the roof. He's not reading the passages. He's just reading the questions and guessing. I know that because I simply asked him and he confirmed that this is indeed what he's doing. Which means I can't just let him 'do it on his own' because he won't do it. Just another frustrating part of homeschooling and working full time online teaching college kiddos and trying to do it all and not feeling like I'm really doing either to the best of my ability 😰

Bible time was David and Goliath. I was excited to listen to this one because I'm reading another book about the story in my big-kid bible study. I was excited to hear what the kiddos thought of the story.  They informed they've already watched this one, but it was so good, they watched it again.

The paw prints is an Elida thing. I read it on one of my friends Facebook pages and see that several children in the district at decorating the paw prints and putting them in the windows/doors of their homes. So I just told the kids that we were going to decorate them and put them up in the garage door window.  Below is what their final products looked like.

 The last thing we tackled today was new chore charts. I use these in the summer, so they weren't new. But the kids were excited to see them return. There is something satisfying about getting something checked off your list. This is why I do things-to-do list almost every day. When I get to scribble out something, it's a great motivator.  Apparently for my kiddos, a smiley sticker 😊 is just as motivating.

The news of today from Ohio Governor Mike Dewine was that we continue this crazy new normal for at least another month, through April 30.  I have a really bad feeling that we'll be finishing out the school year this way and starting back this summer on our early schedule as they continue to build our new elementary school.

Be sure to check out the kiddos videos at the end. Another cool idea I've read online was to have the kids keep a journal (or video journal in our case) of this history in the making. I figure I'm journaling this craziness already, I'll let them talk. Although I haven't started it yet, the goal is to take these blog posts and pictures and make scrapbook (through Snapfish) and get a copy for each of the kiddos to keep forever. The hope is to look back someday and remember all the great memories instead of the sadness and loneliness in isolation in our own house. Just trying to make the best of it!