Week 9, Day 39 of the CrononaCrazy Day Drills

Nearly 40 days of this nonsense. I'd say that's a lot of blogging, but a couple of summers ago I did the 88 days of summer everyday, so that qualifies as crazy.

Today is the LAST day that they are suppose to assign any new work to be done. We got notes from both kiddos gym teachers saying that they hadn't turned in anything this entire time. #momfail #teacherfail Yep, we didn't. I didn't know they were suppose to submit anything. I checked it out the first, maybe the second week, and seen that they had posted things but there were no assignments. So I applauded them for not making something a requirement, because believe you me, the Agozzino's would be FORCED to participate in physical activity, so no need to mandate. Well shoot, I spent a good chunk of today today submitting 6 weeks of submissions telling them what we did for gym.  🙄 Dang good thing I keep these blogs.  I even documented this stuff! #momrebound #teacherpivot

We also continued to work on our writing prompt booklets about the school year. Isaac also got special drop-off from Mrs. Kristoff and Ms. Cady, but he wasn't here when they stopped by sadly. He got a trophy for 'nicest' which is just perfect for Isaac. He really does have a heart of gold.

This afternoon Olivia got a jump start on her 4-H project when she planted her pumpkin seeds. I'm praying they grow or I'll have one really sad little cloverbud. We didn't plant them until today because it's Ohio, and we've had to look like hillbilly heaven the last week, covering up our flowers and veggies since it's still frosting at night. UGH.  If the weatherman doesn't lie, we should be done with that for awhile now, so we planted the pumpkin seeds.

Week 5, Day 20 of the CrononaCrazy Day Drills

Today you are getting an update exactly how I feel about the day. Short because I'm over it.  After the third time asking Isaac to watch a video that start and stopped at least 6 times, I found myself locked in my bathroom sending video chats to Jerm to say he would be walking into a land mind when he returned home from work. I MUST escape from this house.  I need a new environment.  During the school year, my favorite spot is St. Rita's resource center at the hospital.  One, reliable internet. Two, the only Starbucks in town is across the hallway. Three, no one finds me there. I'm really missing my spot to escape. I haven't had to go there as often this year with my move to the business college. People don't know where I went at work.  I'm not complaining because I got more work done while at work than in the last 13 years. But I digress.

Today we kicked off with reading one-on-one while the other did hot dots. We're doing this from now on because this helped tremendously.  This also leads naturally into their reading work. Olivia is much better an Isaac working independently. I've found they both know if I'm not checking they just click submit and don't really read/watch it.  UGH.  So frustrating.  Have to check everything- even if it's not for grade- because later it will be and they need to read it!  

Writing prompt today was if you were a bee, what would you be doing right now?  Their answers were cute. Olivia had so much to say it went to a second page! 

We learned with Isaac he can understand much better when he can see the problem.  I sent a text to Jerm asking about one problem, and I think he summed it up well...

"You have it correct but it’s worded so dumb. I get what they are saying but it is just worded to confuse the child. Why? This is math. It is absolute. It has a right answer so stop confusing the child. This really isn’t math, it’s a critical thinking class. Which is fine but call it that. That question to me is not math."

Bible Time today was Noah's Ark. I typically get other things done while the videos are on, but listen in on the kids conversation. I love hearing them discuss or foreshadow what will happen. For example, when the dove brought back the olive branch, they were cheering and knew it wouldn't be long to find land.  

The Social Studies lessons was were I lost it (it got bumped until after bible time). Olivia is working on biographies. Isaac on the other hand was going to learn about transportation and his movie stopped a million times and he'd have to log out and get back in to make it work. Maddening.  School was cancelled for the day shortly thereafter. 🤣

Week 5, Day 19 of the CrononaCrazy Day Drills

Awe, man. I liked those three days off.  Of those three days, two of them I still had my own classes online, so it was nice to not have to search for the balance.  Instead I got to grade, plan, and execute without wondering if my own kiddos were doing their work like they were supposed to be doing. 

Easter was great. I mean I did get some grading done. I didn't have to spend countless hours driving or cooking. Sad I didn't get to see all my family in person, but was nice to stay up and binge watch tv with Jeremy waiting on the Easter Bunny to come. 

But as of today, April 14, the break is over and back to whatever this crazy is that we try to schedule out the days and attempt to be as normal as possible. I'd love to be able to keep my kiddos growing and not going backwards during this time. So here we go---week 5. 

Issac and I  started out on time.  Olivia was 2 hours late to school. LOL. We kicked off with hot dots and his Math. He's still working on fractions. When Olivia did eventually get out of bed, she caught up quickly. She is working on fractions too, so we might get out the cool fraction game that they got for Christmas. 

Reading/Vocab/Spelling is still on this week, even though we don't have a full week. 😥 It's fine, but I don't like starting late. Isaac needs every single day to study. The good news with the virtual stuff is you take the test by a certain date and when you feel ready.  We can practice a lot right before he takes the test, so it's all good. 

I've also included our writing prompt for the day.  I was able to send to both their teachers and both responded.  So sweet of them to interact even though we can't physically see them anymore. 

As I said last week, we finished up our Bible time video series, so I was on the lookout for new. Here is what we found. Today was episode 1 and it was about creation. They love laying on the couch and just chilling while watching.  

Because I have to teach so much today, we had to build in some free time. I usually have NO IDEA what they're doing during this time I'm required to be teaching online. I just ask them not to make noise or ask me questions unless it's an emergency. 

Now science is going great, even though this is a self guided (aka mommy inspired) lesson.  We've been reading a book about our bodies. Today's chapter is all about the systems in our bodies. And today they got to read all about why they fart and poop.  Oh boy- potty humor at it's finest. They have been WAITING for this chapter. Check out the videos as each got to read a section. 

Week 4, Day 18 of the CrononaCrazy Day Drills

Last day of school until next Tuesday.  Not that anyone around here is counting. LOL. So as any good administrator would do, we are going to allow for an early release today.

Frankly, we are all counting down the days until we can get a break. I'm looking forward of running my own classes online and not worrying about trying to get through their work as well. Small victories.

Our four hours of Bible Time videos came to close today.  These were awesome. Couldn't have planned it any better either- ended with Easter and dying on the cross.  It's perfect timing.

We finished up the Math and Reading on Schoology that we needed to finish that was mandated . The writing prompts were cute and I shared with daddy that he has a lot of baseball planned for this spring break. Hope he's ready!

Finally, today I put on a video of Olivia reading her Junie B. book.  I think it will be adorable to look back someday and hear her reading.

Tonight we are going to do the Front Porch Project.  I'm setting up my tripod and shooting some photos. Since we won't have a post tomorrow about all the school activities, maybe I'll just post our FPP pictures 😀
 

Week 4, Day 17 of the CrononaCrazy Day Drills

Halfway through our week! Tomorrow is the last day before Spring Break. Excited for a fun day packed full of some fun things that aren't mandated by the school!

Reading, Math, and Social Studies are things that need to be finished up for the week.  But as I said yesterday, Olivia's teacher sent some writing prompts, so we will be adding these to the daily schedule.  If I have any teacher friends who read this blog, let me know if I should be leaving the spelling mistakes go, or if I should be telling them to fix them?! 

Mixing up the cookies are for the Easter cut-out we make and the dough needs to chill overnight. So we just mixed today and put the dough in the fridge. Most likely will make them on Thursday. Stay tuned for the deliciousness. 

Since we've been homeschooling, we haven't been reading for 10 minutes whatever they want to read in the evenings. So I decided to tell them that this wonderful thing is now mandated too.  It's not really, but I miss them reading for fun. So we're bringing it back. I also made them watch one of my childhood favorites with Grover, "There is A Monster at the End of This Book." They liked it! 

So it's been so warm here the last few days. They've been begging to have a water balloon fight. So today was the third day of warm weather and it did hit 72 degrees, so I agreed to the water balloons.  Watch the video for the fun fight. The only thing I don't like about this is the clean up.  But I make them do the clean up, so it's not all bad.

Another fun thing we did was make bunnies out of toilet paper rolls. Grabbing the idea and tutorial from Pinterest, we had all the supplies on hand. So while I jumped on a phone call, they painted the tubes with washable paint. When I was back from the call, I helped them cut out the ears and feet, and they assembled. It wasn't a hard project at all and I'd highly recommend for those with younger kiddos.  With Easter coming up, they were excited to work on the craft and even more excited to display their work on the mantel afterward.

The final thing we did today was read the book about our bodies for Science. We covered the bones and muscles chapter today.  I had them take turns reading the pages. We talked about the extra facts. But their minds were blown today with the fact that if they laid down with their arms out and put something (expo markers in our case) and then laid between them, your 'wingspan' is almost exactly how tall you are. They were outdone.  They both did it and then had me do it to make sure it wasn't a fluke.  Then they called maw and told her that she and paw HAD to try it because it works! 🤣

Week 4, Day 16 of the CrononaCrazy Day Drills

Here we go... Entering week 4 of this craziness that has become our new normal. If you would have asked me when this started if we'd be finishing up this by now, the answer would have been a resounding NO.  When the universities shut down until at least next weekend upon the initial announcement, there was no way that our children who were younger and more susceptible were going back. Although they have said they'll reevaluate May 1 (Olivia's Birthday!) I am again on the bandwagon that it will be extended throughout the end of the school year. This will be interesting for Elida. I haven't heard much, but this was to be a short summer since they are building our new school this year throughout the 2021 summer. Only time can tell, as everything that is happening now is uncharted and unpredictable.

We do get a short week this week as it's the kiddos spring break week. They'll only be going to school through Wednesday this week!  Then some much needed holiday break. If nothing more, for momma to get caught up on her online classes and grading. Looking forward to some much needed downtime.  

Today we returned to the schedule.  It's much needed in our household. The only time I need to jump online to teach is from 2-3 on Mondays, so we attempt to cram most work into the morning and early afternoon, so during the 2-3 hour they can do something on their own.  I did return to the interview of what life is like right now in the weekly interviews. These two could talk for hours, so I cut them off at 3 minutes because my two talkers could go on for hours...where did they get that from?


We kicked off today with XtraMath and hot dots. Isaac only needs to do hot dots because my ISAAC passed all levels of XtraMath. To say he was excited was an understatement. He had me print off his certificate and write on it like his teacher does. Then he got a special text from his math teacher saying she had saw he passed and wanted him to know how proud she was of him.  Happy tears.  Super proud of how far he has come in academics.  I can tell you he is the HARDEST worker you'll ever find. As a teacher and coach, I'll take that any day. 


Music class had us playing musical chairs with two people. DUMB. Then I suggested we put up Olivia's dance videos from the first comp and she could run through them.  Oh how we (and ever other dance family) miss it. The questions revolving around the unknown send me down a rabbit hole, so moving on. 

Olivia had to write in her journal about Easter.  She LOVES to write. I mean loves it. Knowing this, her teacher actually text me today and sent me via email an entire packet of journal prompts and offered to review them for her. How stinkin' sweet is that?  

Besides the normal schedule, it was so beautiful today so we went to Ottawa Metro park today for a walk/run.  Olivia ran 3.2 miles again today at 33.33. That's around 10 minute miles. I'm so impressed with her and this distance training. She's killing it.  All for the medal. We signed her up for the super grover race. It's a virtual race, so she can do it anytime and then submit her time and receive her medal.  She's so focused and determined right now that it makes my heart skip a beat.