We just finished our first week of home-schooling!
*Technically, we officially started last Thursday (3/12), when Daren’s school cancelled all classes for 2-weeks based on the virus outbreak a few days before the week ended.
Kudos to the archdiocese to recognize the severity of the situation and cancel classes ahead of other schools in the area. (SFUSD officially canceled class for 3-weeks starting the following Monday 3/16). Although MLLT remained opened at the time, we also decided to keep Jordan at home starting Thursday to decrease the chance of spread. MLLT eventually ended up closing next Monday on 3/16 also.
Day 1: Thursday 3/12
Our first day of home-schooling!
Things went mostly fine today. The previous day, Ms. Ruiz gave each student a packet of lessons and activities to implement for the entire 2-week shutdown.
We created a hand-written schedule for both Daren and Jordan to stick to and for the most part things went pretty smoothly!
We definitely need to work on taking our time and not rushing through the schedule.
To break up the studying (and restlessness), we followed along a kids exercise program called GoNoodle that Daren loves to do in class.
Everyone had fun getting their energy out!
Day 2: Friday 3/13
Today’s schedule went a little better.
We were able to pace ourselves a little more and take our time on certain activities.
We ended the night with movie night! We brought out the mattress to the living room and popped fresh popcorn for the kids to enjoy while watching the Batman Lego Movie!
Day 3: Saturday 3/14
Today, for the most part, was pretty relaxed and unplanned. Everybody slept in a little and the kids watched TV for most of the morning.
For lunch, in an effort to avoid crowds, we opted to order take out from Turtle Tower and eat in at home.
On the way back from picking up the food, we made a quick side-trip to Golden Gate Park to say hello to the bison! Daren and Jordan really really loved seeing the bison. They kept saying hello to the animals expecting them to respond back, haha 🙂
Despite the cloudy weather, it was nice to take a short drive and explore the park.
Day 4: Sunday 3/15
Welp, we just found out that our Sunday swim class at UCSF Mission bay was canceled last night (due to virus concerns), so now we have to figure out something else to do today.
We actually didn’t have much else planned, so we decided to go to the nearby police academy (that’s empty on the weekends, usually), to let the kiddos ride their bicycles around and let out some energy.
Bel also joined in on the exercise by walking a few laps around the empty parking lot!
We also heard tonight, that there is a rumor that the entire city might be locked down for a couple weeks to help stop the community spread of the coronavirus. Not sure if this was true or not, but we made a late night run to Safeway to stock up on more food just in case.
A lot of staple foods (rice, beans, canned goods) were out of stock, but I was able to grab some milk, eggs, fresh produce, deli meat, wheat bread, ice cream, cookie dough and snacks to tide us over for the week.
Not sure why people are rushing to buy bottled water, but ok.
Day 5: Monday 3/16
Today’s lessons and activities went well. I think we are starting to have a pretty good routine that the kids are able to follow each day.
This is an example day for Daren:
- eat breakfast
- brush teeth
- say pledge of allegiance
- calendar page (write out today’s month/day/date, season, and weather)
- Writers workshop (daily writing assignment)
- Math
- Snack (15 mins)
- Language Arts
- Reading Activity
- Lunch (1 hour)
- Epic (online reading library)
- GoNoodle (online dance/exercise program)
Jordan’s schedule on the other hand, is a little more flexible/fluid. Especially since he often likes to decide that he’d rather play with his toys than sit down and do homework, lol.
In general, we decided we didn’t want to be too strict and set rigid timeframes for each activity since the kids are still young and more importantly, we’re all going through this together for the first time.
We also want them to enjoy this time together, rather than thinking of this situation as a stressful one. We’re honestly trying our best to manage the kids while we both still work from home with full-time jobs.
Oh, and they wear PJs all the time… and I mean ALL the time! The only time they change is if we leave the house to go for a walk.
Day 6: Tuesday 3/17
Today’s lessons and activities went well again thanks to the schedule. Part of the daily process is creating the schedule the night before so that the kids are ready to rock once they wake up.
Bel has been doing a great job of organizing the schedules/activities and writing them on the wall.
One part we have been struggling with is that Jordan refuses to take his nap. At pre-school, he usually gets 2 hours of nap time each day. Because he didn’t nap today, he actually fell asleep right in the middle of dinner!
We really need to figure out some ideas on how to get him to sleep because aside from missing dinner he also tends to get cranky and moody towards the evening. I guess, worst case, we can drive him around in the car until he falls asleep?
Will need to think about this some more.
At least he still likes to do his GoNoodle exercise routine!
Day 7: Wednesday 3/18
Success! Jordan took his first nap at home today! He was able to take a 2 hour nap! I lay down on the mattress with him in his room until he closed his eyes. I told Daren and Bel to stay outside so that there were no distractions.
Although he huffed and puffed and rolled around for a while, he eventually fell asleep. Win!
After our morning activities, we took a quick walk down to Glen Canyon. I’m always amazed that we have this wonderful walking area tucked behind the baseball field behind our house.
When the kids are older I definitely want to show them the various trails that I like to run through when I go out for a run.
The kids have really been wanting to help with the cooking lately. For breakfast, they both helped make avocado toast!
They helped spread the avocado (after we cut it of course, haha) on the toast, and also helped sprinkle the bacon on top. Yum!
For dinner we decided to make something that they love: home-made pizza from scratch!
The fresh pizza dough from whole foods is absolutely delicious. After the kids pounded out the dough and rolled it flat, they put their own topping on top. Jordan kept it simple with ham and cheese, while Daren opted to add salami, ham, and spinach!
With the shopping situation the way it is at the moment, its unfortunate that we don’t know the next time we’ll be able to get fresh dough again.
Hopefully, things will get back to normal soon so we can take our trips to Whole Foods again for our weekly grocery shopping…
Day 8: Thursday 3/19
Today we had a quick morning video conference call that Ms. Ruiz set up for us. The meeting went well and it was nice for her to check in with Daren for a few minutes. We’re not sure how frequent these video chats will become in the future, but hopefully there will be a few more of them down the line.
Governor Newsom just issued a statement yesterday that all schools might be cancelled for the year but that hasn’t been confirmed yet. We’re not sure whether or not St. Annes will close for the full year, but Ms. Ruiz said she’d keep us informed.
It’s starting to sink in that we might not be going back to school anytime in the near future…
However, we have to remember to always make the best of every situation! After some morning homework, we went for another walk in Glen canyon to get a little fresh air and exercise.
For now, I think the kids are slowly adjusting to life/school at home for the time being. Jordan especially, lol!
I keep thinking how sad it is that they are not able to play with their friends and that hopefully we can make the best of this (hopefully) rare situation and make it a pleasant memory for everyone to remember for a long, long time.
Note: when I took this there were a TON of spilled toys on the floor to the right. Messy floors are unfortunately also becoming a normal reality now 🙂
Day 9: Friday 3/20
Another start to a great day!
After their homework was over, the kids had a lot of fun making their very own wooden cars from a DIY kit Bel bought on Amazon!
Also, Bel tried to make her first green onion pancake from scratch! It didn’t quite turn out the way she wanted though. We didn’t realize it at the time but she mistakenly put in too much water into the recipe.
I’m sure it’ll come out better next time!
Day 10: Saturday 3/21
After a morning filled with cartoons, we decided to relax and hang out inside our garage!
Sunglasses? check!
Portable camping chairs? Check!
Day 11: Sunday 3/22
Whew! We made it!
To close out this long week, here’s Jordan reading one of his favorite books. The solar system!
That’s a wrap for week 1!