Day 23

Monday and the start of the transition from "e-learning" to "remote learning". We are really lucky that the kids school is a Blue Ribbon school and each student has access to a Chromebook. Only 5th grade and up are allowed to brings their home but with this change they allowed us to go pick one up for Grant. So they both have their own learning devices. Elizabeth is really proficient in Google Classroom and very independent in her work. I am finding my third grader just hasn't had as much exposure and I have ZERO Google Classroom experience.

Here lies the real problem. I have two children who work in very different ways. They are both very willing to work and get their work done. Grant likes to be the first one up and start working right away and get his work done as soon as possible. Often forgetting to eat breakfast which results in a hangry frustrated child. Elizabeth likes a more leisurely morning. Taking some time for herself, slowly easing into her work - maybe taking in some nourishment while starting her work. With the lack of a schedule or a predetermined time that we have to be somewhere it is ok that they have this flexibility to work the way that they like - EXCEPT I end up doing breakfast dishes three times, Grant doesn't know how to do his work because he can't be patient enough to wait for his virtual class to start at 9:00 and oh Barndon is tossed into the mix too! The cherry on top is that remote learning is more work than what we have had before. We end up with conversations like this: "EB can you help Grant figure out how to find his class chat?"  "Grant it is in your email, just like I showed you last time. See right here - geesh you really need to clean out your inbox!" Thank you sweetheart, really helpful. So yes buckets of fun over here.

We also had to have a long discussion about proper posture while doing online classes. Hiding under a blanket, slouching in a chair, laying our head on a pillow - not acceptable. Sitting up in a chair, looking like you are ready to learn! Brandon gave some very specific examples of how he looks or doesn't look for his conference calls. 

Schoolwork took until lunchtime, which didn't happen until 1:00. We treated ourselves to a little Brady Bunch and then took off for the park. The one without trails :) We didn't find the geo cache we were looking for but we did find some friends! We stood at least 10 feet apart chatting with them while Grant practiced his creek jumping skills.

By the time we got home Brandon was wrapping up his day and was ready to start on the fence. After he spent some grinding he called me down to help prime. We ate dinner at 8:00. I told him I may need to feed the kids earlier tomorrow! We played a game of Catan where Grant said "Mom needs a win" and everyone had a big laugh and I won!