Category: Jonas

We REALLY enjoyed creek stomping this afternoon with the sweet, fun Grant Family. The water was really low, which made for some interesting exploring. We saw snakes, crayfish skeletons, water bugs, and minnows. Roman and Xander both caught fish with their nets…they were so excited…Roman, so much so that he had a hard time releasing his fish back into the creek. But he did (albeit with tears)…sweet buddy. It was such a great way to end the school year and ring in the summer. We all needed a little bit of free forming with friends, and it lifted our spirits. Thank God for time spent in the great outdoors with kindred spirits!

Mommy didn’t have a lot of energy today…honestly, I’ve been struggling mentally and emotionally for the past few weeks.

So, we did old school homeschool today. The boys spent time coding (Jonas and Xander on Khan Academy and Roman on Kano Code), reading (on Epic), working on math skills (on Beast and Khan Academy), and checking out some Mystery Science videos. We didn’t really have it in us to do specifics today, so we went free form. And we skipped Mommy and Me Time to try to get through schooling quickly.

The highlight of our day was going to Aunt Julie’s house to meet her two new kittens, Bowie and Hendrix!!! Uncle Ken was so great to hang out with two of the boys outside at a time, playing with a remote control car and throwing the frisbee with them, while one of the boys hung out with the kitties, Aunt Julie, Jordan, and I inside. It worked really well (great idea, Aunt Julie!) to keep the energy level down. Of course, one of the kittens fell asleep in Xander’s lap (he’s our resident animal whisperer). Look at the preciousness…

Today was a rough day for me. We didn’t get started homeschooling until after 1000 am and skipped Mommy and Me Time so the boys could get through their work at a decent time. Xander, who is usually my fairly compliant child, pushed back quite a bit today which really wore me out. Homeschooling during this time is a lot…add kid pushback/attitude times three to mommy fatigue/overwhelm, and it’s a recipe for…gosh, I don’t know what…whatever this is. I think the boys are done, and I am too…which makes it tough to push through.

Jonas worked on Quarantine Picture Writing, progressed at his own pace on Beast Academy, watched a video/read on Khan Academy about relationships between scientific ideas in a text (say that three times fast), and completed slides on Matter and American Reconstruction.

Xander watched a video/did an activity on Flocabulary about Quotation Marks, progressed at his own pace on Beast Academy, read a book, and watched videos on BrainPop about Potential and Kinetic Energy.

Roman watched a few videos about Jane Goodall (I told him he’d love her because she was all about monkeys), progressed at his own pace on Beast Academy, and read a book.

We’re starting week 7 of homeschooling…I think we are ALL (more than) ready to cross that finish line.

Jonas watched a video on and brainstormed ideas for a book project, progressed at his own pace on Beast and Khan Academy, read on Epic, and completed slides on Matter and American Reconstruction. For Mommy and Me Time, we cuddled up in bed and read together.

Xander responded to his online classroom discussion question and watched a video/answered questions on BrainPop about Dialogue, completed a GoMath lesson on Line Plots and progressed at his own pace on Beast Academy, read on Epic, and watched a Mystery Science video on roller coasters. For Mommy and Me Time, I helped him take apart one version of his new Lego Creator set and put together another one.

Roman watched a video on Timelines and took a spelling test, progressed at his own pace on Beast Academy, read a book, and watched a Mystery Science video on Excavators. For Mommy and Me Time, we played Kubb.

Just as we were gearing up to homeschool this morning, I got a text from one of my dearest friends asking if we wanted to join her and her kids at Long Hunter State Park for a walk around the lake trail and a picnic. Her son, Ethan, is Jonas’ best friend and her son, Owen, is Roman’s best friend. They surprised the boys, but Xander’s face fell immediately when he saw them and he started to tear up. I knew what his heart needed, so I knocked on our neighbor’s door and asked if her son, Jeremy, could come with us (he’s Xander’s best friend). And he could! It was the most social interaction we’ve had for months, and it was so nice be together with friends in the great outdoors.

The kids ran and ran and explored the woods off of the 2 mile lake trail at Long Hunter State Park. The scenery and the weather was just beautiful. We saw a box turtle and a snake!!! Afterwards, we enjoyed a picnic under the trees.

Thank God for friends…what a true blessing they are.

When we got home, we homeschooled until dinner. It was a good day.

Today was pretty uneventful, which was nice.

Jonas wrote about pictures from a Quarantine Picture Writing slideshow his teacher put together, progressed at his own pace on Beast and Khan Academy, read on Epic, and completed slides on Genetics and American Reconstruction. For Mommy and Me Time, we curled up on the couch together and read.

Xander watched a video his teacher put together on finding books to read on his dashboard and watched a video/answered questions on Brainpop about idioms, did a math lesson on units of length and progressed at his own pace on Beast and Khan Academy, reviewed theme and read on Epic, and watched a video on acceleration and read a NewsELA article about bumper cars. For Mommy and Me Time, we made cinnamon streusel muffins and played Mexican Train Dominoes.

Roman did a bit more research on Elon Musk for his biography, progressed at his own pace on Beast Academy, watched an animation of “Knuffle Bunny” and talked through a problem/solution chart with me and read on Epic, and did some Mystery Science. For Mommy and Me Time, we played Kubb and took turns trying to get AhAh into the basketball goal.

We ended up having a Homeschooling Light day today…we skipped Writing and Social Studies/Science and just did Math, Reading, and Mommy and Me Time.

Jonas progressed at his own pace on Khan and Beast Academy, read on Epic, and made lemon poppyseed muffins with me for Mommy and Me Time.

Xander progressed at his own pace on Khan and Beast Academy, read on Epic, and sewed bookmarks with me for Mommy and Me Time.

Roman progressed at his own pace on Beast Academy, read on Epic, and played throw golf with me for Mommy and Me Time.

Week 6 of homeschooling is complete…only 2 1/2 more weeks to go!!!

Tom took Jonas to work with him today (it’s just Tom at his office), so he could homeschool there. It helped so much just to change up the dynamic for a day and give the boys a break from each other (and me a break from the tween attitude and the incessant fighting between the book ends). I think Jonas really enjoyed having his space with Daddy too!

Jonas labeled the parts of speech in a Dr. Seuss quote, watched a video on fractions and progressed at his own pace on Beast Academy, watched a TED talk and read on Epic, and completed several slides about forces and motion.

Xander wrote a narrative essay about what he’d be doing if he were at school, worked with multiplying fractions and whole numbers and progressed at his own pace on Beast Academy, read a book, read a few social studies articles and answered questions about them, and watched a technology and engineering video for science. For Mommy and Me Time, we made his bed/picked up his room and snuggled up in bed and read together.

Roman worked on his biography about Unspeakable with me, progressed at his own pace on Beast Academy, read on Epic, watched a few mystery science videos, and took a spelling test. For Mommy and Me Time, we played throw golf in the house.

We’re looking forward to PJ day tomorrow and heading out on the lake for the afternoon after homeschooling.

Are y’all getting bored of all of my posts about homeschool?

I hope not…it really helps me to order and make sense of my days.

Jonas did a lesson on comparative and superlative adjectives for Writing, progressed at his own pace on Khan Academy for Math, read on Epic, learned about ground water as a natural resource in Science, and read about the Holocaust in Social Studies. For Mommy and Me Time, we curled up in bed and read together.

Xander responded to his teacher’s classroom question and reviewed similes and metaphors for Writing, progressed at his own pace on Freckle for Math, read on Epic, and did some Mystery Science. For Mommy and Me Time, we took a walk (it ended up being a really long walk because we got lost…ack!).

Roman reviewed commas in a series and adjectives and sorted his spelling words by number of syllables, progressed at his own pace on Beast Activity for Math, and did some Mystery Science. For Mommy and Me time, we took a walk.

For our enrichment activity today (in honor of Earth Day), we made dirt cups (mud…milk, chocolate pudding, and cool whip AND dirt…crushed Oreos) with gummy worms. Yummy!!!

The boys and I have come to really look forward to our “unschooling” days.

They listened to music, read (Jonas and Xander are really into the “The Far Side” by Gary Larsen right now), created and played their own Kahoots, took turns riding the hoverboard, did crafts (Jonas did origami and Xander made his own stuffed animal dolphin out of paper, staples, and cotton balls), and connected with their friends over Zoom (Jonas also did a TaeKwonDo workout with Mrs. Mast).

I cleaned, gardened, mulched our front flower beds, and sewed face masks. We took breaks in between to throw the football and play Kubb and lawn darts.

There shouldn’t have been a worst part of today, but there was…it was the fighting between “the bookends” (Jonas and Roman) and their refusal to follow directions, bad attitudes, and sassy back talk…needless to say they spent a lot of time in their rooms.

The best part of today was the treat of ordering lunch from Sonic (through the app…totally they way to go) and having an impromptu picnic at the park. (I totally had quarantine hair and did not care.) It was a sweet moment, just camped out on a blanket in the middle of the field with the boys. I heard Jonas say, “This is the best lunch I’ve ever had!” It was so nice just to do something semi-normal in this SO not normal time.

Jonas responded to his teacher’s weekly question, read a NewsELA article and wrote a paragraph explaining the central idea, read on Epic, progressed at his own pace on Kahn Academy (we ditched the worksheets today), and caught up on a few Science videos. For Mommy and Me Time, we played Laser Maze (more like I watched him play…he’s so good at those sorts of games) and All Queens (he beat me an embarrassing number of times).

Xander responded to his teacher’s weekly question, wrote down adjectives used to describe characters in the book he’s reading, worked on a time capsule packet, read on Epic and completed a Cause and Effect graphic organizer, watched a video on comparing fractions and completed a worksheet, progressed at his own pace on Freckle Math, and watched a Mystery Science video on how the brain controls the body. For Mommy and Me Time, we played Mexican Train Dominoes. Here he is being silly, doing a wall sit with Jonas during our exercise/wake the brain up homeschool day opener.

Roman watched a Cause and Effect video on Flocabulary and worked on a time capsule packet, read on Epic, and progressed at his own pace on Beast Academy for Math (he’s really into the logic puzzle section right now). For Mommy and Me Time, we played Kubb. Then, he rage quit for some reason. So, we both took a breather, and then reconvened to read “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone” together. I’m trying…but the homeschool day is a struggle for him…I’m at a loss as to why. Oh well.

We tried a science experiment with pipe cleaners, twine, and popsicle sticks with glass jars, Borax, and boiling water that failed…in a few ways. It didn’t work, and it set Roman off…again, for some unknown reason. So, there’s that.

I’m looking forward to “unschooling” tomorrow.