Category: Xander

The NVFD drove through the neighborhoods in Nolensville today, so the Easter Bunny could wave at the kids!!! How precious is that? I love our little town.

We also did one of our science experiments today, dyeing eggs with Cool Whip and gel food coloring. It was super easy, and the eggs turned out really well.

Roman went with Tom to work today (thankfully, it’s just Tom there) to do his homeschooling. He wrote a story, read a book, did some math on Beast Academy, worked on coding with Kano Code, and had some Daddy and Me Time.

Jonas and Xander homeschooled with me…

Jonas did a lesson on prepositional phrases and identified some in the book he was reading, started a lesson on poetry, completed a few math worksheets and continued to progress on Khan Academy, and watched a video and answered questions on “The U.S. Enters WWII”. For Mommy and Me time, we played Kubb.

Xander found compound sentences in the book he was reading and wrote a round robin style story with me, read a book and made a list of the story elements, watched a video and completed a worksheet on simplifying fractions, watched a science video on why your biceps bulge, and read a few articles and answered questions on Social Studies Weekly. For Mommy and Me time, we played the Milk Jug/Bean Bag toss game.

After Tom brought Roman home, he set up the most awesome Pickleball court in our backyard. We all had fun playing a few rounds before Tom had to go back to work.

Then, it was science time with…Peeps. The boys each chose four liquids to submerge their Peeps in for 24 hours. They made predictions about what effect they thought the liquids would have on their Peeps. Jonas chose salt water, grape jelly, vinegar, and teriyaki sauce. Xander picked heavy whipping cream, almond milk, oil, and lemon juice. And Roman tried ranch dressing, milk, ketchup, and pickle juice. It was fun (and a little gross) to watch! We’ll see what happens tomorrow…

Let me start out by saying that there was QUITE a bit of fighting today between the boys, and I think we were all emotionally exhausted by the time bedtime rolled around.

Roman had MULTIPLE meltdowns…I’m not sure what’s going on with him. He’s sleeping well, eating well, having special time with mommy and daddy, getting exercise outdoors, etc. Tom and I talked about it tonight, and we think maybe he just needs a break from his brothers (since there’s no school and no playdates with friends right now to break up the time with them…AND they’re all taking everything out on each other). So, Tom is going to take Roman to work with him tomorrow morning (luckily, it’s just Tom at his office) and let him do homeschool there.

This weekend, the boys’ teachers sent out activity suggestions for the week, incorporating WCS online resources and the packet they already gave us, for each grade level. What a Godsend!!! The boys took right to it…I think it’s much less overwhelming than having things completely open-ended or having to sift through a load of information/choices to figure out exactly what to do. We were able to slide it all right into the daily homeschool routine that works best for us without a problem. Yay!

During Writing:
Jonas responded to a letter from Ethan (his best friend).
Xander added another post to his classroom discussion online and reviewed compound sentences on Flocabulary.
Roman wrote a letter to Owen (his best friend), filled out a story elements graphic organizer for “Captain Underpants” by Dav Pilkey, and wrote his spelling words in shaving cream.

During Math:
The boys progressed on their individualized math programs on Khan Academy and Beast Academy (love these!!!). Jonas worked on ratios, Xander on shapes and skip-counting, and Roman on comparing, subtraction, and odds and evens.

During Reading:
Jonas sat on the upstairs couch by the window, read on his Paperwhite Kindle, and typed out the answers to a few questions from his packet.
Xander curled up on the downstairs couch with his blanket and dove back into “Tales of an 8 Bit Kitten: A Call to Arms” by Cube Kid for the third time (he has been LOVING that book since he got it from Amazon last week).
Roman tucked into his bed with all of his stuffed animal monkeys and read a “Big Nate” book by Lincoln Pierce.

During Mommy and Me Time:
Jonas and I made blueberry muffins (actually, he did most of it by himself…so proud of him) and played Kubb.
Xander and I played Milk Jug/Bean Bag toss (a game Jonas used to play in rock climbing class). Xander is so fun with his trick shots…he reminds me so much of his Daddy in that.

Roman and I played Milk Jug/Bean Bag toss and Kubb as well.

During Science/Social Studies:
Jonas had already finished the recommended Science/Social Studies activities for today before school let out…lucky him.
Xander read two articles, watched a video, answered a few questions, and played a game on the Social Studies Weekly app.
Roman skipped Social Studies today.
All three of the boys did a Peep and jelly bean STEM activity, building nests and houses for their Peeps with jelly beans and toothpicks. (These pictures were taken at the beginning…by the end, their creations were quite elaborate…especially Jonas’…he built a Peep mansion…ha!)

Yesterday, we did “unschooling”.

Today, we went back to last week’s homeschooling schedule, and it worked much better for everyone.

The boys did a little exercise warm-up and wrote in their journals (there seems to be continuous weeping and gnashing of teeth with this one for some reason).

Then, they each read independently and worked on math with Khan Academy (except for Roman who blew a gasket over Go Math, Dreambox, and Freckle…so, I ended up going a different route with him and tried him out on a math program later in the afternoon that a dear friend told me about called Beast Academy…he loved it).

For Mommy and Me Time, Jonas and I built a fairy garden…

Xander and I made banana bread and played Kubb…

Roman and I played Kubb and enjoyed sensory play time with play-doh, magic sand, and slime.

In Science, we tried out Rainbow Shaving Cream Rain Clouds and talked about how rain is formed.

Oh, this day. Sigh.

It’s kind of all a blur now honestly…starting late, each boy at some point having a minor/major meltdown over their work, each boy eventually going to their room because of their attitudes, all of us taking a looooooooooong brain break, doing the schedule all out of order, leaving some things completely out, etc. It was just one of those days where there was frustration EVERY step of the way for EVERYbody.

The only thing that worked out was our science experiment with baking soda, food coloring, and vinegar…it was a bit of fizzy fun that the boys seemed to really enjoy.

At the end of the day, Tom and the boys and I all had a pow wow about last week’s schedule vs. this week’s schedule…what we thought worked and what we thought didn’t work. We ended up deciding to go back to last week’s schedule, tweak it a little bit (adding exercise first thing and swapping out coding/typing for independent reading), and pull ideas/resources from their binders as needed. Hopefully, that will be our last switcheroo, and we can finally settle in to our new normal.

Today was our second day of homeschooling!

I woke up in the middle of the night with an idea to bring down a huge stuffed animal out of each boy’s bedroom for them to use as their computer buddy (a bear for Jonas, a dolphin for Xander, and a monkey for Roman) and to create a sensory space in Roman’s room for him to go to when he’s close to or in meltdown mode.

We continued with our Spring Writing Prompts this morning (I joined them again…I love to write). For rotations today, the boys did Math, Typing, and Mommy and Me Time. In our special time together:

Roman and I read Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone.
Xander and I made his bed (I helped him put the sheets and blankets on and tossed him his stuffed animals as he organized them in his amazingly thoughtful way), played stuffed animal hide and seek, and tossed the lacrosse ball back and forth.
Jonas and I played Ticket to Ride.

For Science, we made Wildflower Seed Bombs. Basically, you cut or tear construction paper into little pieces, separate them into bowls by color, let stand for 20 minutes, squeeze out about half of the water, shred each color in a blender/food processor, mix in wildflower seed, form into a ball, and let dry overnight. It was a little bit much with all three boys at once, so I ended up having two of them go upstairs to play together which made space for me to work with each one of them individually. The Wildflower Seed Bombs turned out well, and we’re excited to gift them to friends as a little ray of sunshine in this dark time.

We took our first official stab at homeschooling today.

I thought we would pilot our schedule and see how it feels. We have a list of WCS resources we can use, so for right now I decided to use those for Math, Coding, and Typing. I’m adding in Writing, with a page of prompts to choose from that will change each week, and a different fun activity that the boys can do each day for Science/Art (thank you, Pinterest!!!). The first block will be Writing and Rotations (Math, Coding M/W/F or Typing T/TH, and Mommy and Me Time for each boy). After the first block, it will be time for outside play, lunch, chores, and quiet time with tablets. Afterwards, we’ll finish up the homeschooling day with the second block, a Science/Art activity. (Over planning is a manifestation of my anxiety…still I’m grateful for what I feel like have been Holy Spirit downloads of creativity in homeschool lesson planning.)

Aside from Jonas and Roman getting into a fight while writing in their journals, during which I literally had to body block Jonas to keep him from hurting Roman for throwing a pencil at his head because Jonas made a snide remark about his writing and send Roman to his room for throwing a pencil at Jonas’ head and overreacting himself into a meltdown…we had a pretty decent first block. HaHa! During our Mommy and Me Time, Roman and I sorted his Pokemon cards (a boy after his mother’s heart), Xander and I played Forbidden Dessert (I’m glad he knows how to play that game and can explain it to me because I have no idea…it’s so complicated) and baked a cake (mix), and Jonas and I built towers with wooden dominoes and played several rounds of Jenga (Jonas dominated, of course).

For outside play, we went on a bear hunt around the neighborhood which was really fun. A mom in our neighborhood encouraged everyone to put bears in their windows for kids to find and count on bear hunt walks…such a great idea. There are several other neighborhoods in Nolensville participating now…I love our little town. Roman hung back and rescued worms, Xander ran ahead and recorded the number of bears and their addresses in a little notebook, and Jonas walked with Petra and helped me look for any bears that Xander might have missed. We only made it around the back part of our neighborhood because Roman took off through the woods to put the worms he rescued in our garden.

During our second block, we made peanut-free bird feeders out of empty toilet paper rolls, soy butter, and cheerios. It kind of made a big mess, but oh well. (I think it ended up being a good thing that the honey was solidified and we couldn’t add that to our concoctions.) It was fun to do, and I’m hoping the birds will appreciate it.