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A long time ago, in a land far away, I did a Homeschool Highlights update. Just over two months ago, actually. Two months. It's currently Day 72 of our lockdown, and I think we're in Level 8 of Jumanji, and in Sublevel 4 of the second stage of Phase 1 of the safe and gradual phases of recovery in the state. I'm sick of it. I've officially been sick of it for months. However, since my last Highlights post we've finished the school year for co-op and for college, and even though there's not much to do or many places to go, I think I'll find plenty of news to summarize here. So -
Grab a cup of coffee and let's get started!
I'd like to offer you a special welcome if you've been thrust into homeschooling or doing school at home because of the school closings. Or maybe you're an experienced homeschooler trying to carry on without your regular support networks or co-ops. Things are different this season for everyone! I have a couple of posts that might be helpful: Suddenly Homeschooling - Pro Tips - Establishing a New Normal and Suddenly Homeschooling - Pro Tips - Resources for You! You may also wish to browse my How Do You Homeschool? series. Take a look at the sidebar for my posts written for homeschool blog hop series that focus on some basics and essentials for homeschooling.
Please leave a comment and let me know if there's anything I can help with!
Please leave a comment and let me know if there's anything I can help with!
Highlights of the news . . . I've got a couple of months to cover here, so I'm gonna stick with the highlights, and hit them briefly!
So we finished out the month of March celebrating Meaghan's birthday and the one-year anniversary for Kennady and her boyfriend, but we did not have the baptism service and celebration we'd planned for that last Sunday of the month. Because lockdown. No church service.
The entire month of April was lockdown, and we had allowed the kids' friend Donnie to move in with us too. Kept them all from getting too lonely and isolated, since Landon was the only one of the kids working at all. We did some cleaning, some yard work and projects around the house, a lot of baking (like many others I'm experimenting with sourdough bread), and got more familiar with using Zoom and making video calls than we would ever have expected.
Our grocery bill has been INSANE. Feeding seven people all their meals every day of the week from out of my own kitchen really adds up. Early on, we made the decision to get takeout at least once a week from a local small business restaurant, and I have no regrets at all. Saved me planning that meal, and it gave us the opportunity to try new restaurants and support small businesses.
Kennady made the transition to finishing her college semester completely online, which wasn't without some bumps and frustrations. It's really not ideal - to say the least - to have voice lessons, guitar lessons, and keyboard class online. Her math class was a huge challenge, and would have been in an in-person class as well. Many tears were shed, and there were a few anxiety attacks along the way.
Our homeschool co-op finished out the year online as well. I had my students finish the year using Google Classrooms. Mostly that worked out okay, but there were definitely some glitches, more in communicating expectations and keeping students accountable than in the technology.
May was more of the same! And it was getting really old. But Spencer was able to go back to work so that was good. Things didn't really change, but we kind of got used to it and accepted that it would be this way for several more weeks, much as we hated it.
Kennady finished up her classes and made the Dean's List, and started registering for fall classes. She chose one class to take in the summer semester too. I hosted a meeting for our homeschool Board of Directors so we could start making plans for the new school year. We're expecting and hoping that we will be able to open with full in-person classes in September, but we're working on some contingency plans, since our governor seems determined to be the very last state to open.
Mother's Day was pretty quiet, and since we couldn't very well go out to eat, we got our takeout dinner on the Friday night, and the kids went to pick it up.
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| Finally got the clothesline support installed! |
At the beginning of the month, the hubster and I met friends on a Saturday to do some shopping at the greenhouse. Our friends shopped, we just went along so we could socialize! (And so that hubby could give a little advice)
Landon and Meaghan canned jam a couple times, and I baked bread. Teamwork!
For the Memorial Day weekend, we were so glad to be able to visit our son and his family in a state that is more open than ours. It was glorious to not be ordered to wear face coverings in grocery stores. And we even got to eat one meal inside a restaurant! What a treat! What luxury!
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| waiting for our table |
The whole family visited Olentangy Indian Caverns. Our family picture looks a little different this year.
We visited several parks and did a lot of walking. Yeah, of course it was fun and we enjoyed being outside and the beautiful weather, but also there wasn't anything else to do!
My youngest and my oldest trying out this relic of the past - a pay phone!
Nonnie and Poppie with our favorite little girl!
What I'm Highlighting . . . the Twenty-Six Lists link-up every other week. The current list prompt is "National Parks". You can find my list of the parks I've visited and a place to link up your list at Twenty-Six Lists - National Parks.
On my blogs recently . . .
Here on Homeschool Coffee Break:
And on my book blog, Just A Second:
Just A Second is where I share book reviews and other book-related things, and update on what's on my bookshelf. Lately I've been reading the following:
The Green Dress by Liz Tolsma
Church With No Walls by Noah Cleveland
Like Flames in the Night by Connilyn Cossette
A parting shot . . . I've needed a steady supply:
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2 comments:
We finished up our school year within the first week or so of lockdown. I debated between ending early or extending our year so we'd have something to do each day and we all opted to end early.
We didn't have a choice when it came to the college classes. :-) The co-op classes were a mix - some of the instructors cut it short and others finished out the original schedule which had us finishing the first week or so of May.
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