Sunshine

I know I've already said it, but the quarantine is much easier to handle when the weather is nice. The weather over the past week has been all over the map. Some days it has rained ALL day. Some days it's been in the 60's, and other days it has actually snowed. Of the first thirteen days of May, I went for a walk on nine of those days. Oliver and I typically go for about 3 miles, but some days we've gone as little as one mile and other days (like today) as many as 6 miles. Nadia and Ian almost always choose a shorter route. The kids are always on wheels of some kind. The families in the neighborhood still do not feel comfortable with kids going into each other's homes as they did before COVID-19, but they are fine with the kids playing together outside without masks as long as they don't touch each other. They are no longer trying to stay at least six feet apart. Oliver rarely wants to earn a turn on the Wii, iPad, or Switch, but watching 44 minutes of TV a day is usually a high priority to him. In fact he almost always mentions it in his list of things he's thankful for when he prays, BUT playing outside with friends trumps TV for Oliver. He didn't have any screen time of any kind yesterday or today because he just wanted to play outside with the neighbors - jumping on the trampoline, playing capture the flag, riding bikes, etc. One of the neighbors has built ramps and such for dirt bikes, and Oliver really enjoys doing that with them. I'm thankful #1 for sunny days and #2 that the kids in the neighborhood are playing together again. It means Oliver isn't spending as much time reading to me, doing math flashcards, doing puzzles, etc., but I'm fine with that. We are still doing Mad Libs every day. Nadia and Ian have already learned to identify parts of speech, but doing Mad Libs over the past week has been Oliver's first introduction to adjectives, nouns, and such. We are also still doing games. We've played more than 60 different games in less than 2 months. Yesterday the game Oliver and I played together was Money Bags, which was a great review of adding the value of coins. Today the kids played two games we had already played (Jenga and Suspend) while I got my shower this morning, and then the boys and I played one we hadn't played in the past two months - Life.

When I found out about the stimulus checks, I had thought of giving the kids each some money to spend as they pleased, but then I decided that after I tithed, I'd put the other 90% in a savings account. I've been trying to save up a certain amount of money to cover some big expenses I think we will be encountering in the next couple of years (replacing the roof, Ian's braces, replacing the van, replacing the stove, etc.). We have now saved a little more than half of what I think we'll need for the items on the list. When I found out Nadia wouldn't be going to Camp Susque, the kids wouldn't be going to PA Wilds Child, etc. I decided that I could spend some money on the kids in light of the refunds we'll be receiving plus the money we won't be spending that I had assumed we would be spending. Nadia has been doing a puzzle just about every day, and she was wanting some new ones. Usually I get them at yard sales. If it weren't for COVID-19, I would have been yard sale shopping the first weekend in May, but they cancelled that community yard sale this year. Puzzles have been a hot commodity like toilet paper and freezers, but I was able to get some on Amazon that hopefully the kids will enjoy. Let me say it is MUCH cheaper to buy them at yard sales. I also ordered Ian another piano solo book - this time of Disney music. Then I ordered Beast Academy 5 for Ian.  I had been trying to find used copies for a couple of months, but I gave up and just bought a new set. At least two kids will use it eventually. I also bought an earth science text. The boys will be doing astronomy in the fall. It will be Ian's second time to go through the book, but he was only in first grade when he did it previously. This series doesn't have an elementary earth science text, so I picked one from another company to supplement the astronomy text. Nadia and Ian have done science together the last few years, but this coming school year she will be doing science more independently than she has in the past. I also contemplated buying a box from Talkbox.mom, but for now I'm just going to try to utilize their phrasebook. I haven't written out any lesson plans for Spanish for next year yet. I'm trying to decide whether or not to finish the Excelerate Spanish curriculum that we started a few months ago. I wasn't crazy about it, but we already own it. I am putting zero time into planning any field trips at this point due to the uncertainty of knowing what will be open, but I can keep writing lesson plans for next year as homeschooling won't be cancelled! I might not be able to use all the library books and videos that I have included in my lesson plans, but most of what I have been planning can be accomplished even if we are under another quarantine at some point during the 2020-21 school year.