Back to the Cabin

March 25, 2020

We woke to a wintery mix of rain and snow. No leaks in the camper! The heater did its trick, but it still was a little rough to have to go in/out for little things until the rain stopped. Charlotte hosted breakfast and got everything ready, which was very considerate of her. We made our day’s checklists and got started on packing up the camper. The pack up went smoothly, in particular because Edison was incredibly helpful. However as I went to lock the hitch closed, I realized I couldn’t find the camper keys! We bought a new lock in Coulee City and set up an appointment for a mobile locksmith in Wenatchee. He picked the camper lock, but after searching the whole thing, the keys were not present! Ugh! We eventually found them in the snack bag in the car, of all places. It was moderately humiliating to realize the locksmith was completely unnecessary. We went to close up the camper again and the king bed got stuck on the rails sliding in - the wheel for it got off track and got chewed up in between the rails and totally stuck. So unfortunately I had to call a mobile RV repair service to help us fix this problem. Ugh! They were very responsive and sent two guys out pretty quickly, all things considered. Buddy and Caleb had everything fixed up in no time and now Edison and I know what to be extra careful of in the future. After a much-delayed drive we finally arrived at the cabin and felt grateful to be there. We unpacked everything and the kids kept going on their learning checklists. After they had done everything on their lists they decided to start making a movie for their free choice. The three of them worked well together to come up with the storyline, film/act scenes, and even started editing it using an online program. In it, they play a family of children who learn they have superpowers and that there is an evil villain who wants to steal away their powers. It really is quite remarkable what they’ve created so far and I absolutely love how well they are collaborating. Edison and Charlotte had a Zoom social with their friends at night and we crashed at bedtime.

March 26, 2020

The learning checklist works its magic again. I’m especially liking the “help mom” category. I am feeling like the kids are developing some great interpersonal skills as part of this whole, crazy social experiment. While the kids began their home learning, I had to catch up on work. We are re-opening (virtually) the schools for home learning. I had several meetings this morning and we had to schedule time on the hotspot for everyone to get all their online work done. The kids’ teachers have started contacting them daily and encouraging them to complete little activities or go to certain online learning resources. Reed had a blast doing Super Kids online. But he LOVED creating a Prodigy account and getting started on that. Prodigy is an online, interactive math game in which your character engages in the world by doing math battles. Edison and Charlotte helped him get started and created new accounts so they could join as friends in Reed’s world. On our hike to the ridge above Plain after lunch, the three kids walked side by side and discussed different elements of Prodigy. It was so rewarding to see Reed be able to fully participate in that conversation. After the hike, Edison made blueberry muffins, they kept working on learning items, rode bikes, and so forth while I cleaned the camper and started getting everything ready to head home again Friday morning. We had a good dinner and played Yahtzee afterwards. I am realizing that it is going to be quite the balancing act for me to try to work from home while managing individualized home learning for each of the three kids for the foreseeable future. But it truly is a joy to share this time with them and see them enjoy each other’s company more often than not.