Charlotte's Birthday! And Home Learning - Week 11

Memorial Day Weekend

I went on a great hike with Marissa to the Index Town Wall. I wish it was clear enough to see the mountains, but the views of the valley were still impressive and the best part was that we had the lookout spot on “lunch rock” all to ourselves! I also had fun going to Karen’s for a lovely dinner on her amazing covered deck. I got to meet Ivan, too, and we puttered around Lake Stevens on his little boat on a beautiful night. I also worked a ton in order that I had less work to do once the kids came back. 

 5/26

Even though this was Tuesday, it was our first school day of the week. All three children had class Zooms at 10:00. They did a great job focusing this morning and we did our day’s daily learning. They went to Nana’s to help her in the yard (bark this time) and ride bikes, while I got a lot of work done on the end of the year projects I am leading. We worked more at home in the afternoon and went for a nice walk/ ride up the hill to check out the construction and demolition progress on Kellogg Middle School before dinner. After dinner we did our usual end of the day routine and climbed into bed to prepare for another full day.

 5/27

Nothing too different today - home learning throughout the day, exercise and lots of time outside to balance the screen time. Reed and Edison chose to run two miles for their exercise. WOW! Charlotte ran three miles with me - WOW! I am proud of us for keeping active and staying on top of school and work.

5/28

Home learning, the STEM focus was bridges this week. It was cool to see the kids build and test their own after learning about design principles the last few days. Charlotte and I prepped her party favor bags and started delivering those to her friends today. That was a fun errand and we learned that her friend Chloe lives really close by! The Cascade Swim Team Zoom featured a chat with a US Olympian breaststroker - Kristy Kowal. The kids were riveted by her story of persistence and her positive energy. Afterwards we went to the Birgfeld’s. Bryn and Harper had planned a social distanced birthday party for Charlotte complete with fancy cupcakes and yard games. It was so wonderful to see the girls so happy and even the boys had fun. Also it was great to chat with Cally and Craig, too (grown ups!).

5/29

We had a big day - lots to do and get ready for! Wrapped up home learning for the week - we did a great job on completing the week’s assignments. I had a big work meeting. We packed for the cabin. The kids went to Nana’s for a bit so I could prep for Charlotte’s ‘friends birthday’ Zoom. It turned out great - we did it all! The birthday zoom was the best part of the day - seeing Charlotte so hyper and eager to connect with her friends. They chatted, played Kahoot games, and then Reed and I helped call a few BINGO games. (We had dropped off supplies for BINGO, cupcakes, candy necklaces, and note cards in the party favor bags.) After that they sang Happy Birthday and ate cupcakes together. So cool. We did homemade pizza for dinner and ate outside because it was a beautiful day! Then a quick drive to the cabin, relaxing a little after packing, and bedtimes. It was an extra bonus that Nana is camping out at the cabin with us this weekend, too!

5/30

Charlotte celebrated her tenth birthday today! She is so beautiful and happy and full of life! We had a funny start to the day which included finding a live bird in the woodstove - it had come down the flu. We had a heck of a time coaxing it out of the house after our first attempt to transfer it failed and it started flying around everywhere. I hate birds!!!! But we got it out, finally! Edison knocked it out of the park with making her requested breakfast of waffles. She opened a few presents at breakfast, including rollerblades from Floyd and Kathie, which she immediately put on and started using inside the house (doh!). We had a slow morning (sadly it was pouring rain intermittently) - including roller blade testing outside, reading, and walking with Nana. Due to imminent thunderstorms, we had to shift plans away from kayaking at Lake Wenatchee to riding bikes and rollerblading around the closed campground loops at Lake Wenatchee instead. We figured we’d give it a shot and head home if needed. But surprisingly, the rain held off and we had 80 degrees and sunshine all afternoon! We did end up setting up our spot up in a sunny campsite as it was howling wind on the lake. But it actually worked out great and the kids could ride/skate in and out from there easily. Charlotte requested a dinner from 59er Diner as her special birthday meal, so we headed there after the lake. Luckily we were just ahead of the storms. By the time we had sat down for dinner at the cabin it started to rain, and then the skies burst open and it was pouring! The power went out and it rained sideways and so hard we were driven inside the rest of the night. Luckily the power returned a couple hours later because our well pump is electric and we couldn’t use the water! Charlotte opened presents from me and she was super duper excited for each of them. With her new bandanas, Yeti mug, and backpacking backpack, she looked just like a mini-me, although that wasn’t my intention! I am just excited to backpack with the kids again this summer! Reed fell asleep in my arms for a couple hours during a movie that we played on a dvd on a laptop - thank goodness we could do that since there was no electricity!

Home Learning - Week 10

5/18

Home learning - more egg-themed science “what’s in an egg” today, Reed’s class Zoom, math, journal, reading, writing… etc. Charlotte’s final Math Team practice before the big competition tomorrow. I spent time emailing and managing things like virtual senator elections, senior events, end of year assembly, and the District Equity Team. The kids played outside a lot - in the yard, on bikes, and each one ran one-mile for exercise. We also got out on the Burke-Gilman Trail. The kids rode bikes and I ran - it was such a lovely afternoon to get outside. Oh - and our new grass is growing!!!! 

5/19
Home learning - we are hardcore working through the weekly assignments posted by their teachers and even trying to work ahead a little this week to have some play time later. The kids went to Nana’s to help her out in her yard and to see her. We had to head home quickly from Nana’s in order that Charlotte was on time to her Math is Cool online math competition. There were over 400 4th graders participating. She was on a team of four from Ridgecrest - the only team Ridgecrest entered. She had a lot of coaching and prepping led by Alex’s mom on bi-weekly Zooms. It was really cool to see it all come together in this big, exciting, three-hour competition. We found out later their team placed second in their division and Charlotte placed twelfth overall on the individual test. Wow! The boys and I were tied to the house as I was in tech-support mode, but we made the best of it. And the next day we learned Charlotte’s team had placed second in their division and she had placed twelfth in her division in the individual test! WOW!!! Go Charlotte!

 5/20

We were super efficient with home learning this morning and had the car packed by end of lunch to get back to the cabin. I had a Zoom regarding graduation after lunch and we left after that. We went straight from LFP to the Leavenworth bike park - the kids had been asking to go again and it was the perfect time to get some exercise in with the little time left we had in the day. The kids loved it, it was almost empty, and both Reed and Charlotte shared bikes with Edison so he could try it out this time, too. Charlotte liked watching other riders to learn moves and body position. Reed is a natural and has amazing balance. Edison is figuring it out quickly. It was a joy to watch them and they didn’t want to leave! And who can beat sunshine and 65 when it was raining in Seattle? We got home late, had a quick dinner, and it was time for Edison’s social Zoom. Tonight it was Eli’s birthday and everyone celebrated by wearing crazy hats. It was upsetting that our internet signal (from hotspot) was not very strong, however, and Edison had a lot of trouble participating in the Zoom. We watched a little of Disney’s Hunchback of Notre Dame before bed. Wow - a book written in 1831, set in 1482, and turned into a Disney cartoon in 1996 leaves a lot to be desired in today’s day and age. But there were lots of teachable moments! I’m sure the kids hated my lectures, but I couldn’t help myself!

 5/21

We focused on our home learning work this morning and made good progress. We’ve actually all worked really far ahead this week with the goal being to have some free time at the end of the week. Charlotte had a celebratory Zoom meet up with her math team. Edison had his first book club run by his teacher via Zoom and really liked it - he said he understood the text and ideas a lot more after discussing them (!!). We also had an Aqua Club / Cascade swim team Zoom and Edison’s friends’ book club at night for the Mortal Engines first book. In between all of this, we did some work around the cabin and even snuck back down to Leavenworth so the kids could go to the bike park again! They all wanted to go and we had the time - so it was really cool to be able to say “yes” to that request! Reed and I made yummy cookies together while the older kids were on their swim team Zoom. We did a post-dinner walk/ride to the school, too. It is just so beautiful out here, it is wonderful to be outside!

 5/22

We did our home learning this morning. The kids finished ALL the posted assignments for their classes this week at the beginning of today. I was so proud of their hard work! They also spent time on a website called “Adapted Mind” that we are doing a trial of. They are able to do social studies on that site as well as the other subjects and its tailored by grade level, so its been a pretty good addition to the classroom lessons. We enjoyed as much of Plain as we could before we had to leave and go back to LFP. All in all the experiment of school / work at the cabin was fairly successful as long as the internet usage is concentrated in the morning when the signal is stronger. And the weather is MUCH better out there!