This morning the girls eschewed their school uniforms for matching green shirts in honour of St. Patrick's Day. As this was a sanctioned school event, no demerit points were taken.
E had a pop spelling quiz, for the purposes of assessing her current level (so teacher-y, I know), while e worked diligently on her grip strength, fine motor control and creative development (play doh).
After snack time we had PE, where we took a walk around the neighbourhood with Gryff while E and e performed calisthenics (shoulder and piggyback rides, mostly).
I've learned that early morning enthusiasm and the novelty of homeschool can get you through that first work cycle without too much difficulty, but once you loosen the reins it sure is tough to tighten them again. I guess teachers rely on the science of cramming them with food, running them hard and dragging them back to the respite of their desks while they lack the energy to fight too hard. Then, just before their weary heads mistake the desk for a pillow, you sneak a pencil in their hands or a book under their noses and voila! Back to work.
Yesterday I just plain old gave up. I patted myself on the back for a job well done in the morning and let the afternoon unfold as it would, and we were all happy with that.
This afternoon, however, we're back to the grind and I can chalk it up to good old fashioned opportunism. With lunch finished, the girls ran off to play while I cleaned up the kitchen. I was enjoying an internal struggle about when and how to resume class, when I heard those magic words every parent dreams of:
E: I'm bored. Can we watch TV?
AHA! Carpe Whining!
M: Nope! It's time for SCHOOL!
This is a win for a couple of reasons.
1. They had no excuse not to get back to work, as they clearly had nothing else on.
2. The consequence of being given work to do in lieu of finding their own amusement just might reduce the frequency of future proclamations of boredom.
And here I am, feeling like a homeschooling rockstar. Today, the afternoon work cycle; tomorrow, THE WORLD!!! E and I played war to work on her timetables while e revisited the kinetic sand. Today, it's dinosaurs vs trucks in the sandpit. The trucks don't stand a chance.
Now I am completing my daily quarantine assignment while the girls are in music class, composing a musical number entitled The Dinosaur Song.
It's a challenge, and I'm quite sure any educational benefit the girls get from this exercise will fall more into the "maintenance" category rather than "enrichment", but mama sleeps much better with the knowledge that we all put in the effort and a few brain cells were saved from the cesspool of My Little Pony and Try Not to Laugh videos.
After all of that work, the sun finally won the battle it had spent the day fighting against the clouds, so we raced outside for recess. There were balance bikes, Heely shoes, tricycles and skateboards - all the things that have been waiting patiently for Spring and couldn't possibly wait a minute more. It's not nearly as busy on the sidewalks as it would normally be this time of year, but we smiled and called out greetings to those we did see from a polite distance and managed not to run anyone over.
Oh, and did I mention we made a pie?
Killing it.
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