Owen: End of 2nd grade

Owen has done great with continuing his learning at home. I've especially enjoyed the writing that he's done!

(We've seen this little bunny about every day for the past week!!)

When he couldn't find a word he was looking for in the children's dictionary, we pulled out the big one!!

When I think of Owen's favorite Corona activity, it's definitely going to be drawing!!! He's spent HOURS drawing from videos on the Art for Kids Hub YouTube channel! First it was Star Wars characters mixed in with fun foldable drawings for neighbors, then he started doing some FortNight characters and Minecraft characters. Now he's started drawing on his own from pictures of Star Wars characters and vehicles from books. Here's a video from his Star Wars encyclopedia. He's made a few two-way books too! It's been so fun to watch!

Life at Home - Episode 2

 We're 6 weeks into homeschooling and we're all surviving so far. About once a week I ask the kids how it's going for them and they've always answered positively, so we're sticking with the same routine for now!

Since being home so much we've become concerned about how bony Alli is and how long her claws are getting (and snagging EVERYthing!!). We usually simmer over concerned feelings for a while before scheduling her to see the vet since we've had traumatic experiences at the vet before (ok...maybe that's a bit extreme). I felt like maybe I was being hypersensitive to it all since we're home so much and my brain isn't in hyperdrive like it usually is during "normal times." It was easy to delay going in since she was eating, drinking, sleeping, using the litter box, etc like normal and otherwise seemed fine. But THEN.....I took her in this week and found that she's feeling bony because she's lost weight for sure! She'd been 7 lb in her healthy years, down to 6.2 lb after "that summer" when we almost lost her, and now is at 4.5 lb. The vet also felt a tumor on her liver, which is the organ she'd had issues with 2 summers ago. Unfortunately there's nothing we can do to treat it so we've been instructed to try and get some good protein in her (egg whites, boiled chicken) and see how long she'll stick with us. Thankfully her newest "regular spot" to be in is this towel by the door, which is around where all of us are all day. We're grateful to be home to spend time with her!

One of Owen's writing choices for school was to take an item out of the pantry and write a recipe using that item. Here's what he came up with:

He enjoyed trying it out!

They both liked it!

Owen has enjoyed making these homemade microfighters:

Tom and Patti have been giving the kids money at holidays to spend on other people. They've put together bags for the homeless before but this time Willow decided to use some of her money to buy lunch for her Girls on the Run coach and her fellow nurses who are respiratory therapists at the hospital. It was a great way to support her coach AND a local business! She's using the rest of her money to buy lunch for the principal and secretaries at her school! Owen bought food to donate to families that our church serves in low-income areas. 

We recently found out about a place we'd never been and were grateful to be able to visit it during it's peak part of the season for blossoms! Thankfully there were only two other families there so we were able to enjoy the scenery. It's hard to truly capture it in a photo! Check out this walkthrough.

There were some trails there that we enjoyed and this stage for the amphitheater. The kids were pretty silly but just excited to be out of the house!!

Willow and I have kept up our quarantine duty of always having a home-baked dessert around. These are cupcakes with an Oreo hidden in the middle (with crumbled Oreos in the frosting too!!). 

Chocolate peanut butter Cheerios!

I looked out the window to see the 3 neighbor boys hanging over the fence talking with Chris and the kids. (Their mom is holding up the youngest) I think they were just excited to have someone different to talk to!

A different neighbor gave us some games that she didn't use anymore and two of them are Lego games. We've played it MANY times already. They're great!!

Alli kept an eye on us while we played Clue:

She was mortified by who was found guilty!

Owen often chooses "Read to Alli" for his reading time:

We took a brief outing down to a nearby stream recently. The kids enjoyed exploring and just plain being out of the house!!

Check them out!

 Another writing assignment to tell where you'd go on a trip and why:

Willow's assignment to use what you have in your house to create a diorama of a scene from the book you're reading:

Owen and I made this fun obstacle course in the front! Check out his demonstration. And here's one in the back yard!

We've also resorted to this foolishness (and this), trying to be like these guys. 

Life at Home - Episode 1

We enjoyed a low-key Spring Break and are back into the routine of homeschool and me trying to teach kids to read from home. 

This made me chuckle:

Fortunately both kids have held pretty good attitudes about the work they're given by their teachers. They have specific tasks to do online in math, 20 mins of reading and an activity from a choice board for reading, Willow has specific science and english skills to practice online as well as a specific writing prompt, and Owen has a choice board for writing. In between all of that we have technology, art/music, exercise, and snack. Owen's grumbling is usually because he's done WAY too many money and 2-digit math problems. Willow's struggle is usually responding well to her "new teacher" trying to help her with her writing organization. 

I had both kids write a letter to the governor:

Some of Owen's writing from his choice board:

He was to pick an item from the pantry then make a recipe for it! 

He enjoyed getting an extra Kiwi Crate box from the Caldwells for his birthday. He picked this pinball machine!

Owen has spent HOURS drawing videos from the Art for Kids Hub YouTube channel. He has 17 Star Wars drawings that he put into a book and now he's been really into drawing characters from Minecraft for a book. In between that he's made Easter cards for each of us as well as some neighbors!

Willow helped me put together this bookcase for our room:

Alli thought it was great too!

She's been able to complete some random boxed activities that she's been gifted in the past year or two. This one was Oozeys:

I think she's been missing social interaction the most out of the 4 of us. She named 5 girls from school and I set up a Zoom call for them. Thankfully all of them were able to get on and they talked for 2 HOURS!! They only got off because I told her dinner was ready. It was good to hear so many giggles coming from her room though!

Willow has been REALLY in to games. We all enjoy games as well, so it's been fun. But when Willow gets hooked on a game, it's all she wants to play. She's done that with Sushi Go, Sleeping Queens, Catan Jr., and now Taco Cat Goat Cheese Pizza (our newest favorite!!).

She lost another tooth!!

She's also growing so much that Chris has a hard time determining whose clothes are whose anymore. Here she is in one of my shirts that was in her closet by accident:

I've been able to pack up all of my stuff from school to bring home since I'll be starting a job in a new school system next school year. I'm doing my best to teach kids to read that don't have internet access or always parents that make them sit down and do the work that's available for them. Alli has made it interesting to record videos from home:

I've enjoyed step-by-step drawing too but my favorites are from Rob Biddulph's YouTube channel. I sent these to the kiddos from school who haven't joined my online class yet :/

I've completed other various organizational and cleaning tasks that just never happen to get done. One was organizing our Christmas cards. Who knows what happened to all of them from 2012???

My other challenge I'm taking on is the dandelions taking over our yard:

Bags and bags of dandelions!!! A friend told me that they're really good for you to eat. We've pondered it but not tried them yet...

Our power went out for 20 hours after a wind storm and our cable never reset. This poor man from Cox isn't able to go into any homes (understandably) so he was Facetiming with Chris to walk him through what to do. Unfortunately it took 3 boxes to get one to work :(

 Outside of the dandelions, we do have lots of beautiful blossoms around the yard! 

The apple tree is doing well! Owen will excited once it's ready to product fruit!

We were able to look at the kids' report cards online and were proud of the nice things their teachers had to say about them: 

Our church has tried to keep the kids connected through different weekly challenges and Zoom Sunday School lessons. We enjoyed this challenge on Owen's birthday:

Take One:

Take Two:

I've seen lots of these "stained glass" chalk drawings online so I gave it a try. Owen helped me to reveal it. 

 Alli seems to be enjoying having people home more and is soaking up the extra attention/napping spots: 

Our Spring Break plans included camping at our friends new campground (Emberglow) in their family size treehouse then joining the Caldwells, Nana, and Grandpa at Great Wolf Lodge (the kids didn't know). Since BOTH places are closed, so we decided to camp out in the back yard instead. 

It was a pink moon that night!

 These kids can't eat breakfast or lunch without a book to read!

 The Murrays really sparked a love for swinging with this gift!

 Nana and Grandpa came by for a quick lunch, Easter egg hunt, and gift drop-off outdoors and at a distance. Thankfully it was warmer than forecasted so it was nice to be outdoors and see them!

Willow got this ball for her birthday 4 years ago and the kids played with it a lot then, but after it got left out in the sun and rain for too long it got pretty nasty, so we hosed it down and put it in the garage....to be forgotten apparently. We remembered it and brought it out and the kids have LOVED it! They've spent HOURS in it and have made up their own games with it. 

It makes for a good reading spot too!

 This mom loves when everyone's happy!!

Dinner outside...before the flies and humidity get too bad!

When you're talking to Gramma but still need two hands to play:

 And a sad Corona virus update: