Spring Break ended yesterday. We would have just flown back from California after a week in San Francisco and Yosemite. My stomach would be aching from laughing with Ali Wong alongside my dear friend and neighbor. We would be scrambling to clean out the backpacks and make lunches.
Instead, we’re oozing into this week like we did the last four. It’s remarkable how we adjust, how quickly we develop a new routine, and how easy it is to forget what it was like before. I don’t like the social distancing any better. I’m just more settled in. That settling in is a privilege and a luxury as soft, smooth, shiny, and rare as any other. I know.
Spring break did offer a breather from the ultralight, misty pressure that came with getting the kids online on time and through their required reading. Spring break also brought spring. I love forgetting then re-remembering each year how many trees bloom. Our neighborhood is filled with disorganized tulips and that fuzzy lime green of new leaves.
And while we filled the time off, I’m ready to go back to homeschooling today. The kids are craving structure too. I can tell when they ask me for the 438th time if they can watch TV.
I have to be honest, though. I’m not REALLY homeschooling.
It’s more like I’m stringing together enough distractions to keep them sort of productively occupied through the day. I make sure they’re logged onto their devices at the right time to talk to their teachers. Then, I make them sign off at some point several hours later when I realize it’s been several hours and that’s probably too much screen time. But what’s too much? I don’t know. Brian’s better. I hear him doing site words and math worksheets from behind my closed office door.
I’ve also instituted an “Alexa First” policy. They kids should ask that little robot as many questions as they like on rounding and prefixes. She really hasn’t been pulling her weight lately and needs to step up. She’s significantly 1) more likely to be right and 2) less likely to get annoyed by the interruption.
My goal by next September is to keep the girls stocked with books (they’re crushing through Harry Potter) and get Linc reading and riding his bike without training wheels. And instead of worrying about keeping up with the State of Virginia’s standards, I’m going to fill in with lessons on the stuff I know.
I did a quick inventory. It’s a short list. The new Camarote house curriculum will include:
1. Making lists
2. Thinking about the future and laying out a plan to get there.
3. Organizing information and creating PowerPoint slides
4. Walking in high heels (useless so we’ll skip it)
5. Sharing unsolicited advice (creates more issues that it solves so we’ll skip this too), and
6. DIY home hair coloring
We should be through this material and on with our lives by June when, by the grace of God, they’ll be at camp. Sigh.
Meanwhile, here’s a little snapshot of the other stuff we’ve been up to:
Ate and drank. Ate and drank.
Started our seeds both in the ground outside in the raised beds and in the house.
Built an “under the tree” hideout and dug a self-filling mud pit in the backyard.
Decorated bunches of sweet, soft cookies that came with their own little paint palette, courtesy of our dear cookie and cake fairy godmother.
Painted stacks and stacks of watercolors.
Made homemade poptarts that were messy but surprisingly easy and good.
Zoom’d with family and friends.
Read to the dogs and started online puppy training class.
Dyed the girls’ hair. I’d like to pretend this happened in a moment of parenting desperation, but it didn’t. I was delighted they asked!
Rode bikes in jammies.
Hunted Easter eggs.
Watched YouTube videos on creating a tablescape. I’d expected to miss family and food on Easter. I was surprised when I found myself missing other stuff—like getting dressed up and sitting down to my mom’s color-coordinated table overflowing with flowers. Baya helped by setting everything up and making place cards.
Learned to use the piping bag. Baya listened and promptly frosted a dozen cupcakes perfectly. Marin was doubled over in laughter for 30 minutes as she sculpted the entire cast of the Lion King in mashed potatoes.
That’s all for now.
Have a wonderful week!