Fairfax County Public Schools. They cancelled school for the rest of the year on March 13th. It took until April 20th to get their act together. The boys finally had 4 days in a row of online teacher instruction this week. Fridays are reserved for teachers’ meetings, so no online learning tomorrow. I’m thankful that the fiasco really didn’t interrupt the boys’ learning because I had jumped into teaching them on Monday, March 16th, with my own plan.
Also, last week the boys’ teachers were posting assignments for them to complete. It kind of seems like the synchronous learning time is just a bonus. It’s nice for them to be able to stay connected with their teachers and classmates.
So, what have they been up to this week?
Caleb: Monday was the second time that he was able to have synchronous learning. Total. But, his teachers have given him assignments to be working on, so he has stayed quite busy. He’s also a pretty slow worker, so he pretty much takes the whole school day (with long snack/Lizzie breaks) to get his work done. The picture at the top is of an art challenge. It turned out pretty cute, but it’s tough to pose a dog!
Isaac: He had some online assignments and continues to do a great job with IEW, but he spends as much time as he can playing his baritone and submitting Flipgrid videos to his band teacher as well as reading the second Harry Potter book. (Thanks, Cici!)
Nathan: Online learning for Nathan requires some help from Mom. He’s able to do the synchronous learning by himself, but it seems like everyday there’s a fun assignment that requires a photo to be uploaded and a bit of typing. For example, we took the picture on the left when we went on a shape walk. I’ve actually seen squirrels coming in and out of this hole! Cute! For Pet Day, I took a picture of Nathan and Lizzie and also helped him write a poem about her.
Since Nathan finished Little House in the Big Woods, we started Farmer Boy. I love reading this book with Nathan because, for years, he’s wanted to be a farmer. And I think he’d be the cutest little farmer! I also love reading this with Nathan because in this book, Almanzo is about the same age as Nathan, and he has a lot of responsibilities and a tremendous work ethic.
Everyone, including Daniel, finished their work by Thursday evening, so we have a three day weekend ahead of us. I think that we’ll be running, fishing, and biking. We’ve settled into this Stay at Home order pretty easily. We’re homebodies.
suburban shebear 