Quarantine: Thurs. 4/23 - Fri. 4/24

Thursday 4/23

Homeschool. Legos. The same usual drill, except that last night I did my first live Facebook reading, with the Writers Conference of Northern Appalachia, which was really fun. Andrew took the kids and Farrah on a walk around the block while I was reading. Here again is the problem of not blogging for one single day: the days are so similar, each one with both a set rhythm and zero rhythm, that I can't for the life of me remember what we did yesterday (except for the reading). 

Friday 4/24

It was a blah day of rain. I think Andrew said it was sleeting this morning, but maybe that was a different day? What even are "different days" anymore? Anyhoo. Homeschool work was lighter than usual, mostly just catching up on things and uploading some things they'd done during the week. A happy and rare coincidence: Lucia's art assignment this week was to create a work with natural materials in the vein of Andy Goldsworthy--and doing a Goldworthy project was something I'd planned to do with the kids this weekend! I knew Lucia would love this, and she was enthralled when I showed her a bunch of his work (and work inspired by him) on Instagram. It'll be fun to do this together. This project has so many elements that speak directly to my children--being outside, collecting things in quantity and likeness, arranging things symmetrically, ordering things. I can get on board with THIS kind of homeschool assignment. 

Meanwhile, Lucia, who adores both reading and writing, makes her I'm-about-to-vomit face every time she has to start her English Language Arts (ELA) work each day. The work is not translating well to distance learning; the magic and fun of reading and writing creatively are being lost. But not to worry. I'm keeping her well stocked in books she loves and is excited about. Stalking the mailman frantically for her book shipment this week means she's transcending the less than stimulating curriculum. 

It was just miserable and rainy and gloomy all day long. But the kids were enthralled by the mud puddle in our side yard--of epic size right now--and spent all afternoon outside, playing in it. They balanced pieces of a broken fence on top large rocks to form a kind of see-saw that they balanced on, one foot on each end, dipping back and forth into the mud. They had such a good time; I could hear them scream-laughing. When they finally came inside, they were soaked in mud, their faces and hair splashed with mud, etc. This is why we have a mudroom. (It occurs to me that most of the renovations we've done to this house were done to contain the mess and chaos of our kids.)

Lucia had a zoom meeting with some of her friends tonight. While she did that, Greta had a long soak in the bathtub, with a mug of hot lemon tea and a book. (Greta is eight going on forty.) The bath + hot tea setup is something we brought back from Japan--remember, both of us were horribly ill there, and soaking in the huge tub in our hotel room and drinking hot green tea made us feel better. She was happy as a clam. She often says she wants to go back to Japan as soon as quarantine is over.

Tonight the kids watched Spies in Disguise. Dinner was takeout from a local restaurant--a family mean of fried chicken and mashed potatoes.