Day 37 4.21.20 An easier day than yesterday.
For two days we have had no screens for relaxation or to turn your mind off, or to rest (or whatever you use screens for) and it has already impacted positively. They still used screens for learning and for social interaction but no movies or video games. Even Tom thinks it's enough (we’ve gotten to that point, woo hoo!). They hardly complained about it too!
Tom did homework as did Leeor. We used timers so they knew when they should take a break.
9:00 Leeor did her homework because she asked to do it but we definitely would not have chosen for her to learn using this method otherwise. Then she read a book to her grandparents on zoom. They listened intently while she sounded out the words for a Pete The Cat book. It's amazing to me how much she looks at the pictures for clues of what the words say, using only the first letter of the word. She gets a lot right this way. So I did some research about learning how to read and it turns out she is doing it how I would want her to be taught. Here is an article for reference.
Then Leila wanted to “read” a book to her grandparents too. I love this book! it's called Worm Weather. I like it because often kids confuse the words warm and worm. It is in rhyme which Leeor picked up on and it has nice illustrations. Leila began “reading” by sounding out some letter Ca ca ca and then she would point to the word. I would read the two words on the page and she would repeat. This is intrinsic motivation to learn to read. It does not matter that she's inspired by wanting to do everything her siblings do. I assume she will be reading quickly as she was biking but it's fine by me if not as well.
10:00 Once she finished, we went for a PE around the neighborhood. Again we were out for almost an hour, where they ran and scooted. Leila has a tremendous amount of endurance. I just wish she showed some sort of hesitation before entering very old, murky puddles. Then again she is my kid!
Tom had a zoom birthday party with a friend from when he was four. It was interesting that they contacted us to join their party because we were just remembering them as well. Coincidence or Corona? Have we begun to think about old friends because of the quarantine? With whom we normally don't have the time to interact with due to our crazy schedules? Things are a bit more fluid now.
As one of my friends put it: “it's like everyday is Hump Day Wednesday where there is nothing to look forward to like weekend with the kids and a break from work but at the same time there is nothing to look forward to like Mondays, getting a break from the kids and going back to work”.
My dad used to say: “ I can't wait for Friday, but I also can't wait for Monday.” Now it's all the same day but it repeats.
Do you think it is important to differentiate between weekends and weekdays?
Lunch: The kids played outside while I made a simple quesadilla lunch. I also made potatoes for later.
After they cleaned up they played together for hours, indoors and outdoors. Then suddenly the day was over!