Daily Life while Sheltering at Home—a.k.a., No News

One problem I have with blogging—that is, with me, personally, blogging—is time and content. I’m pretty sure every blogger on earth would list those as top difficulties, but it’s a dilemma. If my life is full of interesting activities, I don’t have time to sit down and write about them. If I have time to open my laptop, chances are I don’t have anything interesting to share. (Or I’m not doing something that should be done. There’s always that possibility.) Lately, though, I’ve struggled with the worst of both predicaments—way too busy, and none of it interesting.

Since I don't have any news, here's a photo my daughter took while practicing the Rule of Thirds.

For the past week, I’ve been writing the day and date on our school whiteboard every morning because, let’s be honest, I probably wouldn’t remember them if I didn’t. The days are flowing together so seamlessly, I have to put things like “take a shower” on my to-do list. Last week I did a dozen loads of laundry in three days. That was exciting. I was caught up on laundry for, like, five minutes.

I’ve also spent the last week concentrating on my eldest daughter. Before I’d ever heard the word “coronavirus,” I’d been letting our school schedule slide a bit too much. COVID-19 sent us into a tailspin. Now is the time to get back on the horse, gird our loins, polish up the old…something. All of those clichés to indicate that we need to really work on staying on track. This may be partly because I recently sent in her testing registration for the year.

That’s right. Standardized testing. Homeschoolers aren’t getting out of it just because of some old pandemic.

I can double down on my daughter’s schoolwork and still catch up on laundry by dialing back the intensity of the other children’s schoolwork. Yes, I can do that. I don’t know if anyone has ever told you, but your first-grader doesn’t have to be ready for Harvard entrance exams. As long as they stay in the groove with reading, writing and math, they’re good. Play is good. So much learning happens through play. Plus, because of all the random ways we bring education into daily life, I trust they’re still learning plenty.

For example, this bedtime conversation:

Son: “How many miles away is the closest star?”

Me: “They’re so far away, they’re measured in light years…”

Son: “What’s that?”

Me: “The number of years it takes light to reach us from the star. Light goes 186,000 miles per second.” (Okay, I rounded.)

Son: “Wow, that’s a long way.” Pause. “Where can I get a grappling hook? Does Walmart have them?”

Or this breakfast conversation about mummies:
Eight-year-old: “Mommy, in the old days did they wrap up people who were still alive?”
Me: “No, they wrapped them up when they were dead. It was a way of burying them.”
Eight-year-old: “What would happen if we went and opened that place where they were buried?”
Eleven-year-old: “We would be freaked out.”

Meanwhile, my seven-year-old has been using washable markers to draw dark circles around her eyes and pretend she’s been in a fist fight.

How is your week going?