Our first bumbling attempts at school from home.

Day 1: We figured out how to sign in to their online classes, had all the books and curriculum except for one thing, and completed most the assigned work. Minimal whining (from the kids anyway). Only one small breakdown (me) directly caused by trying to teach Memphis math- note to self: send more gift certificates and chocolate to every teacher she has had. We were pretty much done by about 2 pm, which was a huge success since we had no idea what we were doing.

Message to self: Wow! That went much smoother than I thought. I ignored the nagging thought that we must have missed an entire subject somewhere.

Day 2: Kids all took whining pills before I got up (apparently). Opened lesson plans for the day and saw that I am supposed to ASSIST the girls with building an AQUEDUCT from a two-liter bottle and various sizes of rocks, dirt and activated charcoal(?), AND build some kind of crazy weather thing using a thermometer, ribbon, pencils, and brads. Cancelled science for the day. Fought over every subject, every problem, took a group timeout, and we went bowling (where they continued to whine and argue with each other). Back to work after bowling, made several executive decisions to alter assignments, extend others, and the work went much better.

Message to self: What the heck are we doing? How am I going to teach my own classes amidst all this ruckus? General panic. Counter-message from husband: It’s only the second day; let’s just see how it goes.

Day 3: Bribery: If we finish all work and chores by 3 pm, we can go to the base Family Fun Fest (football field of sweating, loud kids and harried parents waiting in line for diseased inflatables, melty snowcones, and blistering rock walls= my nightmare and their wonderland). All work finished by 12 pm, except for Cora Jo who went into passive-aggressive mode and hid under the table, chewing her hair. She eventually came out for lunch and was ambushed to finish all but history.

Message from oldest son: This is AWESOME! I’m done with no homework by lunch! Yes!
Message to self: We might be able to do this. Noting that while I am glad to have the curriculum planned out, it is still too rigid and segmented. Will be thinking through ways to block similar activities/ learning, as well as extend into more real applications. Love seeing them learn up close, and I can already see some of their strengths and challenges in ways I have not noticed before.

I remind myself that we are not trying to recreate another traditional school from home, but something different, which is going to require that I stop thinking in such concrete and separated categories such as “math,” “writing,” and “science.” I think this is one of the key components that needs to be addressed in education reform in general, because while we talk about interdisciplinary units, we continue to pass and test core standards that we pretend are divided neatly by subject. More thinking required and not enough brain cells left right now in this cranium.

Whew! 1 week down, 38 to go.