Odds and Ends

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As the insanity of COVID-19 continues, we march on and try to provide some normalcy for our kids and encourage focus on life's blessings.   

Doing the best we can with church. Pros and cons in person---just a different set of circumstances to shepherd them through.

 

The hand-made water canon!

 

Molly (15!) voluntarily swam all the way across the river to stick with Andrew.

 

Some days the fish are bigger than others!  Grateful to be walking distance here.

Sporting her new mask - Thank you, Tracey!

 

Olivet's small gatherings

 

When you lose a bet to your sister:-(

Clearly a good fit for our family...a lax ball is her favorite toy, and pillow, evidently.

Determined to conquer push-ups...his successful jump and pull was his first (and only one not documented).

When your best friend's 17-yr-old daughter is hospitalized 2 weeks after being hit by a car going 50mph, you do what you can to help...hospital visits, food, rides for the 9th grader, and river playdates for the 7-yr-old boy.

Margaret loves showing the way to our special spot.

Penny dragged in this massive stick, with which Matthew made her pose "since she's almost 1!"

Stopped by the Connellys to go to an Olivet event with them and David showed Margaret how to corral the chickens back into their coop...if only corralling our little people were as easy as David made it look!

In town for another Dr's appt, Andrew seems to confidently have Dody now, regarldless of what shoes anyone is wearing. 

The end of drylands in the rain...I thought Bailee told the girls to big step around the pool until she reminded them that they were to be lunging!  LOL - I would not have guessed that based on their movements:-)

Michael and Margaret went to Baltimore to be with Susan post open-heart surgery, so some crabs came home to be picked. 

Penny's favorite homework position.

Margaret's birthday present and new homeschooling game, "The Scrambled States" is a huge hit!  Missing Andrew who swims late nights and early mornings now. 

My buddy and I fixed the dining room table---sooooo proud!

 Olivet continues to knock the socks off of COVID.  Their creativity continues to amaze me.  Kelly and Craig are coming up with amazing ways to engage the kids in socially distance ways.  

 

Hide 'n Seek on the grounds; Sharks and Minnows with pool noodles

 

"Kingdom Kits" that were distributed at a safe on-property event, complete with Kona Ice - always a "crowd" pleaser. 

Many activities to keep her busy at home, complete with lessons, prayer books, history, scripture and stories.

Weekly event outside with masks and only close to siblings...this was only half of the group that made the effort to come!

Handbells in the parking lot - can't read music?  All you have to do is ring your bell when the pointed gets to the color bar of your color bell.  Brilliant - and it worked!  So many kids they had to divide the group between the bells and the playground in order to play hymns. 

The Kingdom Kit included a cute jar of ingredients and instructions for baking Olivet's 140th birthday cake.  Clever, once again!

 The "Children's Sabbath" (their elementary version of Youth Sunday" went on as usual!  Matthew and Margaret were asked to contribute the Call the Confession and Prayer of Confession.  We are working on their public speaking and a 90-yr-old member called Pastor Seth to give his appreciation for their clarity---it DOES, indeed, matter:-)

What WAS the first week of school...

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 Our lazy days at the beach quickly vanished as we returned to figure out what the heck we were doing with school.

 The County kept pushing back their decision date on school.  I attended hours and hours of summer meetings about how everything could work, what it might look like, etc.  And I heard not one thing discussed that would impact my particular kids.  While I'm grateful to live in a country that provides a public school system where the most disadvantaged kids can be fed, where ESOL children can still learn, and where those with IEPs can have their needs met, I could not see a scenario where the County has the resources and training to meet OUR kids needs this year. So we pulled them out and enrolled them in a Classical Christian Online Academy that's been doing distance learning for years.  It's what they do.  It's ALL they do.  It's their expertise and their passion.

Sometime their actual first week of school...

 I had no idea how getting up to speed, class selection (including placement tests), waitlists, book orders from 5 sites, etc. would consume July and August, but I'm so very grateful we sacrificed the time to make it happen.  

Matthew, being only in 2nd, did not have the same options.  The two academies Andrew and Margaret are in start in 3rd and 4th grade because it's simply not normal for 7-yr-olds to learn in this fashion.  But Matthew took placements tests with them and aced the 3rd entry standards for Math and Language Arts, so there he is.  I attend all classes with him because they move so fast and assist in all homework (answering questions, grading, proctoring quizzes, etc.) and "teach" history and science through two purchased curricula.   

There are challenges we're facing that are new for all.

The rigor and pace is incredible.

The organization required is right up one child's alley, a steep learning curve for another and solely in tandem with me for the third.  

I am relearning how to diagram sentences along with them!  Do YOU remember all six part of speech jingles or the 24 Helping Verbs song?!?!

But here we go...only a week late...

Excited about what we're doing, but sad that it means everyone has their own laptops now (which comes with another whole set of rules and privilege/reward system), that we've had to fast-track the typing skills we started working on last winter with M and M, and I had to teach a 7-yr-old how to manage his inbox:-(  They're still kids.  Shouldn't need all of this yet:-(  It should be more like...

To keep things extra exciting during these weeks that we're trying to learn what the heck we're doing, how to manage the courses, find the assignments, submit the homework, take the quizzes, Susan ended up having open-heart surgery to repair several valves (recently diagnosed with a prolapsing mitral valve) and Molly was casted with a broken digit (has to be carried on stairs and to go out, weekly vet check-ups, etc...all the fun!).  Michael's back on the road and my work just increased my hours.  Bring it on, life!  Bring it!  

 Grateful for prayer to get us through it all...and to start every class:-)

Love classical Christian school.  No better way to start class.

And let's throw in a 10th birthday while we're at it!

A few weeks ago at the pool, before it closed Labor Day---a social distanced bday party with a few friends.

And then our collapsed Caramel Cake on the 17th.  The best part?  Dody and Granddaddy came through for a Dr's appt and brought birthday donuts!  

I miss pigtails!
 

When technology from which you were previously somewhat sheltered becomes your life, new accessories become desired birthday presents. 

 
And the week would not have been fun enough without a first football practice ALL the way across town...

...and a migraine-vomitting episode:-(

 And first football game was no disappointment!

Matthew's QB TD run - too bad the one-spectator-per-player allowed has to stay so far away:-(