An exercise in challenging perfectionism (i.e. doing a craft project!)

 

I decided I'm no longer going to state what day of homeschooling we are on because, if we're being technical, I'm actually beginning my 4th week of having kids at home so my count was inaccurate anyway. Plus we took this past Friday "off" from sit-down school and went to see the daffodils in the Skagit Valley. So the perfectionist in me wonders which days "count" and which days don't and then things get messy and I start to reveal less glamorous parts of my like-to-categorize-everything personality. And so let's get crazy and live in the gray and NOT EVEN COUNT DAYS because does keeping track of time even matter anymore?

This week are FEELING IT. I hardly slept last night. And one thing I AM still counting is the number of days I've been sick. Today is day 15 and I've kept up a fairly positive attitude but that always starts to waver a bit after 2 full weeks of feeling like crap. We're trying to get the train back on track and remember the many, many things we have to be grateful for but some minutes are harder than others. Especially when I'm seated next to a kid who literally moans with pain(?), boredom(?) every time a new math problem pops up on her computer screen.

Last night, the governor gave the official "Stay Home" order for the state of Washington. We were already mostly home so it doesn't change much other than that we will no longer be allowing the kids to interact in-person with anyone outside I home because they are simply unable to successfully keep a 6-foot social distance buffer. They were horrified by this news and are quick to tell you, "This virus is ruining everything!" 

I keep thinking we will do more "fun" school like sewing, art projects, cooking, gardening (and we are, to some extent), but it's amazing how quickly the day gets absorbed by the very short list of academics I'm asking of the kids (an online math program from school, journaling for the girls and a brief picture/1-2 sentence writing assignment for Jack), and with the sunshine last week, they have been chomping at the bit to get outside and play. Because of the governor's order, we decided to start our morning today by making mailboxes to put on the front porch so the neighbor kids can still communicate with each other via letters. The kids both loved it and also struggled when things didn't go *just* as they had planned. I have no idea what that feels like! Ha.