A Day in the Life: Coronavirus Isolation Edition

When the kids were younger I did "A Day in the Life" posts occasionally to give a snapshot of what a typical day would look like for us. With things being so different right now, due to the coronavirus, being isolated at home, and homeschooling, I thought it would be interesting to do a day in the life post to show what a typical day looks like for us right now. I planned to do this on Thursday the 2nd and then found out my director wanted to do a staff meeting that day. We will do weekly staff meetings and it just so happened that she planned the first one on the day I decided to do this, so that was a bit out of the ordinary. Other than that, this was pretty typical for how our days have been for the past couple of weeks. The best part of this isolation and Ty working from home is that I get to sleep in. No more 5-6am alarms to get my runs in before he leaves for work. Now I can sleep in until I wake up on my own or the kids wake up. Then I get to run either while Ty is home with the kids in the morning or at lunchtime depending on when we wake up. It has been really nice and I think has been a huge help as I come back to running after having the flu. I definitely needed to get extra rest to help me recover. It also means more alone time with Ty in the evening since I don't need to go to bed as early. So here is what our day was like today.

7:15 am- I wake up on my own with no alarm, that's such a wonderful feeling! I get up and start getting ready to run. Elise wakes up and comes into our room. She stands in the bathroom with me while I brush my teeth. As Elise and I are walking down the hall to the kitchen, Carter opens his door to come out into the hall. I turn the home alarm off and put Tesla out to go potty. Carter and Elise lay down on the floor together and begin reading. I tell them Ty will be up soon and he'll make them breakfast, then I head out to run. Today is my "mid-week long run" and I'm building it back up to the 10-12 miles I was at before I got sick with the flu. Today's run is 7 miles. I'm enjoying the sun being out while I'm running. I'm not used to needing sunglasses on my morning runs and it's pretty amazing.

8:40 am- I finish my run and walk a little cool down before heading into the house. The kids are playing with Easter eggs when I get home. Ty started work at 8:00 but was there in case they needed anything. It's so nice he's flexible and willing to let me run while he's home with the kids. It helps that they are so self-sufficient and play nicely together while he works. When I get home I shower and foam roll before heading into the living room and ushering the kids into the kitchen for school.

9:20 am- I start the kids on their morning work while I make myself breakfast. Carter works in this addition and subtraction book while Elise works on a number page. I eat my breakfast as they finish and then I check their work. Next we do calendar, it's Carter's turn to lead calendar. I have a notebook where I keep track of who did calendar each day so I make sure they take turns. I also track what I did in their guided lessons with me so I can look back each day to remember. After calendar I read a poem and a nursery rhyme for the kids before doing a read aloud. During our reading block I meet with Elise first each day. While I work with Elise, Carter goes to a reading center. He usually picks work on writing, read to self, or listen to reading. Today he chooses listen to reading. I downloaded a couple of book apps on his tablet that our library uses and we've been able to download Magic Tree House audiobooks onto his tablet. He loves them and has been averaging an audiobook every day. He spends a lot of his free time listening to his audiobooks as well. Elise is working on letter name and sound recognition. Last week we had a different letter each day and this week we've been reviewing last week's letters. After reviewing last week's letters, Elise decides she wants to add a new letter. She looks through our flash cards and chooses the letter Nn. She comes up with words that begin with Nn and then watches a Starfall video about the letter Nn. After that she gets free time on Starfall where she chooses whatever she'd like to do.

Carter leading calendar.

Elise leading us in practicing our letters.

Elise watching a letter video on Starfall.

Carter listening to his audiobook.

Carter cracks me up because he looks at his tablet the whole time like he's watching something but this is what his screen looks like, just the book cover.

10:15 am- I now meet with Carter for his one-on-one time. When he comes over to meet with me he chooses a book in Spanish out of our Spanish book tub. First he reads that book to me. Lately he's been picking Hombre Mosca or Fly Guy books each day. After reading in Spanish, we switch over to English. We are doing a Magic Tree House book club. He chose Sunset of the Sabertooth as his first book. Each day he reads a chapter or two aloud to me and then writes a little journal entry with his predictions for the next chapter or his thoughts on what he's read so far. Then he tracks his reading on the Magic Tree House website and gets to complete a mission. He loves that part of his reading block. While I work with Carter, Elise gets to do free centers/play rather than go to reading centers. Today she chooses to make and fly paper airplanes outside. Then she comes back in and reads books to Tesla as we finish up.

Reading me a book in Spanish.

Elise reading while I work with Carter.

Reading a chapter of his Magic Tree House book.

Carter doing a mission on the Magic Tree House website. Elise moved over to read by us.

11:00 am- Ty takes a break to go on a walk with Tesla. This is when we break each day unless we got a late start. I set the kids up with some live zoo videos on our TV while I do a Facebook Live video on my class page. It's so cute to see parents' pictures of their kids watching my videos and following along to sing the songs, make the crafts, and other activities. That makes it so worth it! Right now I've been posting weekly lesson plans and doing either a Facebook Live or other interactive post each day. Starting next week we will no longer be getting paid and will no longer be expected to post on our class Facebook pages. I plan to still post weekly lessons and do one Zoom Meeting and possibly one other Facebook Live or video a week.

Watching zoo videos while I do Facebook Live for my class.

11:30 am- We start math. Typically we break at 11 to play until lunch, have lunch, and then play a bit more after lunch and start math around 1:00. Today since I have a Staff Zoom Meeting we need to get math in early. I work with Carter on place value today. We've been working with base-10 blocks. Today we do some more practice with base-10 blocks on a place value mat and then play Base-10 Exchange. We play one game and then Elise comes over and wants to play with us so she sits in my lap and we all play another game. Elise does a great job figuring out what number she rolled and then looking at the rules page and getting the correct number of longs or cubes. It's great counting practice for her. This homeschooling experience has been eye opening for me. I've realized how much Elise loves math and have been pretty shocked by it, I had no idea! Before this she pretty much refused to practice anything with me. Carter starts working on a math page for review while I take Elise outside. I have her count her steps from the front door to the end of the front walkway. We talked about how she could make the number of steps bigger or smaller by changing the length of her steps. Then she tries it out hopping and skipping. At first she didn't want to go outside to do it with me. Then she enjoyed it so much and thought it was so much fun she took Carter out to the backyard and led him through doing it from the back porch to the fence.

Practicing place value with Base-10 blocks. I wish I had a real set, but this paper set will do.

Playing Base-10 Exchange.

Counting steps from the front door down the walkway.

12:15 pm- We finish math and then get ready for lunch. Ty takes a break from work and makes the kids lunch while I upload some stuff to my class Facebook page. Then I eat lunch as the kids play in the backyard. I have Elise find 5 purple items to post on her class Facebook page. Her teachers posted asking the students to post a picture of them with 5 purple things.

Elise reading a book to her "class" before heading outside to play.

Elise with her 5 purple items.

1:00 pm- I have my Zoom meeting with our director and other teachers. Carter and Elise play during my meeting. Then Carter gets a video call on his tablet from a friend and I okay him answering it so he and Elise check their messages and send messages to friends on their tablets after he's done with his call.

1:40 pm- My meeting is over. I set the kids up to do the fun Scholastic Daily Read Aloud and activities while I wash dishes and tidy up our "classroom" area.

Learning about rocks and minerals during the Scholastic lesson.

2:00 pm- Carter has a Zoom Meeting with his class. While he's on the computer, Elise helps me finish picking up. She even decides to sweep the kitchen.  Then she and I play with her Hatchimals. She decides she wants to take them outside so she can play with her mermaid ones in water.

Carter on Zoom with his class.

Ty let Elise type an email for him. She was so pleased!

Elise sweeping for me.

Playing with Hatchimals.

Playing with her Hatchimals outside in the water.

2:50 pm- Carter is finished with his Zoom session. He comes outside to play with the Hatchimals with us. Then they move on to swinging and playing in the backyard.

3:20 pm- The kids watch a show in Spanish. It's the best way I have for Carter to practice his Spanish comprehension at home. It really does work because I hear Elise asking Carter what someone said and he translates for her. It's also really good for Elise to get used to hearing Spanish since she was officially accepted into the same school Carter goes to, so she'll be in a Spanish immersion program in kindergarten. While the kids watch the show I do strength training.

4:00 pm- Carter and I decided to try to make an origami crane because we read a book that morning where a girl makes origami animals. We try out a YouTube video that says it's for kids but I struggle to follow it. Carter eventually gives up and moves on to making paper airplanes and making random stuff out of paper. I don't want to give up so I try a different video and it's much better. I am finally able to make a crane. Elise gets involved with paper airplanes and they both end up in the backyard flying paper airplanes.

5:00 pm- Ty is finished with work and starts dinner. The kids are still making stuff out of paper. Carter leads a class on how to make stuff for me and Elise. Then Carter challenges Elise to run 10 laps in the backyard. He sits on the hill and counts the laps for her. When they come inside they go into the living room and we hear Carter reading to Elise. It's so cute! After some more paper airplane flying in the backyard we have some nice, quiet family time. We all sit on the futon reading. Well, I'm reading, Carter's reading to Elise, and Ty's playing on his phone.

6:00 pm- We eat dinner and then Elise and I make homemade pudding. We put the pudding in the fridge to cool. Then it's time to watch Carter's principal do a Facebook Live where she reads a chapter of a book she's been reading each night at 7:00. Elise asks me to tell the principal that Carter has a little sister named Elise because the principal is always saying Carter's name on her live videos because she knows he watches each night. I write a comment that Carter's little sister named Elise will be at the school next year in kindergarten. She reads the message aloud as she reads and congratulates Elise, it makes Elise's night and she lights up! She's so pleased her name was said during the video this time. It was so sweet! After the read aloud the kids get their 15 minutes on their tablets as I do a short yoga video.

7:40 pm- I send the kids to put their jammies on, Ty helps them brush their teeth, we read books, and then they are off to bed by 8:15. Once the kids are in bed, Ty and I hang on the couch. I work on this post as Ty watches Everest. I pay a little bit of attention to the show.

10:30 pm- We start getting ready for bed. Then I read in bed for a bit before going to sleep a little after 11.