A Day in the Life... Social Distancing Style

Over the years I have chronicled periods of life through "day in the life" posts-  there's one focusing on work, one when I didn't have a kid, one when I was on maternity leave, one when I had a toddler, one on summer break, etc... You get the gist. Well, I'll be damned if I didn't do one for this weird, weird time we're experiencing. Monday was a pretty "typical" (what the hell does that even mean right now?) day, so here's what it looked like:

7:30- 8:00 slowly wake up and get moving

8:00-8:30 Sawyer and I eat breakfast and get dressed. For me, this whole getting-out-of-the-pajamas thing is important. Sure, I still wear a lot of leggings or sweats, but I do my hair, apply a tiny bit of makeup, and put on earrings. I enjoy getting ready in the morning, so this makes me feel "normal." 

8:30-9:40 This is our first chunk of school time. I am going to do a more detailed post on how I am scheduling this out and deciding what to do, but we spend this time getting rolling for the day, starting with language arts- independent reading, sight words, writing, and phonics reading. Anytime where he is working on things independently I jump on my computer to work with my students on Google Classroom or grade (I won't keep repeating it, but I am teaching my son and doing things for my classroom intermittently all day). 

9:40-9:55 Recess! We do a scooter ride around the neighborhood (no one is ever out during this time, so social distancing has been a breeze) and have a snack 

10:00-10:10 Virtual sharing time! This was our first day doing this with my good friend her two small kids and it was super cute. We are going to have prompts each day and we video chat and the kids just talk about what they're sharing and ask questions. 

10:10-10:50 Finish language arts time, today we reviewed the "sh" blend and moved into "ch." We do a lot of work on white boards and today he used some of the words to make a little booklet with pictures and words using the new skill.

10:50-11:30 Math time, condensed version. Today we did a 100s chart and practiced sorting and counting change. I usually do more here, but I wanted to get in a walk before lunch.

11:30-12:30 Our daily long walk time. Our neighborhood sits up on a hill, so we walk down the hill and into a new development that is still under construction. There are very little people out, but it's new and pretty and a nice place to walk. Our neighborhood is more active at this point, but everyone is being great at stepping off the sidewalk or crossing the street to respect space (all the while waving and saying hello).

12:30-1:00 Lunch time! I hate making my kid lunch- it's boring. Necessary, so I do it, but it's really not my favorite.  It's like breakfast is easy, dinner can be fun, but lunch a weird limbo.

1:00-1:45 Science! Sawyer had been learning about bugs before this all started, so we have kept that up with a few bugs a week. Today we watched some videos on snails, examined them while we were on our walk, and made one out of paper plates.

1:45-2:45 Sawyer has a mandatory rest time in his room for an hour each day. I use this time to do things for work. My main thing right now is posting each day discussion questions and assignments for the students on the books we read. At this time we are finishing up Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness and transitioning to Kate Chopin's The Awakening. 

2:45-3:45 While I finish up some things I wanted to do for work Sawyer does some color-by-number print outs that are his new obsession. I am working on grading some tests, emailing students, and compiling a list of college acceptances as they role in. We need things to celebrate!

3:45-4:30 Chore time- laundry, vacuuming, kitchen cleaning. I make Sawyer help me with laundry- he's turning into an excellent towel-folder.

4:30-5:15 I try to grade some more, but Sawyer interrupts me every five minutes to show me things he's building with his LEGOs. I know this is part of our life right now- he's missing school, I'm his main companion, and besides taking care of my professional obligations, my other responsibility is making sure he stays his happy self. Everything takes a lot longer, but I have the time, and I don't want him to feel lonely.

5:15-5:40 Finally, for the first time all day, I attempt to read for a few minutes. LEGO production is still in full force, though, so not many pages are finished. In my head I am SCREAMING "leave me alone leave me alone leave me alone" but, see above. There's a lot of change right not, and he'll go to bed eventually and I'll have more time.

5:40-6:10 I get dinner going and head out for my nightly pool-skimming. We have a pool guy who comes once a week, but we have a lot of plants blooming right now and dropping crap into the pool. I really don't want to have to pay for pool pumps and filters breaking right now, so I spend ten minutes a night doing this. Can you tell that I'm trying to convince myself to keep doing it? 

6:10-7:00 Dinner with my son and husband

7:00-7:20 Help Sawyer take a shower and then we FaceTime with my mom for a few minutes (I try to do this a few times a week). We only see her a few times a year, so it's been nice to see her face more lately. 

7:20-7:55 Sawyer settles in for his screen time, watching Toy Story 4 and I get to read. 

7:55-8:15 Bedtime routine (a few pages of Harry Potter, songs, our question of the day, sharing our favorite things about the day, plus our least favorite, etc...)

8:15-8:25- Get ready for yoga, Marco Polo with a friend. I had never used the app until this, but it works really well for us! There are some people I think it would be weird to Marco Polo with, but it's been super fun us to leave video messages throughout the day.

8:25-8:55 Down Dog Yoga session! I have used this app for years and love it so much. 

8:55- 9:30 shower

9:30-10:10 Work on blog, read a few pages of The Power. I really love this book, but it's been tough to read lately, at least to the degree that I would like to. Once I get my grading under control it will be easier, I'm sure. 

10:10- 11:10 Embroider and watch This is Us (I'm like ten episodes behind or something, so if I watch an episode a week I'll probably catch up before this whole thing is over).

11:10- 11:40 Finish prepping stuff for homeschooling tomorrow, finish replying to student emails

11:40- bed (lay in bed for forty minutes because I opted to have an adult beverage instead of melatonin tonight... I won't do both)