#mommyschool

Day #1- LEGO DAY!

LEGO Day included the... you guessed it... HISTORY OF THE LEGO. The story is riveting- one of struggle, heartbreak, and triumph. I give it 5 stars at the box office! Check it out here.

After all of his schoolwork was finished I then gave him a few “challenges” of things to create with his LEGOs. A few animals, free choice, and the cool one was a maze for me to have to navigate through. Max requirements: he just needed to give me a start and end location, his creativity and scenario building was really impressive on this one.

This day included the introduction of... ::drumroll::... MEMOM! My mother would ween off of hours at work and add a little flare to our days. Basically, the entire house smells like meatballs on a consistent basis now.

Weather Recap: Eww

DAY #2- PLAYMOBIL DAY!

Basically the same day on repeat. He picked it. I tried but had no real plan. Playmobil Day’s google search at lunchtime led to this winner... I mean...how did they whip this up so quickly?!?

My son has Playmobil items at home that he has access to but like most of his toys don’t get played with. Basically an out of sight out of mind situation. SO I was pumped that he would naturally play with them seeing as how the day was dubbed PLAYMOBIL DAY... instead... my antsy house restricted 6 year old who is the size of some sixth graders I know basically opted to beat me up for the latter part of the afternoon.

Listen, if you ever find yourself to be a mom of a boy I highly suggest to start training to survive the physical outbursts that will naturally show up at your doorstep. Or in my case, my face or midsection. Follow up thought: I don’t have a daughter so I can not speak to the possible need to physically amp up.

Weather Recap: Yuck

DAY #3- APRIL FOOLS DAY/????????????

THE SUN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This day was a joke in terms of structure. I thought I had the date right for a Dav Pilkey (Author of Dog Man & Captain Underpants books) livestream event and I didn’t. Then I walked by the TV and thought I heard it was Earth Day and it wasn’t. Big guy told me he wanted us to adopt an orphan so that was awkward at best but none of it mattered because THE SUN WAS OUT!

As noted in Week #2, identifying what our body is calling for has been a major factor in busting through the mucky days. Without question the sun is medicine for the soul. In my son’s case, a daddy visit does the trick too. Kickball2 is now a mommy-free affair.

Weather Recap: Slice of Heaven

DAY #4- Building Day

I hate Thursdays. Okay okay “hate” is a strong word. Rephrase: I habitually struggle with the arrival of a Thursday during a regular work week. I have always felt they were just mean. So close yet so far away from the weekend. Welp not my son. He was amped for this day so he helped me to shape up for this one.

We made the switch this week to a whole new line of schoolwork which was a welcomed change for his mind. For me, it took a little more instruction time on my end (Not complaining just informing). So theme days basically are in the afternoon for the most part.

Thanks to Amazon his K’nex arrived and was a great way to dive into “Building Day” well after lunchtime.

Here is the one I selected for him.

I also found these mesmerizing videos on YouTube (along with 42 million other viewers):

Video #1

Video #2

If this doesn’t waste time (I mean what??)...cough... provide insight on human spirit and ingenuity, I don’t know what else does. 

In addition to that inspiration, (all joking aside) he spent a lot of great time with these: KEVA Planks.  I cannot recommend these enough! I recently purchased them in the gift shop at the DaVinci Science Center in Allentown, PA (another recommendation) and they were the perfect ingredient for our Building Day.

Weather Recap: Sun but super windy

DAY #5- Fossil Friday...umm I guess

“Hey wall. Nice to see you again.” 

We woke up with his principal livestream- which he loves. Dove into the day and sulked through his work JUST in time for his classroom zoom chat around lunch. Afterwards, he ate the entree portion of his lunch (he had something to hold him over so he didn’t get hangry during the chat) and watched some fossil tutorials. 

If you are anywhere in the 30-40 age range you undoubtedly know who my go-to-guy was on this one: Big Willy.

That was about it for the fossil part... Frankly, we were toast. The afternoon became movie time. I was able to be productive with my laptop and he was able to zone out a bit and cuddle before he left for the weekend. It was a win-win.

I would be remiss if I did not mention the demise of our backyard flagpole. The wind was bonkers the day prior and we woke up to mother nature’s destruction. Unable to salvage, Pop Pop is on the case for a replacement but for the time being we will need to do the POA on the front porch.

Weather Recap: Cold & dreary; sun poked through later

So in the blink of an eye, our third week was there and gone. The week frequently brought about times of down mucky moments- but then, before you could blink, the sun came out and we’d feel a surge of energy.

I think it was day four where I said I wanted to switch up our walk a bit in the a.m. We went to a part of the neighborhood where we could look over the marshes- a place that is quite frankly unbecoming and mucky the majority of the time. On this day, that was not the case. The waters had risen, life was active and buzzing around it, and the view was a lot less crummy. It just felt like there was potential for it. 

DAY #1 & #2- Rock n’ Roll Monday...cont’d to Tuesday

The weather really was crap on Monday. It poured all day. Any normal person that may be planning to do an outside activity might check the weather prior- I did not and then I had to adjust on the fly. My plan was to listen to rock music all day while he and I both worked (Which we did), learn about geology (Rocks. Get it?), play some games, and go outside and dive into the gem stone dig kits and a rock tumbler that Santa brought. 

On this day, I also had to plan to go to the school’s work drop box to do a drop and grab. Well, that was a great opportunity to rock out to music on the way BUT THENNNNN... All the work we completed the previous week fell into a huge puddle. That’s what I got for wearing Minecraft gear to “protect” myself at the drop off location. 

All was not lost on Day #1, however, as all of his work returned home with us and dried out on the floor. (I wanted to cry- but I salvaged it) We played... drum roll please... “Are they a Rockstar or Are they a Pirate?” the best cardio Rock n’ Roll game known to mankind. 

Needed: Googled Photos, One Sign in a corner that says “Rockstar” and Second sign that says “Pirate”

Rules: Lay on your stomach, look at photo, run to correct answer.

It was hilarious to me. I guess that counts for something. 

Tuesday picked up the slack on what I was not able to fit in on Monday. The weather allowed for us to get outside in the late afternoon to break out the gem kits- always a crowd pleaser. BUT then... insert the rock tumbler. What I thought might take 20 mins tops has now become a symbol of my entire coronavirus existence. 

Just so you are aware, a rock tumbler takes upwards of a MONTH to complete the process.

Here is a fun video that we threw in there to hit our geology education piece.

DAY #3- Outer Space Wednesday 

More appropriately called Work Wednesday. We both had our share to tackle so here is what outer space day entailed: This, a really unmotivated attempt at this, and a pretty sad light projector show at night (I could not find the pamphlet explaining the slides- good job mom- he didn’t have a clue). He was also not pleased AT ALL with his actual gym teacher’s assignment of this. The wall very much was arriving. 

DAY #4- Dinosaur Thursday

I don’t even feel like it happened. During his work breaks and lunch he watched a youtube video that was interesting enough for him to shout out some facts later though so- WIN. 

We had moved into our basement earlier in the week to accommodate my need for a work area, so I opened our bilco doors to motivate us with extra sunlight. He was able to finish his daily work up early- praise the heavens! Mon.-Weds. he was dragging and so was I. It was hard for him to stay focused with me having to direct my attention to zoom meetings, phone calls, and my laptop needs. Curiosity? Maybe? 

Thankfully the weather totally flipped and so did any plans on this day. In fact, today was the day where there were no plans. 

Our walk to the park was so helpful to get our bodies back in motion. We were not the only ones, however, who needed to get out- I got nervous about the increased amount of people that started to trickle in so it was short lived. On the way back, I fought the good fight on trying to convince him to take a nap with me- but even better happened. He suggested sitting and looking at the clouds. Oh. My. G. YES!

It was glorious. The sun! The beautiful sun!  

Coparenting needs kicked in. I asked his father earlier in the morning to try and swing by because the weather was perfect to stay outside. It was a nice surprise for him and he visited for a few very essential hours. Both my son and I were able to recharge a bit from the visit- and any conversation needs between dad and I were met. Our divorce papers don’t exactly have a global pandemic clause... I wonder how many will moving forward into our new world... 

DAY #5- Fun Fact Friday

FRRRRRIIIIIIIDDDDAAAAAAAYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!

What a huge day!

Big moment for him with his first class Zoom Room. Yes I cried! You try sitting and listening to a bunch of 6-7 year olds go around and say that they miss their friends. So innocent and heartbreaking at the same time. It was so good for him and his classmates though.  Modern technology will certainly get us all through this.

Fun Fact Friday was cute.  Every time he finished his remaining work for the day, I gave him a few fun facts. Here are some helpful links if you would like to mix it into your day:

Fun Facts #1

Fun Facts #2

Fun Facts #3

Fun Facts #4 - All things Animals

We truly finished the week up strong. We both finished what work we needed to. The weather was a huge factor again.

OH! Second big moment... We switched the grit on the rock tumbler! Yup- See you in a week rocks.

He and I went on a pretty long nature walk.  It was therapy for the soul for sure.

I was proud of us this week.  This was a tough one settling into a new reality.  It almost felt like Week #1 was a joke and that Week #2 was that person that comes along and says... “No really- I am not joking.” with a stern look.

The schedule skeleton that has been mapped out up until this point works well for him but we are both learning to listen to what our body and minds are really asking us for.  Whether it is time to get moving, time to stop and just soak up the sunbeams in silence, or even be alone where we can. Learning how to identify this and more importantly the skills to communicate it without moaning, fighting, or crying will prove to be one of the best if not the best skill acquired through COVID-19 #MommySchool. 

The introduction of my work into this routine was quite the adjustment. By that I don’t mean that it was unwelcome or a burden in any way- I simply mean that the energy level required to tackle both was not expected. Something had to give. Increase the coffee- and tuck in early to regroup.

AND FOR THE RECORD... the weather DID NOT HELP! We are all at a place where having 3 out of 5 weekdays be either rain, cold or lacking sunlight is completely unacceptable to successfully push through. I will stop my bitter rant by admitting that- YES- Thursday and Friday were gorgeous- BUT- it was ALMOST too late to appreciate fully. Sheesh!

SO as you can probably gather I hit a huge wall this week. I felt it coming on on Wednesday and then Thursday- BAM! I wish I could sit here and tell you how I avoided it but I didn’t.  I can only let you know how I persevered in down moments and then ended my week on a positive upswing.

Found ways to laugh

Picked something unrelated to accomplish

Made peace with things that fell through the cracks

Made lists of what I was doing

Just went with the flow and let go

Not sure I really need to touch on why this all helped, but I will. So working in the same space as my six year old was not much unlike my current job away from home. The second I started something- “I’m DOONNEEE!” or “Mommy, were we in World War I?” or “Did you know Wario ::jibberish while my head spins::.....?” During nearly every interruption I had to just laugh. I HAD TO! When I was getting a finished math worksheet accidentally slammed into my face because he was excited to have a morning snack now- there was no sense but to turn it now into a running joke. 

Numero Dos- Accomplishing something unrelated. The schoolwork would be there. My work would be there. Similar to a coffee break or when my college mall job would give me 15 minutes to walk to the food court and back, taking some time to do something completely unrelated to 1st grade or work helped me feel sane. So... our new yoga mats arrived at the end of the week.

Making peace. I am no Super Woman. Rock n’ Roll day turned into two days and felt mediocre at best. Space Day was pathetic - Dinosaur Day was a joke. While I know that most of that review is me having higher expectations out of myself, there is no point dwelling. I tried.

MADE LISTS. This for me was the single most beneficial thing I did for MYSELF this week. The moments seem like a blur- but because I did this out of pure habit I was able to end my week by saying to myself- “wow you really did get a good chunk done”. :::pat on the back::: Some lists went to me- some to my bosses but they were really a good reference at the end of the day.

Went with the flow. Admittedly this is a skill that I try to improve any chance I can. I could feel the air was different and adjustments on the fly were needed.  Beautiful moments came from them. An impromptu hang out session on a blanket in the sun. A long nature walk. A “Sure. I will read with you in your tent” shindig.

In the end, I think sometimes you just know when it’s time to pause, breathe, and then start the engine.

My next post will give a more detailed run down of how week #2 went at #MommySchool went. I leave you with this:

“Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better.” - Samuel Beckett.