Homeschooling has been super challenging. I am grateful for the extra time I've had with my kids, but the extra time I have with them has been spent fighting with them to finish their work, cleaning up their spills and broken things and trying to get them to stop fighting with each other. There were many many tears the first couple of weeks of this, but we're one week away from being done and I think we can say we survived it all!
Here's a glimpse of how the whole family feels about being quarantined:
So, James hasn't really been quarantined. His work has continued as usual, but his days off have certainly changed. He'll spend 10 minutes trying to help one of our kids to focus and then turn to me and say, "I don't know how you do this everyday!" I just smile and think to myself, "I don't know either." lol.
Ezra has handled things the best out of everyone. He wakes up and immediately starts on his school work and works until he's done (which is no more than 2 hours on a long day). Then he jumps right into his chores and responsibilities. Then he spends the rest of the day complaining that he's bored and has nothing to do.
This school year Makai's teachers told me that Makai has a very significant attention issue. I have always just thought of him as a creative mind and storyteller, but they convinced me there is more to it and it's hurting his schooling. Homeschooling has been the most difficult for him. He's sooooo distracted and can't seem to focus at all. I literally start homework with him at 8:30 and we go until 5pm most days just trying to get him to sit back down and get it done. It's been incredibly exhausting and frustrating for him and for me.
Deklan has had a little of Ezra and a little of Makai. He had a behavioral therapy appt last month and was put on medication to help him with tourette's and aggression. We have noticed small changes, but it hasn't solved all of our problems. He can actually focus pretty well when he sits down to do his work, but he has had a lot of moments where he just doesn't want to do it and he gets really mad at me. He is such a different kid for his teacher than he is for me, so I'm super grateful that his teacher volunteered to walk him through a few assignments via zoom, to give me a break and help him.
This girl. This girl hasn't stopped crying since we started. She is so social that she really is NOT thriving in a homeschool environment. She misses her friends and her teachers. I am a little broken hearted every time I think about her Kindergarten year and how it's ending. She has made leaps and bounds this year in school. She had a phenomenal teacher who is so much fun and full of genuine love for each of her kids. It makes me sad that Bryn was jipped some of that time with her teacher this year. She hates to do work at home, so we do what we can, take breaks, eat snacks and then try to come back to it later.
Where do I even begin with little Miss B-Dell (as she calls herself)? This monkey gets into so much trouble every day. She has seen me helping the other 4 and taken her opportunities to get into mischief while mommy is preoccupied. She even ran out of the house and got lost in the neighborhood THREE different times!!!! The last time the people that found her almost called the police until my neighbor saw them with her and returned her to us. She now has a Buddy Tag tracking device. I can't let my guard down with this one.
Koda is just a little cutie patootie and thankfully he hasn't been too affected. Maybe he's been neglected a little more than I'd like to admit as we are constantly shoving puffs at him in his high chair while I try to get work done with the others. He also hates to be put down, so that's been a fun challenge, though nothing new. He still gets easily startled by loud noises, so that might be the hardest part of this for him since our house is always kind of loud with all these kiddos home.
Me? Well, I rarely shower until Brielle's naptime in the afternoon, my house feels like it's in a constant state of disrepair no matter how much I feel like I'm cleaning, my head is spinning from managing everyone's schedules and assignments and I'm just in need of a solid girls WEEK and a huge bag of chocolate. James gets home at 5 most days and I quickly throw a hat on and spritz some body spray on and hope he doesn't notice that the most neglected person in our home right now is me. Then I just go sit outside with the baby and zone out for a good 20 minutes imagining myself on a beach in Hawaii. I had thoughts that I might end up choosing to homeschool after this experience, but, while I think I could do it, I don't think the majority of my children (or my house) would benefit from it, so public school can keep them!
There was one day in the middle of all this where the kids wouldn't stop fighting and things kept getting broken. At the sound of the last glass decoration shattering to the floor, I kicked them all to the backyard so I could clean it up and have a minute of solitude. They all sat outside crying and then huddled together on the patio couch where Ezra told them that he thinks the whole point of Corona is to teach them to all get along. I loved that insight! We're working on it Corona, we're trying.
