well, this isn’t necessarily a fun post to write about but definitely worth documenting, as this unprecedented moment in our lives will permanently change how we will forever interact.
we had our first public cases in the u.s, in january, a few here and there. then it really started to gain traction in february…we all had heard about the virus ravaging china and of course, with us being so far away, you don’t think it will effect you. typical, right? it started in wuhan, china and soon it was spreading across the world, within a month, hitting countries like italy, iran, spain, and germany hard.
come march and it was getting serious. the cases were popping everywhere and the virus was spreading fast across the united states. washington state’s cases were multiplying and soon you could see that densely populated and urban travel areas were becoming hot zones.
governor pritzker officially closed all illinois schools starting march 17th but olive and ellie’s school closed that friday before on the 13th. we were told to socially distance ourselves. stay home if possible, don’t gather in large groups. keep 6 ft apart, person to person. then after that, with st. patrick’s day weekend upon us, pritzker was upset that too many people were out and about celebrating in large groups, bar crawls, full restaurants, etc. he then closed down all the bars and restaurants! he mandated a shelter in place starting march 21st. we were to stay home, unless you worked for an essential business. you could go to the grocery store, get gas, help care for an elderly person, or take a walk outside but he stressed how we should limit our exposure to others and remain inside our homes if possible.
well, we’ve been home now for several weeks and literally at home. i ventured out to the grocery stores, maybe twice but haven’t set foot in one in weeks. hc works for an essential business so he’s been at work everyday and he’s picked up groceries if we needed to get a supply of milk or eggs.
i started homeschooling olive the first week she was out and i was a mess. just trying to find our routine, what was right, and what worked for us. i questioned how i was going to be effective, was i suppose to keep the same routine? there was a lot of grey and no answers and with the weight of the world coming down; there were definitely some sad, hard moments. i know a lot of mamas out there were thrown for a loop with school being out. we became teachers overnight, there were those of us who were working from home and trying to homeschool. we are moms {and that’s a full time job!} who all of a sudden had to juggle a lot more with kids being home 24/7!
come the second week of us hibernating, we found our niche. we started a great ‘schedule’ and it’s completely worked for us. we or should i say i am not an early riser. never was, never will be. when i finally get up…sometimes the girls are just doing their own thing {hc will usually get them ready in the morning with breakfast} and i will get ready, start a cup of coffee {yes, i gave up starbucks…S H O C K I N G} and then i get the girls to do some e-learning {usually by 10 am}. they usually do this for an hour {sometimes they are so excited that it goes on for longer…they really love the program we use!} and then we take a snack break. after snack time, we move onto worksheets provided by the teacher. i have ellie write out her name while olive completes her worksheets. we do everything the teacher asks…so if there is a story to be read, video to be watched, game to be played, we do what’s on the teacher’s agenda. i also had and purchased some additional learning activity books for olive, so we do that too!
as a group, one of our mom friends suggested that the kids zoom together once a day to help break up our day, for the kiddos to see each other, and just feel like we are in this together! so every day, for a couple weeks. we log on at 1pm. while olive is on the call, i prepare lunch and then after the half hour call, the girls take a lunch break and ‘recess’. we then move onto more worksheets or activity books that we didn’t finish. depending on the day or we will do her ‘special’ classes, such as p.e., art {which is pretty much every day}, music, spanish, and technology!
while olive is working on her schoolwork, ellie is typically learning how to write her name, learning the alphabet, colors, or words. while olive works on her own, i will do flashcards with ellie and help her practice her writing. ellie is usually engaged 2 hours a day…which is more than what she experiences with her regular school schedule. i feel great that she is involved and will keep her interested as long as i can!
once that is all complete, we then do the hail mary or the our father together {mainly to teach ellie…olive has it down pat}, the sign of the cross, read a chapter in the bible, pray together and then call it a day!
i’m pretty happy with our routine and every day is different. i have found i’m not very montessori and prefer a more structured day/routine but, overall, it feels great to see the girls love for learning and inspiration to work.
there are days were it feels surreal and moments were it hits me like a ton of bricks that this is our new reality. at this point, imo, staying home is the only true defense we have to stop the spreading of the virus as there isn’t a vaccine, yet. i miss my parents, mom, sisters, brothers, friends, school, pretty much everything we did on the daily. but i love, love, love this time with my girls…this family time is amazing. the girls are so sweet and special and melt my heart. i am so fortunate to be blessed with this tribe i call my family.
here’s a little questionnaire i asked olive to answer!
what’s your name? olive
how old are you? 6 {and 4 months}
how old is your mom? 99
what’s your favorite color? rose gold
what’s your favorite food? toaster strudel
who’s your best friend? madison and leyah
what’s your favorite song? elsa in frozen II, into the unknown and show yourself
what do you like to watch on t.v.? ryan’s world
what’s your favorite animal? cheetah
what makes you happy? hugs and kisses
where is your favorite place? all aboard diner
what do you want to be when you grow up? an artist
who loves you the most? family…dada, kiki, ellie, ba, rimma, gramma….people i love
what does your mom do all day? clean, work on the computer, on her phone, drinks wine
where does money come from? dada! kiki only has a credit card!
where do you live? illinois
where did you come from? from inside kiki but God made me
what’s your favorite number? 9
what’s your favorite toy? bunny
where do babies come from? mommy’s tummy and God
if you could have one thing in the entire world, what would it be? my family…God’s family
what kind of car do you want? blue
why are you so cute? cause of my parents and God loves me
what does daddy do all day? lay down, never move, text, and play games
what is your favorite thing you got for christmas? ryan’s world treasure chest
[zoom fun with her classmates!]
[my goofs finding some fun with dada’s glasses]
[lots and lots of snuggle time!]
[spreading some love and hope while we stay in]
[at home shenanigans]
[their new thing is reenacting everything they watch]
[jumping off chairs and couches]
[t.v. time]
[she totally looks up to her sister]
[working hard on writing her name!]
[completing her school worksheets]
[yay to learning]
[a lot of time like this…]
[heading out to a doctor’s appointment]
[southport avenue…desolate and quiet on a sunny, warm day]
[olive said she was making an angry bear face…LOL]
[bubbles alllllll day]
[christmas pj’s, messy hair don’t care]
[finding random treasures in the yard]
[crafting galore…we’re always trying something different and fun with what we have on hand!]
[ellie saw a kids ghoul movie and became obsessed with the main character’s purple hair…there you go.]
[a lot of chalk time!]
[e learning with vids from her teacher!]
xoxo
