It was about a week into the shutdown that Norm founded COVID Academy. He took the lead when it came to activities in the mornings and keeping the kids engaged. I was just the after school teacher that let them do whatever.
Norm actually facilitated circle time, centers, small groups with some sort of themed worksheets, show and tell, and the most favorite of all - outdoor play!
Some of those days were long. Some hours were never ending. And just like that, right at around the 2 month mark, COVID Academy has come to an end and back to their regular school the boys go.
We are going to miss them.... Norm actually teared up the other day (don't tell him I told you), as we were discussing the kids returning to their regular school.
So here is a snapshot of the things that took place during this once-in-a-lifetime (hopefully) season.
Health & Hygene
Boy have we been washing our hands... a lot... all day long.
We haven't had the need for the kids to go out in public wearing masks, but we are ready for when the moment comes!
Considering we were going to be stuck at home for a couple of weeks (so we were told back in mid-March), we tackled potty training for Nico. After little progress we had to resort to bribery with chocolate cheerios - two for peeing in the potty and four for pooping in the potty.
Art
We did some type of art every single day. We also took advantage of various music classes that people did live. It was super fun (also read as a big mess) to get all the music instruments out to play along.
This day we did water paint... as in plain water and brushes on the hot driveway
Nico got ahold of the scissors one day and took off cutting the paper! He did so great!
Dramatic Play
Fashion
They love wearing their matching shirts. One day they went to the kitchen with Norm to pick up things so we said they were on field trip wearing matching uniform!
Benjamin learning how to use the blower
We went on a field trip to visit a farm and harvest strawberries
The day their flip flos arrived was quite glorious.
Horticulture
We planted parsley, basil and tomatoes (that we grew from seeds!)
Culinary
The boys sure acquired a good bit of culinary skills. Even if it involved licking butter from the knife. We made milkshakes!
They made me chocolate chip cookies from scratch for Mother's Day. They insisted in decorating them... so, why not?
Outside Play
Boy did we do a whole lot of outside play. The main activity was riding bikes. Benjamin got pedals on his balance bike for his birthday (about halway point of COVID Academy's existance). He picked it up right away!
We went on family walks around our neighborhood
Randomly it got hot, so we inflated the inflatable pool and had water day!
Business
This picture was taken the weekend before the shutdown... we had to stop by Sam's to pickup salmon for a Mighty Meal - they insisted on helping
They would ride along with us to do deliveries as a way to get them out of the house (and give the other parent some time to get some work done)
Benjamin lives for pushing the kitchen cart... notice the cart is stacked literally twice as high as he is tall. I am pretty sure this is not OSHA compliant... neither are the flip flops.
One day when he is 15 we will show him this video as proof that he liked sweeping the Mighty Meals kitchen...
S.T.E.M
Benjamin took the initiative to reuse items from the recycling bin to create this robot. We named him Robbie.
Deductive Reasoning
One afternoon I taught Benjamin how to play tic-tac-toe. He got the hang rather quickly and on this one he actually beat me (see the score) on his own... I am not that mom that always lets them win.. they have to figure it out and earn it!
These are just a peek into the ins and outs of COVID Academy... our days also involved coffee, snacks, naps, quiet time, all kinds of field trips thanks to these people in South Florida, learning how things work, silly dances and songs, a fair share of 3-year old meltdowns and lots of brotherly love (both ends of the spectrum), coffee.
It's been intense. It's been a lot. This strange season is not over yet, we are just adapting to a new way of life. School next week is going to be different than the school they left back in March.
Altough we juggled all the things and some of them were ocassionally dropped, like patience, COVID Academy has been fulfilling and we have all learned from it.
It is going to be so quiet here next week. Maybe I'll finally get to cleaning the toilets...
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