Distance Learning

We officially have our first two weeks of Distance Learning under our belts! Whew! There was a definitely a bit of a learning curve {mostly for me!}, but so far so good! While the girls certainly miss their friends, teachers, and their school, they are loving their Distance Learning thus far! They have had so much fun with their assignments & get excited to see their teachers & classmates on Google Meet every day! I think the hardest part for me has been the Google Meets/Zoom calls. When we're at home, we're usually just home playing, reading, and relaxing on our own timetable. But now suddenly having rigid time hacks while at home is an adjustment! More than once, we've been outside playing & I'll have to rush one of the girls back in for a Google Meet. ;)  But we have slowly but surely found our groove. Shelby has two Google Meets every weekday + her daily assignments, Hadley has 4 Google Meets over the course of the week + her daily assignments, and Brady has daily videos from his teachers + weekly Zoom calls with his teachers/small group. One thing I was worried about going into Distance Learning was entertaining Brady/distracting him to allow the girls the time & quiet space they needed for their Google Meets & worktime. But so far, this has been a complete nonissue! Brady has been content to play by himself with his cars or have me read to him while the girls do their thing, which has been a huge blessing.

The first two pictures below were of the girls' very first Google Meets, so it was a little novel to us & we were all excited to see what it looked like hence everyone crowded around the screens! ;)  Also, please note Shelby's teacher in a shirt & tie for the 8:30am Google Meet. We have adored both of the girls' teachers this year from Day 1, but they have blown us away throughout this whole process!

{Hadley's first virtual piano lesson}

And we always make time for recess breaks! :)  The pictures below were taken after the kids had biked 2 miles while I ran. Brady is usually always in the stroller when I run, but he was adamant he wanted to ride his bike with his sisters. I begrudgingly gave it a try one morning thinking it would be a complete disaster. He totally surprised me though & kept up with all of us! He didn't even complain once--I was SO proud of him! Brady riding his bike with the girls while I run has become our new normal, and we try to do this 2-3 times during the week. The girls don't always love it, but it's so good for all of us!

I'm so thankful for a long, flat driveway and a big yard for the kids to play in & a safe, quiet neighborhood for us to go on bike rides & walks to break up their Distance Learning days at home.

My least favorite part about Distance Learning is hands down the screen time.Between the girls' virtual piano lessons, Google Meets, and online classwork they have probably had more screen time in the past two weeks than they've had in the past two years. But the silver lining of the Distance Learning is that it's quickly adapting the girls to become more capable & confident with technology, and it has been a huge boost to Shelby's budding independence and gives her a sense of pride for being self-motivated & a self-starter. She can get most of her work accomplished completely on her own, and I'm just more or less supervising.

As of now, the kids' schools are tentatively scheduled to reopen on May 4th, but I know that is all subject to change as the coronavirus situation progresses & changes. It seems like every day we're hearing of more & more states & school districts closing their doors for the remainder of the school year. I'm hoping & praying the kids will be able to return to their schools to close out the year with their beloved teachers & friends even if it's only for a week or two! But for now, we are so thankful for our health, safety, and the technology to keep us connected until we're on the other side of this!