Tag: #HomeSchool

  • Learning to Read and Write

    I am not a fan of remote schooling, but I don’t know anyone who is. It is something that we are all putting up with. I have said this before, and that is that the remote teacher my daughter has is great. She is patient, and calm and very nurturing to all the kids. My daughter looks forward to seeing her teacher, and draws pictures for her. For this crappy situation, I feel very fortunate that she is our teacher.

    I am also aware of the short coming of remote learning. Mainly, it is difficult to consistently reinforce lessons in these spurts of learning. Even with parental support, which I know all of us parents do for the class, it is not reaping the same results as compared to the kids being in a classroom together.

    But there is one very wonderful thing that I do get to take part in; I get to help my kid learn to read and write. (The kid is an ace with math, which she totally gets from her mother.) I have made flashcards to go over sight words with her, and its fun watching her begin to recognize those sight words in the real world.

    “Hey, Dad! I can read that!” is a new fun phrase she likes to share with me. She is just beginning to unlock the world around her, and that feeling of the discovery beams off of her.

    And at the end of the day, the kid will sit in my lap and read one of her books to me. Slowly, sounding out words, connecting the thoughts in the words, and watching her confidence grow as the words are no longer a difficulty to her.

    With reading the books, she is now wanting to write her own books. We have bought her several notebooks to draw in, but now she wants to put words with her drawings. She labors over her desk, drawing images, and scenes for her stories. Then she starts the process of finding the right words to describe her pictures.

    It is pretty special that I get to play a part in my kid learning the basic building blocks of her education.

  • Planning on Writing

    Things aren’t working out the way I had planned, which is the theme of 2020, right? I have been trying to take advantage of being unemployed and being a stay at home parent/homeschool teacher, by fitting in more writing, and looking for ways to take it more seriously, and possibly making this a career.

    What I have run into the past two months is that consistently getting one to two hours a day to write is not likely. I have found myself in more of a feast of famine situation; either no time, or an abundance of time. Now, when the abundance of does show up, it’s like sensory overload, and I don’t know where to begin. (I found myself in this situation yesterday, and I got nothing accomplished as I was trying to figure where I had left off on different projects.)

    Funny, but I have received this advice before, and I think I even wrote about it, but I still have not really digested it, to make it my own. A writer buddy who has two kids, told me that he tries to use every moment he is free to work. Riding the subway, early in the morning, late at night, nap time. He travels with a notebook, and when he sees that he is free, he just starts working.

    For me, there is a step missing, which is I have to prioritize and plan, which makes writing more like work than an art. I was able to do this in my professional theatre career, so why am I not translating this to writing? I’m a planner, and need to organize better. I think I need to project manage myself. Leaving myself to be caught by inspiration is not working. I need to set out what I am working on, goals are, and have an honest accounting of why I did or did not make my goal.

    Still learning here.

  • What Have I Learned This Week?

    This has been a very political week for me, blog wise. I woke up this morning with the intention of not writing about anything political, and then I saw that Trump and the First Lady have tested positive for Covid.

    Proving that 2020 is the year when anything and everything will happen.

    But as it is Friday, maybe some self-reflection is needed.

    What have I learned this week?

    First, school teachers do not get the credit and pay that they deserve. I have said that many times before, but two weeks of home school/video chat has proved that to me, in a very crystal clear manner. I will commit now, and for the rest of my life, to ensure that teachers get the respect, pay and resources they need and deserve to do their jobs.

    Second, if doing the home school thing is my lot for the next eight months, then I have to come to terms that I will only have about an hour a day to write during the school week. And if I want more time, that will have to occur on nights and weekend. Just a fact.

    Third, as we enter October, I also have to come to terms that I will not being able to relax until the year 2020 is over. I thought 2016 was bad (except for the Cubs winning the World Series) and 2018 wasn’t a good year either. But, 2020 just won’t let up. The anxiety I have every day is relentless, and I don’t think I will be able to relax until the election is over, and a vaccine is out. I know there are a million other issues that 2020 has brought us, but I need those two things to happen.

    Here is to trying to have a good weekend…

  • Covid Confession

    This has been a tough and trying day. Nothing really has gone the way any of us have expected.

    Except for the laundry. I got the laundry done on time.

    Today is the wife’s official first day at her new job. Being that she is still working at home, it doesn’t feel like too much has changed.

    We are down to the final 10 days before the kid starts school. And again, as she will be learning from home. It won’t be an enormous change, as she was learning from home in the Spring, so that doesn’t feel like it will change anything.

    Me, on the other hand, each day is pretty much the same. So, not much has changed there.

    Which means we all feel rather stuck. And it isn’t too hard to believe that. We have been doing the lock down for five and a half months now.

    No end in sight. Just plugging away.

    Ahhh…

    When I wake up in the morning, I do have this feeling of dread that there is this mountain of things that I have to get done, and also at the same time, I have the feeling that there is no way I will get them done.

    But I have to make sure the kid is okay, and that the wife is being supported, as she is the bread winner now and going to school at the same time, which is a huge burden/responsibility that can completely stress her out. She’s a good wife and mother.

    I just keep hoping that things will get better; at less stressful.

    One day…

  • More Ikea Shopping

    We are gearing up for the school year, which for us means that our daughter will be learning from home, and using virtual lessons. We are trying to make the most of it, and the kid seems to be excited about going “back to school.” One of the things we need to do is to create for her a dedicated school/learning space.

    That means IKEA!

    We do have a bit of an Ikea obsession in our house. As some of you know from a previous post, Ikea stopped making Algot, which has still left a bad taste in our mouth when it comes to the company.

    But not so bad that we have given up on Ikea.

    As I flip through the catalogue, and scroll through their website, I remember that line from Fight Club, which asks us “What kind of dining set defines me as a person?” I don’t believe that I have become a creature of consumerism, as I think that part of the book/movie was making the point that if we feel a void of purpose or meaning, that our society tells us to fill it with shopping to create the appearance of completeness; of stability. I just want to be able to have a desk for my kid that can contain all of her school stuff, and fold up.

    Can I have that without selling my soul?