Boomwhackers and life

It's day 5 of the "stay at home" order from the governor of Oregon (But, really everything started shutting down and getting canceled the week before). I have to admit, I'm going a little crazy. Every time I think of going somewhere or making plans, I can't. It has to be one of the most frustrating things I've ever experienced. Thankfully we can at least go out for a walk as long as we maintain distance from others around us. So, the kids can go outside and play, we can go for walks, and we can go to the store when needed. It sure does make some days very long, but thankfully we have many many things to do around our house. I was feeling very blessed the other night as I looked over all the books, school books, games, puzzles, equipment, and much more that we have. I've even been able to offer things to other families who aren't used to having kids home all day long, and we still have enough.

It isn't very pretty to look at and needs some major organization, but this is a blessing of a full and complete curriculum for all 3 boys. Plenty of school books and activities. Thankful to have been prepared for this time.

We are surviving the days. It's almost nice to have the slowdown. Well, it was the first week and a half. But, I'm ready for some of our activities to come back. Until then we fill our days with anything that will take our minds off the craziness out there in the world right now. It includes many hours of screen time. But, it also includes cool things like building and creating. We decided to make a LEGO display on our mantle until Easter decorations come out.

Everything is Awesome LEGO display to remind us that everything can BE awesome.

We're playing a lot more instruments including the piano. We discovered these boomwhackers tubes a few months ago at a local music store, and I'm so glad we decided to pick them up. They have been so fun to play with as a family. We've even ordered another set with different notes, so we can do more of the songs available on YouTube.

Boomwhackers! So fun!

Chores are obviously not going away. In fact, they almost have to be done more because we are home all day, and that makes for more messes when everyone is just home. The dinosaur made his appearance this week to help with vacuuming.

Getting movement in is a little bit of a challenge now. We used to have a swimming pool to go to. We had parkour classes. We could go to a park and play. Now those things are all closed, and finding motivation is proving to be somewhat challenging, but at the same time almost needed more now than ever. Thankfully we could probably open up our own mini-gym with all the equipment we've acquired over the years. We have a treadmill, a punching bag (family gift from last Christmas), weights, YouTube, hula hoops, weighted balls, exercise balls, jump ropes, and some outdoor stuff. Some of us have picked our favorite ways to exercise. Aric's doing the treadmill, I'm doing workout videos...

Starting a series of 100 workouts. Wish me luck! Hoping I can stick to this one.

...Alex is outside as much as he possibly can playing with his friends (They are the same 6 kids from our cul-de-sac everyday).

We ordered a pogo stick, and it came this week. He loves it.

Really, not a lot is different for us. We're used to learning and being at home a lot of the time, but having all activities and outings unavailable makes life weird. We want to see friends again. We want to go to the library. We want to be able to take a break from being home. I know we'll get to do those things again, and I look forward to it. But, for now we are going to make the best use of what we got, and it's a lot!

Pete the Cat by Alex

We had a fun homeschool group activity at the library last week. It was a literature day where the kids could bring and share a favorite book. They could do whatever they wanted to present or share their book. All the presentations were excellent whether they just stood up and shared their book, did a skit, or even dressed up.

Alex decided to share his favorite book series Pete the Cat. There was no hesitation when I asked him what book he wanted to share. He just loves the books, and Pete is such a fun character to share anyway.

When he seemed like he really wanted to get into his presentation I came up with a few ideas to help him including making this last-minute mask the night before so he could really dress up as Pete.

We picked up a pack of felt at the store earlier in the day but didn't get around to making the mask until the evening. It took about an hour to make just using a template for a paper mask I found. If you want to make a paper one, the template I used is here at Educationalinsights.com.

To complete his costume we picked up a blue shirt and white shoes at the local Wal store. We wrote Pete the Cat on the front of the shirt, and he colored his white shoes all the colors that Pete stepped in in the story. He picked a few facts out about the books, and we played the audio of Pete the Cat I Love My White Shoes. Did you know you can listen to the audio of that and many other books on the Pete the Cat website?

 His presentation rocked! Just like Pete the Cat. Alex was feeling pretty groovy afterward.

 This is the book that inspired him!

It was a fun book/literature day. I love it when books come alive for kids, and they can see how much fun it is to do these kinds of projects.