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We Made it Through 3 Weeks of Team Smith Surprise Home School!

How y'all doin? It has been a wild 3 weeks. Matt encouraged me to stop looking at my IRA..."Think long term!" he likes to remind me. I encourage him to not argue with trolls on the internet..."They aren't real!" I like to remind him. We are quite the pair. ;-)

Work has continued. "Home School" has continued. Our lil' family is doing just fine. A little stir crazy. But just fine.


We have pretty much stuck to our routine, Monday-Friday. There have been a few bumps as we navigated work meetings that happen simultaneously. And a few tears when a small child feels overwhelmed by all of the changes in our world. The routine has been our saving grace. Now, it's not for everyone. We always say, every family does what they need to do, to be successful. And that looks different for every family. I feel a need to reiterate, we aren't encouraging others to follow suit. Just sharing how we're doing, what has been working, and cheering on everyone for doing what works for them!

Some highlights from the last two weeks...

Levar Burton is reading online!!! That man is a national treasure.


My childhood bestie, Ellie, created a full on power point when she shared her culture with the kids. I am telling you, I was riveted! I learned things I did not know and we have known each other since 5th grade. I was supposed to be working, and my attention kept diverting back to her talk. She is fabulous! And could totally be a teacher if she wanted to! 


Our friend Nacho led the girls in tortilla making. And talked about where their family came from. Once again, I found myself leaning in to learn more! I did not learn about the history of Guatemala as a kid.  And they even talked about the geographical differences that contribute to corn v flour tortillas! And we most definitely ate all of those tortillas when we had tacos that night for dinner. 





Matt and I were able to pull of two science lessons that were interactive. Like I said in our last post, usually the girls are choosing mystery science vignettes online on their own while we work. So in 15 days of homeschool, we actively led only 2 days of science! He did a real fun lesson convection with tea bags turned into rockets. I did some baking, talking about leaveners, yeast fermentation, and temperatures. 






A year ago, Matt and I applied to be part of a book project. It was a great experience! The book was recently published. There were a lot of co-authors. We were invited to present for 10 minutes about chapter with our fellow authors. It was an online session that maxed out at 900 participants. It was really fun and we learned a lot! While we were doing that, homeschool had a special movie morning. 



Our friend Heather has continued to do a weekly science lesson. Kyle has continued to do a weekly drum lesson. We are so grateful for these folx, and not just because that is one day of the week we don't have to plan! It's been such a neat way to keep in touch, stay connected, catch up. Kind of bittersweet, we really miss seeing friends in person. But grateful still the same. 


So what is in store for Week 4? 

Next week was supposed to be our school's spring break. We had plans to go to Hollywood, hike to the sign, laze away by the pool, see Ellie and other friends, and take Cass to be sorted at Harry Potter World as her early birthday present! Sadly, that trip was canceled. Of course it's the right thing to do, and Universal Studios is closed anyway. Still sad. 

We definitely need the break though, so we have decided to do a staycation. Monday will be our "parent teacher" conferences with the kids. Can't wait to see who will be teacher and who will be parent! LOL.  It will be a half day. Then Matt and I are stepping away from work Tuesday-Friday for spring break. We're going to surprise the girls by buying Disney+ and loading up on their favorite snacks. Then we'll just veg out. We'll have to share about conferences next week! 

We hope y'all are staying home and staying healthy out there. This whole thing has really thrown us for a loop, hasn't it? Back in January, I was totally in that camp of people who thought this was similar to the flu and flu was worse. Then came February and wow oh wow was I so wrong!!! I am so grateful for the whistleblowers, the people telling their stories on social media pages, the doctors and nurses, the scientists, and the few brave politicians who continue to speak truths and give us tools to be well and protect one another. I pray more people will use these tools :-) 

Love y'all!
XO
Team Smith


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