We are surviving and thriving in our new normal. Brad and I have had multiple calls we've had to do for work and honestly, Bennett has been such a trooper. He still really likes having a big schedule to follow. It has cut down on the "what should I do nooooowwww?" questions and we are getting in all his school assignments while giving him some independent play and reading time. He's almost done with the 5th Harry Potter book.
Technically, the Governor has mandated that from this Tuesday through March 30, no schoolwork would be required due to "Act of God" days, however I don't believe District 65 has gotten the message. Honestly, it's better that Bennett has assignments as we don't have to come up with additional activities on our own!
Someone in our PTA facebook group suggested putting shamrocks in our windows the other day. Many kids are taking walks around the neighborhood as their "outdoor time" since playgrounds and playdates are off limits. Due to the shamrock success, our neighborhood has come up with a cute social-distancing scavenger hunt where people put pictures in their windows and the families on their walks count as many as they can. Stay tuned for tomorrow's Silly Faces scavenger hunt. We are ready!
One of the reasons I really wanted to live in this neighborhood was the vibes I felt when we came to look at it. It was way top of our price range, but I just had this feeling that other neighborhoods did not have, not to mention the cutest little bungalow a block and a half from school.
We have a great block full of super friendly and supportive neighbors. There is a very active group text, which normally used to plan the block party, but in these times, is used to support our neighbors. One neighbor texted that she was going to rally and take some supplies to the neighboring senior living home that has been struck with two cases of covid-19. This got a group of neighbors to pitch in as the home was in desperate need for disinfecting basics. Another neighbor was headed to the store this morning and asked if any of us needed anything, making sure that our older neighbors were stocked up. She would do porch drop offs and venmo/quickpay arrangements could be made later. We have a bunch of first graders all living within a block or two, and it's just been so great living here. I could not imagine us social distancing in our old 2 bedroom condo in the West Loop (although there is a huge list of restaurants we miss dearly!)
Speaking of restaurants, we are hearing of an impending lockdown, so while we have plenty of supplies here, we are thinking of ordering in again to support our local businesses while it is still possible. The delivery fees have been waived and no-contact delivery methods are in place.
I did also have some bacon in the fridge we needed to eat, so we had some BLT's for lunch. I now want to make cookies to get this bacon smell out of here! It's been hours and I can't get the bacon out of my brain.
Hope everyone is staying in and staying corona-free!
xoxo,
Michelle
Gym Class Indoors
Darn this gloomy and rainy weather! The P.E. teacher has sent a couple of videos and challenges to do, so Bennett did what was called a Captain America training challenge. It was a series of HIIT type workout moves and he did them well! Yesterday, Bennett and I spent "movement" hour doing Just Dance on the Nintendo Switch. What a workout. We kept joking that Emma would have beaten us at any of the dancing scores.
Word Wall of Memories
Also on the list of assignments was to make the "Word Wall" words out of something. Now, he doesn't love doing Word Wall since he is more advanced than most of his other friends in his first grade class. Two other kiddos in his class and him tend to do other assignments in reading and writing since they are beyond this level. Either way, we made sure to follow the assignment and post to his Google classroom to make sure they knew he was doing school work still. Bennett used some barely sticky post-it notes that were from when I was in college 20+ years ago. Pretty sure my mom either bought them for me, or they were taken home from her office! Ha!
Technically, the Governor has mandated that from this Tuesday through March 30, no schoolwork would be required due to "Act of God" days, however I don't believe District 65 has gotten the message. Honestly, it's better that Bennett has assignments as we don't have to come up with additional activities on our own!
Coding
Another fun activity is that his Library teacher is letting them do some coding activities at home. Bennett jumped right in, having done some coding classes at Kids Stem Studio nearby for one of his many camps. He did this for a long time and it allowed us to get work done. We will keep this in our back pockets next time we both have calls at the same time.
We Have the Best Neighborhood
For our walk this morning, I texted some of his other first grade buddies who live a few houses down and the kids got to see each other (and us moms got to see each other too!). They had a great time yelling at each other, Bennett on the sidewalk, his friends in their doorways.Someone in our PTA facebook group suggested putting shamrocks in our windows the other day. Many kids are taking walks around the neighborhood as their "outdoor time" since playgrounds and playdates are off limits. Due to the shamrock success, our neighborhood has come up with a cute social-distancing scavenger hunt where people put pictures in their windows and the families on their walks count as many as they can. Stay tuned for tomorrow's Silly Faces scavenger hunt. We are ready!
One of the reasons I really wanted to live in this neighborhood was the vibes I felt when we came to look at it. It was way top of our price range, but I just had this feeling that other neighborhoods did not have, not to mention the cutest little bungalow a block and a half from school.
We have a great block full of super friendly and supportive neighbors. There is a very active group text, which normally used to plan the block party, but in these times, is used to support our neighbors. One neighbor texted that she was going to rally and take some supplies to the neighboring senior living home that has been struck with two cases of covid-19. This got a group of neighbors to pitch in as the home was in desperate need for disinfecting basics. Another neighbor was headed to the store this morning and asked if any of us needed anything, making sure that our older neighbors were stocked up. She would do porch drop offs and venmo/quickpay arrangements could be made later. We have a bunch of first graders all living within a block or two, and it's just been so great living here. I could not imagine us social distancing in our old 2 bedroom condo in the West Loop (although there is a huge list of restaurants we miss dearly!)
Speaking of restaurants, we are hearing of an impending lockdown, so while we have plenty of supplies here, we are thinking of ordering in again to support our local businesses while it is still possible. The delivery fees have been waived and no-contact delivery methods are in place.
I did also have some bacon in the fridge we needed to eat, so we had some BLT's for lunch. I now want to make cookies to get this bacon smell out of here! It's been hours and I can't get the bacon out of my brain.
Hope everyone is staying in and staying corona-free!
xoxo,
Michelle
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