Monday, May 25, 2020

Week 353: Scoot

As I think I've mentioned, we are not the most assiduous home-schoolers. But, between the age and temperament of our kids and the fact that both Papa Bear and I made conscious choices to pursue careers in fields other than elementary education, it's just not our thing. Nonetheless, we got a clear direction from Lemon's teacher once the schools closed that Lemon was to catch up to where he was supposed to be in Lexia, the literacy app that the school uses. And he was to do this by doing about 15 minutes per day of lessons. This goal was both concrete and seemed within the bounds of what our little family could accomplish. And so, every morning we worked at it. Until, finally, last week, Lemon completed the level that he was supposed to complete and earned his big prize: a scooter! Of course, Lime got one too, for being so cooperative about letting his brother concentrate. Or, that's what we're going with, anyhow.





It's hard to believe that we have an "end of year" conference with Lemon's teacher next week, and Lime's school is scheduling a drive-by event to wave at the teachers and pick up stuff that was left at school. It definitely has an anticlimactic feel to it. This was my last year with a preschooler, and I sort of thought the end of that time would feel like more of a watershed moment than it does. Especially since I had thought all along that the end of preschool would mean the end of the crazy schedule our family has been operating under for the past 5 years, and perhaps the beginning of something more tractable. With all the rumors flying around about what public elementary school will actually look like in the fall, who knows? But, one week at a time.






Otherwise, things continue to move forward in our quarantine life. There was no Memorial Day parade today of course, but Papa Bear organized a Transformers parade on our porch that the kids enjoyed. We worked in the garden, scooted around the neighborhood, made more ice cream, and generally enjoyed the long weekend. Not that the weekend feels that much different to the kids these days than the week itself. They are both just so happy and growing like weeds, though.


On the one hand, I appreciate the structure that school gives them and the amount that their teachers are able to teach them, which is far more than Papa Bear and I can manage. And then on the other hand, I see how much they are enjoying this and I wonder whether maybe some other cultures where kids don't start elementary school until they are 7 have a point. The pandemic is so awful, and no one would ever have wished for it. But, if one little positive thing to come out of it is for them to have this extended strange summer to spend together just being their wild little selves, well, I'll take that silver lining.