A month ago, COVID case numbers were down, and they announced that we would gradually start sending the children back to school. The funny part is that it was only for one day a week anyway. Around half the county signed up for this, and the other half elected to just stay full time virtual.

Wow! There were so many people who were not so terribly desperate for a quiet day that they actually chose to stay full virtual. All people are different, y’all. We really are, and that is okay.

Me, I was disappointed to hear it was only for a day because I have always thought of home schooling as a nightmare, and I do not like feeling this overwhelmed.

I will take what I can get, so I signed the boys up for the their one day/week.

Our second grader went back three weeks ago, and he thoroughly enjoyed it. He hates virtual school. This child was made for running wild through open fields, digging holes, and showing off all that he knows. It is hard to do any of those things while doing school on a computer. He is free-spirited and uninhibited. I admire his spirit. That was never me. I was much more uptight.

I wrote all about the hilarity that is our second grader doing virtual school here. He is actually quite adorable.

Our fourth grader began his one day of in-person school just this week. He got to go ONE day and reported that it was WAY better than virtual school. Then the announcement came that night.

The Announcement

This week our county announced a return to full virtual school. Even the children enrolled in learning centers were sent home. All hybrid hopes are over.

I am surprisingly okay.

Something has happened in the last couple of weeks in my spirit. I believe it is called acceptance. Kicking against the goads has been my default. Things are not how I want them to be. Who wants a world like this, filtered through a mask, isolated in our little huts?

But these are the cards we are dealt. These are the years, yes years apparently, we spend with our kids full time at home. Rooms are less tidy. Social calendars are emptier, and yes, sometimes it is lonely.

Keeping little boys paying attention to a computer teacher is sort of a joke.

I am so done constantly fighting against that. Actually, I will not be done for a while, but internally I very much WANT to be done. It seems like when I go off to other rooms and leave them alone with their computer screens, they actually get more done and listen BETTER than when I am in the room with them. If I am with them, they feel the need to keep me involved, ask me for snacks, and tell me stories.

Good news: It looks chaotic, but learning is actually going on just fine.

I was talking to my mom on the phone the other day while I cooked lunch. Daniel had asked me to make baked potato soup that day. Normally, I do not talk on the phone during school hours because it is too distracting for all three boys who do school downstairs, but that day I did it anyway.

Daniel was beside me, peeling baked potatoes. John David was trekking in and out to show me the story he was writing. Caleb strolled by to show me his latest drawing and say hello to Nana.

I joked to my mom, “As you can see, they are all working very hard at their school work.”

Mom and I got a good laugh out of that. Were the boys all at recess? I mean I hope so, but I am not totally sure. They are usually on task, but we do still have all of these interactions like this during the day. It feels very much like a home school situation. There are home school programs you can do where the kids have teachers teach them on videos, just like this.

The boys are getting time here to explore their interests. Caleb would be drawing in class whether he is at school or at home, but Daniel would not be squeezing in extra cooking time. This is a bonus. John David probably would not have extra writing time either.

The virtual schooling has also helped me make peace with Alan remaining in the Army.

Remaining an Army family is another life circumstance that my spirit has bristled against. There is this deep longing in me to gather up our family and worldly goods and move to a nice piece of land in Alabama. I have written about that many times this year.

Several things about being in our nineteenth year of military service have bothered me. First and foremost is watching our older children be so strongly affected by changing schools over and over again. Our high schooler is now on his FOURTH school in FOUR years. That is ridiculous. We are not talking about moving every FEW years. No, this is far more drastic than that. He has changed schools four years in a row.

Stressful does not even begin to describe it, and I have guilt!

But wait. With half of the country thrown into virtual school with no options, it has ushered in the idea of another path. Our teenager says he rather likes virtual school. Tennis has kept him active and interacting with the world, and with church starting back, I am hoping that will too.

I suppose we actually could move teenagers during high school if they opt for a home/virtual school type option. That might be far less stressful for them.

Plus, my oldest son does not need my supervision the way the younger boys do. It is not a drain on me at all. Home and virtual schooling feels much easier to me with older children than it did with little ones.

But these younger two, aughhhh!!! At the moment they are literally chasing each other around the house, and I can still see a second grade math class going on in the living room.

Okay. I got both little rowdy buddies back in their virtual classes. Ugh. How I love my new role of “hall monitor.” (Not.) ….And now I am a math tutor….for common core…..

Today I have peace though. Acceptance has occurred.

This is our lot, and it is not so bad. Yes, it is busy, and I will have no energy left by three or five, depending on the day. I am okay though. No one is coming over– it is a pandemic. So the house needs to be clean, but not necessarily decluttered.

There will always be a list full of things to do, but isn’t that a good thing? That makes me feel useful and fulfilled. God has given us purpose here, a whole ton of purpose.

We are going to make the best of this.

What else can we do? This is the lot that God has given us for 2020/2021, and we will graze in this pasture and feed on this soil. We are in the palm of God’s good hands.

“I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I myself will make them lie down, declares the Lord God. I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strayed, and I will bind up the injured, and I will strengthen the weak, and the fat and the strong I will destroy. I will feed them in justice.”

Ezekiel 34:15-16

God is good all the time, and all the time, God is good.

Don’t forget to enter our Christmas Giveaway!!! This is a beautiful necklace and a truly unique piece that you can personalize with TWO photos engraved straight on to the inside of the locket.

The post Accepting Life As It Is While Maryland Returns to Full Virtual School appeared first on Stories of Our Boys.

June is always a dizzyingly busy month. We have two family birthdays, Father’s Day, and the end of school. For 2019, 2018, 2016, and 2014, we were also in the middle of a big move. So you can imagine, that the children are all completely bewildered at spending June stuck in our own house. Not just stuck in the house, but in the SAME house as last year! What???

Haaaa! The military life has been quite chaotic for us the past few years. I am so thankful to have a summer off from moving.

But I am about done with hanging out in my kitchen with no end in sight. Watching the boys play video games was only fun for about a week, and I have already finished binge watching all my Netflix shows.

So we have found ourselves in need of ADVENTURES!

Well, I have anyway. Alan must be too because he is the one who booked Ocean City for July 4th!

However, we want to do this responsibly. Catching the rona is not our idea of a good time, and we do respect the pandemic. We have our masks. We wear those indoors, and for the most part, we just stick to the outdoors and keep our distance from others. It’s working so far. Maryland coronavirus numbers are down, and that is a good feeling. We aren’t throwing caution to the wind, though, friends. Don’t worry.

Havre de Grace is located in our side of Maryland, and ever since we moved in, I have heard of the boardwalk there. It turned out to be even more pleasant than I expected. We ate outside at a very casual restaurant called the Promenade Grille. Then we took a nice stroll on the boardwalk, stopping to see the wildlife, read the information signs, and take photos as directed by Mom. This mom likes to take a ton of pictures.

Daniel was assigned an entire nine week’s worth of reading a history book about our county.

The book is called Sailing Through Time with the Roberts. Most of that history happened to center around Havre de Grace. It was a long book, and it was read during “distance learning,” so I got to read it right along with Daniel. Each week, we would take turns. He would read a page, I would read a page, all the way through the twenty-plus pages of each chapter. It was the longest, most in depth local history book I have ever read. However, the author kept it somewhat interesting, as it was told through the eyes of a time traveling brother and sister. Their time travel instrument was a model skipjack, perfect for the Chesapeake Bay area.

Since Daniel and I read that historical book, our Havre de Grace boardwalk tour made a lot of sense to us. Several times I said, “Look, Daniel! Like in the book!”

“John O’Neil! Like in the book! Remember, he fought the British single-handedly!?

-hehehe- Daniel spent most of the walk saying, “Yeah. Yes, I remember.”

The boys have only left the house to go to a state park and this board walk excursion since March 13th. I have noticed that in the South many sports have started back up, but that isn’t really the case here. We are still almost always at home. They get to see neighbors, and that’s it.

I definitely felt like the youngest fella had completely forgotten how to behave in public. He has always been spirited and uninhibited, but he was a handful at dinner….a loud handful… I think we need to take him out more often to remind him how to behave. We still had fun though.

So our pandemic-style days out are definitely more solo than usual. Outdoor excursions are my favorite anyway, so this is not a bad deal. However, now that we have begun to get out, we want to do so more and more. Next weekend we are off to Ocean City, but just for one night. I feel like it will be a little harder to keep our distance in a place known for being crowded, and it will be our first hotel stay since the rona. It does make me a touch apprehensive, but we will be careful. I ordered new masks so that we will have enough for this weekend, just in case.

Here is a link to where I order our masks, from my friend Kristina in Tennessee. She does a wonderful job. She puts a nose grip piece on them that helps with fit.

I looked up coronavirus numbers for Maryland today. We are doing so well here. Alabama has three times the number of cases we do here per day, and Maryland has two million more people than Alabama. Florida, of course, is even worse. That is one reason we are sticking to our plan of waiting until August to visit Alabama and Florida. We long to see our family though. Come August we promise to pile up in the car and come visit!! I am just hoping by then the military will be granting leave so that Alan can come with us. We need numbers to go down for that to happen. Stay safe, friends!!

The post Touring Havre de Grace Boardwalk, Pandemic Style appeared first on Stories of Our Boys.

Have you had to look a little harder for joy over the past few months of pandemic? Do you find the coronavirus and the news to all be a little discouraging?

Feeling down and being in a place of seeking joy has happened to me many times over the years, not because I am totally Sadness all the time because I am not. It is just that hard times call for digging a little deeper, and we are definitely in difficult places these days. There have been months where I sat down and searched out instances in the Bible where it mentions joy, just to teach myself and help pull out of the funk from moving year after year after year as an Army wife.

That is why I was excited to write out this booklet to share with you what I have found in my own joy-quests. Each of the eight days focuses on easy ways to refocus your mind to a calmer, more joyful place. 

And yes, of course, 8 Days of Finding Joy During a Pandemic is free for all my readers. It is an easy read too, at only 25 pages long.

Here is an outline of what you will find in this booklet:

• What do you enjoy?
• The Importance of Joy
• One Simple Lesson that Brought Joy Back to My Life
• What are you focusing on?
• What is it that we long for?
• Don’t let your joy rest in the hands of others.
• Thinking Positively When You Feel Surrounded by Negatives
• Don’t let the news drink your coffee.

Save it to your desktop while you go through the chapters this week to make it easier to find each day. I decided to give you the whole thing at once because who wants eight separate emails? 

Now, of course, we are not about to solve all your problems with a booklet.

…But I am hoping it will be a pick-me-up/encouraging read for you.

I would love to hear from you all about your answer to the Day 1 prompt, so if you’d like to share, send me an email or a blog comment, and tell me what it is that you enjoy doing.

To download the Choosing Joy booklet, sign up below, and it will be delivered to your email:

And of course, if you are already one of my newsletter subscribers, I have already sent this out to you. Check your inbox!

The post 8 Days of Finding Joy During a Pandemic appeared first on Stories of Our Boys.

I am taking a break upstairs, listening to Alan’s surprised voice downstairs saying, “Y’all already ate that sherbet!!??” It truly is eat or be eaten around here. Food has a short shelf life.

School is going better though! Therefore, my stress level has decreased. Monday all the boys’ work was due to be turned in by 12pm, and we had most of it turned in on Friday afternoon. New assignments were not released until today, some of them not even until 12pm today, so it was two light days in a row. We do most of our work in the late morning anyway, so what isn’t done by two o’clock is not getting done until the next day.

A nice relaxing activity that we are doing to close out our school day is gathering in the living room to read together.

Now that the teachers have the academic stuff covered, we are back to reading through the Little House on the Prairie series. We are on the fifth book, By the Shores of Silver Lake. Today we read through the chapters where Jack the bulldog dies and Ma and the four girls ride the train to their new town in the Dakotas, and it had me in tears.

Then I spent the afternoon editing thirty-six minutes of video footage created by our nine-year-old. The video was hilarious, though not always on purpose. There was a great deal of film dedicated to the floor and ceiling of our house.

Ah, the quarantine life.

Friday, May 1 (Week 7) The Anxiety Week

We are all alive. No one here is sick, but we are not always okay.

I am far too stress ball for this. You know how I felt about home school if you have followed me long. “Never again,” I vowed, “Never again.”

And yet, here we are. The whole world is home schooling our kids. They say it is not really like regular home-schooling. Instead, they say this is actually crisis schooling. Oh boy, they are right. (“They” would be the writers on the internet with far more readers than yours truly.) This is definitely a crisis, and you know who is not the cool, calm person you want by your side in a crisis? Me.

It’s true. I am a panicker.

Google says that panicker isn’t even a word, but it should be. I can assure you being a panicker is a very real thing. Perhaps, the grammar experts would rather I say that I am a worrier, or something, but those are not accurate statements. I lose zero sleep worrying, but I flip out easily in the privacy of my own home. Over reactor is probably the best word for me.

Ever heard of Generalized Anxiety Disorder? It runs rampantly through my veins, but not in the way you might think. I am not a fearful person or a germaphobe, and I don’t think up strange new things to worry about either. But I do flip out when I feel like I’m failing. I go into full panic attack, and truly I spin completely out of control.

“You can’t find your writing notebook? Why? Is it not in your box? No?”

I’m already feeling edgy from a morning of managing the kids and their schooling. My child doesn’t care that this essential school supply is missing, and yet I go into whining mode. Feeling highly irritated because I would rather be doing so many other things, but I am so uptight that I am determined to find the missing notebook. I search each room we use for school. There is no sign of the notebook. Ugh.

Meanwhile, another boy doesn’t understand the directions on his assignment and needs me to explain.

Simultaneously, my sixth grade boy is finished with all of his work and wants to know if he can go play Minecraft.

Oh, but don’t forget the third boy. He is patiently waiting for me to come back because I promised I would help him with his social studies chart.

And there goes my brain, all overwhelmed and panicking, exploding all over the place.

I scold myself, “Why? Why can’t I be a cooler person?? This is all freaking me out way more that it should. How do other people juggle multiple problems at once? I’ve had children for fourteen years now. Shouldn’t I be a better parent by now?”

The boys end up being the ones comforting me. “It’s okay, Mom.” They sweetly pat me on the back.

I finally give up on finding the notebook, as all the frustrated energy is drained from me. I dig a different notebook out for J.D. to use. Some of the boys will just have to wait. Dan and I work our way through the social studies chart. I send Caleb downstairs to watch t.v. until I am ready to handle questions.

And when the day’s school work is done, I don’t feel accomplished that we finished all our week’s work a day ahead of schedule. Instead, I feel guilty and disappointed in myself for basically crying over spilled milk and not setting a better example of how to handle problems.

Did I pray and meditate on God’s word this morning, to set the tone for a good day?

Yes, yes I did, most faithfully, but sometimes that isn’t enough. In the heat of moments when you feel like chucking a computer through a window, having prayed and read God’s word three hours ago does not save you from feeling out of control. At that moment, I’m not walking in the spirit. I’m letting new problems and anxiety get the best of me, but don’t worry. I didn’t actually throw the computer out the window. I do show some restraint.

It was exactly like this four years ago when we tried home-schooling last time. Back then I had to learn to stop in my tracks when I would begin to feel frantic or angry . Sometimes, I would even have to physically remove myself from the situation, drop everything, and beg God for help at that very moment. I have to walk away, maybe even step outside and breathe some fresh air, and regain my senses before I can return to handle the chaotic situations where it feels like everything is going wrong with a restored heart and mind.

Getting enough sleep is important too in times like these. Your ability to cope is slashed in half when you are tired. Taking time to sit on my porch is strangely beneficial to me. I love watching the birds or drawing on the sidewalk. Normally, I love taking walks, but while my feet are injured I have to settle for front porch sittin’, which is surprisingly restorative.

I often wonder if any other moms have as hard a time with computer school as I do. We are all different. I’m sure there are some moms who love doing school this way, but it’s hard for me. It’s not the kids’ fault either. They have been very sweet and cooperative, but managing people is still like wearing a porcupine bra to me. It is definitely not my talent.

But it’s not good to dwell on one’s shortcomings for long.

Dwelling on the negative is a detrimental thing to do. So I’ll get back up, dust myself off, drink a little coffee, finish my blog, and finish up my dinner preparations. We are having BBQ chicken and mashed potatoes tonight. That’s a meal most everyone will eat. Life goes on, and with God’s help, we will do better tomorrow. Alan is in the kitchen now, teaching Joshua how to make instant mashed potatoes. See, it can be a good day after all.

Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

Matthew 11: 28-30

The post Weeks 6 and 7: Sometimes I am not okay. appeared first on Stories of Our Boys.

This past week I stopped every few days to jot down a paragraph or two of how quarantine was going for us. I had no idea it was going to be such a challenging week, thanks to the addition of virtual schooling. Our school only involves a little of the classroom videos. It is mostly, “Go to this website, click on the list, click on the links, do the problems. Take the quiz at the end. Create a brochure about it.” But with all four of them going at the same time, that is twenty-four classes I am overseeing at once, and it is a heart attack waiting to happen. I have been extremely dutiful in taking my beta blockers.

This week took me from restfully joyful to crying for help. I can be a lot dramatic.

Friday, April 10

We are enjoying our 3 day spring break. I let the boys go straight to video games this morning. They were required to eat, brush teeth, and do chores first. I mean, even we have standards. Then I dove into my baking. A friend’s precious one-year-old just got out of the hospital, so I wanted to send them a little food. That was a major prayer praise. So many of us have been praying for Parker for weeks, and I know her parents are emotionally stripped. Other than that, no big plans today except to work on healing my feet, getting some exercise, playing with the kids, and writing.

Monday, April 13th ……..Okay, I admit it. I love sheltering in place. This is fun to me.

I am still oddly enjoying the shelter in place situation. We are saving money and spending tons of time together. I have way more access to Alan than I normally do with him working at home, and all the stuff is cancelled. I find it very hard to muster up disappointment about everything being cancelled. That probably does not say good things about me. As a shy person in a new place, leaving the house is still intimidating, but those are part of my own issues. I use withdrawal to cope with stress. The coronavirus pandemic is feeding my coping strategy…which makes me far more mentally healthy at the moment than the poor, poor extroverts. However, eventually this will end, and I will be a little closer to where I was when I started out about a year ago at putting down new roots here.

We have some friends now though. We are going to be okay. I feel so optimistic. Of course, that may be because it is my boys’ three day spring break today, so I have virtual school management off my plate for a few days. That is Wednesday’s problem. We will worry about that on Wednesday and not until then!

for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,

Romans 3:23-24ESV

Thursday, April 16th

Another day, another colossal meltdown. I have not handled this well. The children have been very good this year at our home school. They have not given me the problems that they did when they were younger. Instead, they genuinely care and want to do a good job.

My problem was learning how to use all the technology and help four people with that at once. There is a learning curve. It has been nothing short of an Olympic obstacle course. I get one boy signed into something and explain the directions, and before I am done, there is another boy, “Mom, I am finished. I have done everything. Can I play Minecraft now?”

Okay, only J.D. does that, but still. Usually I get halfway through explaining something, and then the screen disappears. Huh?? Where’d it go? I was going to show you…Grrrr

“Hey, Mom! What is it talking about ‘graphic organizer’? Do I have to do it? Where is it?”

I give up on finding the screen that disappeared and start all over to open a new document. Put in the username. Add in the password. Select this, select that. Now here we are again. Be very careful not to make a swipe motion on this computer because I don’t know how to use this new one, and I cannot figure out where it swipes it to…

We shelled out the big bucks to buy a new computer to get us through virtual school. It is a PC when I have been using MacBooks for nine years, so I am not as good at using it. In fact, I am so bad I cannot even find my email. There’s the whole Outlook thing.

“Mom! What does it mean? I don’t understand.” Another boy, another problem.

Most teachers post all the assignments on ItsLearning for us, but there are a few who use an off-site text book, and you have to know all those links and codes for that.

“Oh, yeah, let me check my email. She sent an email with the link. Where did I put my phone?”

“Daniel, why are you watching videos on YouTube about the nervous system? Did you even do your art? No? You know what, go ahead. That is a really good science video.”

Well, you get the idea.

I have hope though. Why? I have hope because we are learning how to use these programs, and you know what? You never have to do a thing for the first time more than once. This week is our first week. Next week is not. We will have a clue because of learning through experience, and we will be praying quarantine ends soon now along with all the extroverts. I was loving it when we didn’t have to do computer school. Now I am in the boat with the people ready to be done.

Friday, April 17, 2020

Sweet relief. Today was better. It was oh so much better. I put on mascara this morning, and I told Alan, who was probably on a phone call in my room, and I should not have been bothering him really, “I AM putting on this mascara because I am determined not to cry today.”

And I didn’t! Hurray! We even had one class that we could not get into, thanks to random technology weirdness. This particular teacher sent me the user help desk number to the platform company and said that my boy has to do this particular assignment. Haaaahahahaha! Yeah, I am going to spend my Friday talking to a tech company fully knowing it will probably work just fine tomorrow or even later today. Yeah, no. Missing one lesson of math is not worth the long phone call. Thanks. The website worked yesterday and the day before. It will work tomorrow.

Choosing to move on from petty problems when there are other problems to be dealt with of equal importance is a valuable skill. It’s like getting hung up on math question #5 when you have a test of 30 problems to solve. Not today, Pearson EasyBridge. I will deal with you another day.

Believe it or not, other than that one math lesson, all four boys managed to finish all their work. It would not have been quite so insurmountable if I had not made an error on my calendar. I have a tendency to think I have my calendar memorized.

“Oh, we get three days for spring break.”

No.

They actually had only Friday and Monday, so there was me on Wednesday, cramming four days of work into three. Haha! Oopsie…

And so quarantine week five ends. There were tears, and there were fits, and the children were a little stressed too. hehehe But it’s done. Week 5 of quarantine/week 1 of computer school is done, and there will never be a weekend I will be more grateful for than this one right here, even if it does rain all weekend.

Happy sheltering in place! I am off to make french toast.

The post Quarantine Week 5, Computer School Week 1: It’s like patience training. appeared first on Stories of Our Boys.

We live in Maryland. Our teachers were given less than 24 hours of notice before schools shut down. Therefore, they cannot guarantee that all children have internet access at home or parent involvement. That limits how much the schools can assign. In some ways, I am thankful for that. One of my friends has children in a local private school that handed out more work than they can actually get done.

All of a sudden, I have four children, of all different ages, to keep busy all day long. This is the perfect time to panic, right? I mean just a little…

Those years (2014-2016) that we home schooled the boys have helped me a ton. I have some materials left over to use for the younger boys. Plus, I remember how stressed I got last time, putting way too much pressure on myself. This time, I am trying to take a far more laid back approach to it all. Each day I have a very reasonable list of no more than 6 things I expect us to get done each day.

Thankfully, you can find a ton of stuff online these days to help.

Here are a few websites I have found immensely helpful for daily school work.

#1. 15 Fun Indoor Recess Games and Activities

The very first day that my youngest child was hot on my case to “start home school now now now”, I sat down and asked him what they do first everyday. He is a first grader. His teacher makes school so much fun that he adores her and looks forward to going everyday. She is a quiet, introverted teacher, so I knew she must be running things well to make him love school so much.

He explained that they start each morning with “morning work,” and then they have their morning meeting. At the meeting, they greet each other, they share about their day or weekend, and then they play a game.

That was easy enough to incorporate into our home school. Sure. We can play an indoor game each day to get everyone in a good mood, having fun together. So far we have played Simon Says (only we called it Mom says), balloon tossing, charades, hot/cold, hide-and-go-seek, and four corners. I got almost all of these ideas from this website.

#2. Brain Pop

I have written about Brain Pop previously, here and here. I was already a fan. But now I’m an even firmer advocate for this website because they are providing their top rate services for FREE during the COVID-19 quarantine.

This site offers fun, engaging animated lessons on every subject, from science to art to math. Not only that, but it has games and quizzes to support those lessons. My son’s middle school uses these lessons regularly. They are solid and easy to pay attention to. This one is a big personal favorite at our house.

Go here to sign up for your free account.

#3. Brain Pop Junior

Everything I said for Brain Pop applies here, only this is the one geared towards kindergarten-third grades. I cannot recommend this program highly enough, and no, they are not paying me to say that. I am not on their payroll. We just like it that much.

Go here to sign up for your free account during the quarantine. Once schools are back in session, this website will go back to being a paid service.

#4. National Geographic

Nationalgeographic.com is one of the websites listed on our school’s recommended websites list. My middle schoolers are supposed to read or watch science or social studies articles or videos on there and then summarize them.

#5. Duolingo.com

This is a foreign language program and app. I downloaded the app version of it to my phone. It teaches about any common language you can think of. My sixth-grade son is using it for French. He says it’s fun, and he enjoys it ever so much more than he ever enjoyed going to his French class at school. This is another must-have, and I downloaded the free app version. However, it will only let you play a limited amount with a free account. There are days that we run out of tokens and could use the paid version.

#6. Typing Club

When we moved to Maryland, I was dismayed to discover that all the middle schoolers here have been typing for years. That left my kids in the dust. In fact, my 3rd grader has already begun typing lessons at his school. Apparently, it’s never too early to begin learning typing in our ever-increasingly electronic age.

Typing club is a very clear typing program. It teaches typing the same way we learned it. Only this generation never has to worry about a typewriter or correction ribbon. Aren’t they lucky?

We did pay for this service. My 8th grader is using it everyday while my three younger boys are using it sporadically. Go here to try it out.

#7. Starfall for grades PreK-3rd

This one was also on our public school’s list. The games on it are super cute. My first grader thoroughly enjoys the learning games on starfall.com. They have a variety of subjects too.

#8. Reading Eggs/ Reading Eggspress

This reading skills website is for kids ages pre-k through first grade. Actually, if you go with the reading express version, it serves more of a reading comprehension purpose and is good for all elementary school grades past reading eggs.

You can try it out now free for the first 30 days. They are running this deal to support all the kids currently out of school.

Our family has a long history of using reading eggs. It is a fun and effective program. My first grader LOVES it.

#9. Math Seeds

Math Seeds is the math portion of the reading eggs website. It is also really cute and fun. I highly recommend these. Math Seeds is also doing a free trial.

#10. Stack the States

I could not find this one in Apple’s app store, but it is available for $2.99 in Google’s. I downloaded this app for my elementary sons on our Kindle fire tablet. We also used this app back when we home-schooled before. It is really fun. This one is worth the $2.99.

#11. Library

We have not gotten around to using this one yet because I am such a book hoarder we haven’t needed to. However, I have several friends who are using the library’s ebooks every single day. I need to dig out my library card and try this one out.

I will say silent reading time is my FAVORITE subject of the day. I set my oven timer for 30 minutes, and that is the quietest half hour we have all day. I use it to start cooking dinner.

#12. Prodigy Math

My nine-year-old loves prodigy math. He logs on there and plays math games and battles dragons and wizards and other kids. They battle by solving math problems. It’s a hit.

#13. Helpful YouTube Videos

Here a few YouTube videos we have enjoyed:

Social Studies:

CC Timeline Song in its entirety

Tour the States music video

Tour the World music video

Math:

Geometry Song (area, measurements, etc.)

Counting by 3s

Multiplying by 7s

There are countless fun multiplications songs and such on YouTube.

Science:

Science Songs (atomic number, periodic elements, creation & evolution, etc.)

Cell Songs (parts of the cell)

There’s a whole National Geographic channel. The Weird but True ones are our favorite.

#14. Lunch Doodles with Mo Willems

If your kids like the Pigeon books or the Elephant and Piggy stories, they will love these art lessons with Mo. He started this series specifically for all the kids at home due to coronavirus.

My first grader is a big fan.

#15. NASA Kids’ Club

This is one that I just discovered, but if your kids like to learn about space, this looks like an obvious win.

If you click on “Fun activities to do at Home” it takes you to crafty science projects. There are also puzzles you can print out.

There are videos and photos to look at. This website is more of a resource than a game place, though it does also have a few games.

We are all in this together! Add any of your family’s favorite school websites or apps in the comments below.

Okay, I am off to decompress. I feel like I have earned some Tri-Peaks Solitaire time, or maybe I will just take a nap…

The post 15 Helpful Websites and Apps for Your Quarantine Home School appeared first on Stories of Our Boys.

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This is quarantine week two for us. How about you? All the moms are working harder than EVER. Well, not all, but you know, a vast amount of us anyway, all of us who still have kids at home.

The schools here sent fresh new packets of work, a separate packet for each upcoming week. I printed all four packets out, but I have not read them yet.

And what better time would there be for my feet to decide to completely quit? I cannot walk six feet without total agony. I have the plantar fasciitis and a heel spur on my left heel. This was not such a big deal a year ago when it only hurt in the morning, and then it would go away. No worries. Then in the fall it would throw a fit every time I walked too long, and now for the past few months it has steadily gotten worse and worse. Now they are done. They are just done. My feet say that they could not possibly do their job. They want a vacation, I guess.

I cannot cook, carry laundry up and down the stairs, or sweep. Walking, my favorite past-time for as long as I can remember is completely out of the question.

This morning I had one of those telephone appointments with my doctor, and she put in referrals to podiatry and physical therapy. I sincerely hope this helps because I have completely run out of all the kinds of medicine they have given me, and I forgot to ask for more.

There is hope.

My son’s podiatrist assured me that if I make an appointment with him, he can give me a steroid shot that will help me through the worst of this.

I’m reading this book about centenarians in Central America. They interviewed about ten of them, and their quotes are really delightful and encouraging to read. There were several recurring themes with these 100-somethings. Every single one of them had a firm faith in God. They each worked hard throughout their lives but also spend time with their family or friends daily.

Here are a few quotes about their philosophies:

As you can imagine, this particular quote from the book encouraged me most of all. I can also accept my current physical reality of not walking well without getting sad or angry because you know what, it IS God’s will. Do I have the power to make my feet whole? No. If I did, I would have done it a long time ago. Is there a doctor who has the power to make my feet well? I don’t know yet. The last one I saw did not. Maybe the next one can help me. More than likely, it is going to take a while.

I am going to trust God.

Not just with my feet, but with this whole crazy quarantine home school, world turned upside down thing. I will not be laying in bed at night wringing my hands about what ifs. This is outside my control. I am going to go on about my business because God is in control.

I love both of his quotes, but the possessions bit is the best. We do not need all this stuff. Amen.

A positive outlook was another thing the centenarians all had in common. There was not a Debbie Downer in the bunch.

The author said that one interviewee got excited when she handed her the equivalent of $20.00 and said, “I ran out of food and wondered how I was going to buy some. It’s always fun to see how God will provide.”

Saul also said that the best friend of his life was God. God is the one true friend. It’s true. People will let you down. I think it is usually (99% of the time) without meaning to cause harm. It’s usually unknowingly, but God never will. He will comfort you, help you, and guide you every step of your journey.

Sometimes, it helps to hear these things from people older and more experienced than ourselves, someone like these centenarians. This book thoroughly calmed me down last night.

Honestly, I needed a boost in dealing with the challenges of the past two weeks.

Yesterday, after a day of coaching the boys through all of their studies, settling disputes, and answering the complaints of the little Army we have created here, dealing with my feet quitting on me was more than I could bear. It was beyond me. I sought refuge in my bedroom, only to find Alan in here on the phone with important people from work. I plopped down and went to work on my computer trying to find a way to get myself a doctor’s appointment.

Everything has gone to online now, and I did not have a user name or a password, and I had to get through what felt like 500 levels of security to obtain access to my own health care profile. After doing all that could be done online, and still not having my problem solved, I sat here and cried. I wasn’t only sad. No, I was also angry, desperate, frustrated, and all in a tizzy.

Once Alan could get off the phone, he approached me like, “What’s wrong?” I had to honestly admit that I have cried everyday for the past two weeks. It is always something. My workload has literally quadrupled, and I cannot walk. I don’t know how to make do for the walking thing either. There are no crutches or wheelchairs here. I do own a cane, but I don’t know how to use it. Plus, it’s both feet that hurt anyway, though the left is worse than the right.

I do not like to admit when things are bad, but this is not my finest moment.

Things did get better though. Like I mentioned above, I finally got to speak to a doctor. My online account is all set up now, and I made a list of all the usernames and passwords required.

I’m so proud of my people too.

This morning Daniel made his own pancakes all by himself, real cooked-on-the-stove pancakes. He’s only nine. Alan put Caleb in charge of making sure nothing caught fire, etc., and Daniel handled the cooking. Can you believe that? Well, it sure surprised me.

I told the boys that they have to be my legs today, and they have done a very good job of it. They have not complained even though I know doing Mom’s chores is not their idea of a good time. Ha! However, we also skipped official school work today, so that went pretty far to ease the blow of extra house work.

By the way, the quarantine birthday was a success. Thank you to everyone who called or sent gifts, etc.

I feel thankful that our family does have it so good.

We didn’t lose our jobs or our income. We are blessed, and we know it. I hope you are all doing okay. Keep in touch. Feel free to comment below what you’ve been up to or any tips you have for walking on your hands. I need to master that…haha!

The post Quarantine Week 2: The Quitter Feet and the Centenarians appeared first on Stories of Our Boys.