COVID-19: Week 1

Friday, March 13, 2020 seemed somewhat normal (just realized it was Friday the 13th when the S&$T hit the fan, or I at least started to notice the fecal matter flying) . There was a lot of buzz about the new coronavirus but the kiddos were at school and Dr. Gia Tyson and I were cranking out plans to bring Med School Admit to as many people as possible:) Social distancing wasn't a phrase I had heard yet...but less than 24 hours later it would become very familiar.

Choosing Friends Wisely Class: Gia is the hardest working, most motivated person I have ever met. She is working tirelessly through this pandemic while still doing too many other things for me to count. NOT SIX FEET APART here but it was early on I swear! Stay safe my friend and take care of yourself.

Has it been a week already you may be asking? Well, for those of us that listen to instructions, yes, yes it has been! Last Saturday was the cancelled St. Paddy's Day Parade (our favorite family day in BR)...but we are very fortunate to only be sad about a cancelled parade so far.

Hopefully, our blog, may offer ways to learn, grow and stay as positive as possible amid a crazy time. I will not stress myself trying to recreate school for my child but I will do what I always do...modeling behaviors that will help in the future and teaching through our own experiences and discussions.

If we can make anyone smile or laugh this has done it's job. My normal wit seems like a lot to commit to right now so I'll just caption the different videos and pics we do and how I'm making it a learning experience for the Human Bear.

We hope everyone is staying safe and any silliness and jokes here are not because we are taking anything lightly but because we all just need some positivity and togetherness (immediate family only togetherness!).

Multimedia Class: Working on our boomerang game and showing the Human Bear how to move a video from Dropbox to phones, computers and upload to the blog. What better way to kick off a fearful time than with poop emoji fun?

Science Class: Density: Sinking vs Floating. The water was still FREEZING, but we did it anyway.

Physical Education: I was thinking the Bear was finally big enough to run with me. She made it to the corner (about 50 feet) and then started complaining about how hard she had been playing outside all day. This will now become our goal for P.E. I'm no Bonnie Richardson, but we will be getting our runs in:) I've averaged a mile a day so far this year and plan to keep it up. Get out there and do it!

Building Confidence and Social Skills Class: It takes balls to stay in PJs all day and it is one of the positives in all of this. STILL NOT 6 FEET APART but they had played at school the day before so...fingers crossed! This has been stopped since.

Organization 101: The Bear has been asking to be homeschooled for years, she always gets what she wants! This schedule is going to be VERY flexible but it's always good to start with a plan. As you can see from the other pictures, there are MANY ways to teach all kinds of necessary life skills. .

Business and Communications Class: The extra time and inability to leave home has gotten some of my FAVORITE people together to push forward on the Dai-Jon "All-Dai" Parker Foundation. We had a fun meeting. Pointers: Dress to Impress (great job Jordan!), work with people that support you!

Chemistry and P.E. Classes: Balancing PH Combined with Deadlifting: figuring out how much salt we need to add in a salt water pool with ZERO real life pool experience. Answers: 40 LBS and lift from the legs NOT the back!

The Human Bear's Turn!

Culinary School: We have gone full blown plant-based so we learned how to make mashed potatoes, gravy, peanut butter, hummus and many more things without any meat, dairy or oil! When she helps make them then she eats them and says they are great b/c she got to help. I feel the same way.

Speed, Agility and Balance Class: I told her we could NOT handle any injuries b/c we aren't going to the hospital and she kept explaining the backpack and suitcase were weighted for her training. What she is training for? I'm not certain yet but we will create a class for it later!

Full Immersion in French: I don't want her to lose any French skills (I don't think that will happen for a LONG time) but this is the perfect way to feel like you're educating her without actually doing anything AND getting a break. WIN-WIN. She knows how to turn Netflix to French and that's it!

Independent Practice: Learning to be alone and entertain yourself. That's a skill many people are realizing, during this quarantine, they have a problem with so we send her outside and say go and be and don't talk to me! Just for a little while. Sometimes life is harsh.

Forensics Class: Bear's Choice includes a mystery book about becoming a sleuth. Not sure what is happening here but she seems like she has it under control!

Laughing Class: Sometime's you just have to get out and act like an ass because it's fun! I will return in work out clothes and I WILL get faster...

Attitude Adjustment Class: Jason is just realizing the impact of working from home. Checking these two Bears when they realize they will be plant-based all day every day until this is over! Motivation is NEEDED. I will own that role in this household. You will both thank me later. You're welcome!

ELA and Math: You are never going to replace a good teacher and good news: YOU DON'T HAVE TO! We are doing some academics but they are already recorded lessons for Eureka and Wit and Wisdom and I'm actually enjoying it with the Bear. This is the LAST focus on my brain and if we have a stressful day we won't do this. It takes less than 45 mins for us to knock out one math and one ela lesson and it doesn't have to be painful. If you need help setting it up, let me know! I have worked with both programs in a school setting before.

The Human Bear is going to put me out of math class for being distracting!

Technology and Social Media Skills: After telling the human Bear she could not get on the kids Facebook Messenger for a year, this is a special circumstance! Now we are learning that things you say and do on social media should be appropriate. We are also learning new and fun ways to see our friends!

Cleaning Class: You wanna play in that? Clean it first! Lesson complete

Family Quality Time Class: Enjoying those that aren't normally home during the day and showing that we can make good decisions without being in a panic. Modeling, modeling, modeling They are the cutest! Love, love

Risk Management and First Aid Class: If you wanna do adventurous things, like riding a bike, you must know a certain risk comes with it! Then you must sanitize, medicate and bandage the consequences. Biking can be hard.

Consistency Class: Managing anxiety and stress by keeping my insides as happy as possible. We can't eat poorly if we don't buy it:)

We hope everyone is doing well and finding ways to make this time useful. Return next week, if you so choose, to see our lesson plans that will highlight: Clean Your F*&%#G Room: Before I Do It For You. Until then, you can add us on FB Messenger but the Human Bear only gets a 30-45 minute window a day to return calls and texts on it (I haven't lost my mind completely...yet)!

Love you all!