We planned on Riley starting Preschool this year. It would have been the first year she could do it, so she still has 2 years until kindergarten. Hopefully that means she can have at least one year of preschool in the classroom. But as for this year, we felt uncomfortable sending her due to COVID. Especially since we live with my parents who are higher risk. So, what do you do when your kiddo can't go to school and you are a stay at home mom/former teacher? You homeschool, of course! This vlog is very jumbled because most of the time I am trying to be a good teacher and not have my phone in the "classroom", but here are some clips of my smarty pants starting to learn her ABCs, 123s, and a lot of other things! So proud of her!
*This was just the first week of our learning back in July. Since then, she has currently learned how to write Aa-Ee, her numbers 1-6 (she already knows up to 20 but we are really practicing it and her writing each number). She has also learned her days of the week, months of the year, different weather, and how to read some words! We do a sight word a week, so she has learned "I", "a", "the", "to", and "you". I am so proud of her and how much work she puts into school! She works very hard and powers through so well that our three hour school day really got cut in half because she puts such an effort into her assignments. We decided to do three weeks on, and a week off, so as not to get too burnt out. Hopefully she continues to show this love of the classroom as the years go on. I can't wait for next year and her be able to grow her social skills in an actual classroom as well as use all the knowledge that she has gained from our homeschooling. Way to go, Roo!
This year was such a strange 4th of July. Not only because the Freedom Fair and big fireworks shows were closed due to COVID, but there was so much negativity this year. However, even with the strange 2020 year, we had a great holiday! We were able to spend a really nice day at home with my parents and Paul came over. We made a lot of food, watched fireworks from our backyard (we seriously had a 360 degree view) and just enjoyed each other. Riley is getting better about fireworks, not great, but a lot better than last year. Tyler just enjoyed all the food he was able to finally eat. We hope you all had a great day too!
FINALLY! We are able to get out and do SOMETHING! Phase two has been going on since June 1st, but the zoos opened back up on the 18th. At last we can go enjoy them! Well...I did at least. With all the new rules of not touching the glass or cages, the "you have to walk this way" arrows, and no playground, I'm not sure it was the exciting "welcome back to the zoo" that Riley was expecting. I could tell she had fun, but not nearly as much as before. Since this trip featured in this vlog, we have asked if she wanted to go to the zoo or the park (pre-COVID her answer was always the zoo) this time without hesitation she said the park. This new normal will take a little getting used to. But I'm happy we are slowly on our way there.
