Tears

Biome presentations today went much smoother than yesterday! The two girl groups went last and they were definitely prepared. They even practiced their presentations beforehand to make sure each one knew what they were supposed to say. Very impressive.

My favorite part was during the Tropical Rainforest presentation. One of the girls said this biome is like a life bomb. "Just picture a bomb of life getting dropped there and... BAM. Life everywhere!" 

Today, when I met with my three Thursday people, one of them had waaay exceeded his page goal. Another had been bored with the book she was reading and read one Dr. Seuss book each day (because, nostalgia). The third one... well... When our video chat connected I could tell something was wrong right away. It looked like he was about to cry. He hadn't connected with our morning chat because (according to his classmates) he had internet troubles. So of course I jumped to conclusions. When I asked if everything was all right, he shook his head no. I asked if he wanted to talk about it. He surprised me by giving me an answer: he hadn't read a single page all week. He said he kept putting it off, telling himself he would read forty minutes the next day, and then put it off and promised he'd read an hour the next day. And he still didn't do it. He said he cleaned his room, did his math, worked on his biome project... all good things, but not reading. So we brainstormed some ways he could hold himself accountable and do his reading. Poor guy. He really beat himself up about that.

My kids fall into three categories: the ones who do all their work and finish waaay ahead of time, kids who are behind but are slowly catching up, and kids who are falling behind. Easter break was great, but I'm thinking a lot of the 'behind' kids didn't take advantage of the no-new-homework days to work on their late stuff. I wonder how long we can keep this up. 

The Midwest governors met today to talk about how to reopen things. I heard Wisconsin's 'stay at home' mandate is extended until the end of May. Our governor is considering calling off school as soon as May 1st. I've heard it two places: one source says it's because there aren't equal learning opportunities for all kids because of access to help/internet/resources. The other source says it's because homeschooling is too much of a burden on parents. Mr. E and I talked about what our school would do if even virtual school is called off by the state. The plan currently at the top of the list would be to keep doing school until May 15th. We'd be able to wrap up our school year, but end a week early. Getting out a week early could be justified by thinking of all the days we'd normally be going on field trips, having track and field day/softball, practicing for the musical. That's about a week's worth of stuff right there. Plus we went to school for the two weeks the governor gave public schools to plan e-learning. I'm torn. I wouldn't mind getting out early, but I just mapped out my lessons for the rest of the year until May 22nd! If we let out early, I'll have to adjust accordingly. Not that big a deal, but still more work. Ah well, time will tell.

Good news: our school found out that we received 2.5 months of expenses covered by the aid package dispersed by the government. That is a big relief! They're giving us the money in one lump sum, delivered this Friday. Our salaries will be covered until the end of May at least.