The Roundy Adventurers: April with At Home Schooling

During this social distancing time my cake business has continued. Some of my cakes are done without commission...for example...Ster wanted two small cakes for his coworkers. He's supervisor in his shop and wanted to lift moral.

Tiberias was Mozart in his 3rd grade Wax Museum. Originally the kids would all meet together dressed as statues in a wax museum. They would each have a trifold showing about who they were. And a homemade button would be available for pressing. Once the button was pressed the statue would come alive and speak a speech they wrote about "themselves."
Due to school shutting down for the rest of the school year this event ended up being an online presentation. Sadly, we didn't get to see the other kids' work. The teachers video chatted to witness the students individual presentations.
Ty's teacher was impressed with his costume and his report. He did great!

One day for his journal entry Tiberias had to write about using recycled materials to make something new. His teacher encouraged the kids to actually do what they wrote about. Ty came up with an idea but I knew it would be easier to write about it after creating it in real life. So...he made a Larry Koopa decoration for his bedroom. Using a disposable flower pot, cardboard, two cans and some paper.

Lately I've been painting rocks for the kids in our community. Since Corona Virus has changed our lives the hobby of rock painting/hidding/hunting has become popular on base.
A troll:

This one is actually a huge rock that I painted for Tiberias. It is a decoration for the kid's bedroom.

Pacman:

Japanese rocks:

At the YCC (where the military on base stores are) a few changes have been made. The food court has been cleared out of tables and chairs. Now sticker lines and shoe prints line the food court floor...showing people how to stand 6 feet apart. All the stores now have stickers showing how to safely stand in line now. And plastic barriers. Plastic barriers between all customers and cashiers.

The Airman's Attic has been closed as a precaution. But that means there is nowhere to donate unwanted items. Finally the Airman's Attic leadership arranged a shipping container to be placed at the donation area. When I dropped off toys and clothes I took a look around at what else was left there. I scored big when I saw an adult sized, brand new with the price tag still on it, Yoshi suit! All comfy and soft as if it were pjs. The shell on the back makes it uncomfortable for sleeping in but so fun to wear during the day! And Luke loves cozy pjs to wear all day long! I was torn because I knew Ster would love the pjs and might fit in them too! But I put it in the prize drawer for Luke for his weekly prize (instead of an allowance). He loves it and Ster does too! But Ster gets hot easily and Luke gets cold easily. So, Luke will wear it more often. Ster might wear it once in a while just for fun.

Sundays we watch General Conference. Today we played puzzles in our pjs as we listened.

At the beginning of last week Sterling half jokingly said "We should move Athena into the boys' room and turn that room into a school room." Brilliant!

I hated having the dining table be our place to eat, school, craft and game. I tried creating a little craft station in the office but the office was already crammed with Ster's computer station and Luke's school station. So, using Athena's bedroom for a school room would also have enough space for using it as a craft room, a sew room and a game room too!

I like change. I like doing things right away when we have a good idea. So, I convinced Ster to move Athena's bed into the boys' room! We moved Athena's toys there too. And it worked! It wasn't too crowded. We fit three beds in one room.

Athena's clothing dresser stayed in the school room because the boys and girl need to get dressed in separate rooms.

We moved all the kid books into the new school room as well. The living room is so clean now! The dining table gets used for dining (and my large puzzles) now. And the kids love the new hangout room.

Athena goes to bed half an hour before the boys and she listens to music during that time. The boys hate listening to music at bedtime. So, it works perfectly.

I worried about putting all the kids together in one room. They don't get along so great. Tiberias needs a lot of time away from Athena. He gets annoyed easily.

Day one of the kids sharing a bedroom: They got along so well! There was no longer a division between the boys and Athena. They were now "kids"...one group. Friends.

It was amazing!

It didn't last long though. They are back to fighting and Ty wanting to not be with Athena.

At home school is going well.

Mendel, our elementary school, PTO has hosted a couple drive by fun events for the kids. 1st there was a teacher parade. The teachers drove around the East Side waving, honking and shouting hello to the kids. Ty got to see Ms. Veazey who was leaning out the window and shouting and being fun.

We didn't see Athena's teacher though.

Then yesterday they had an ice cream truck run. They drove around the East Side with Ice Cream Truck music playing...handing out free ice cream. That was a successful one!

Relief Society tailgate party on the YCC rooftop. Social distance lunch for visiting.

My family is staying connected (the Borens) via Marco Polo and Facebook Messenger. The first half of my day is the second half of theirs...over in America. Then I turn my phone volume off each night so the family communication doesn't wake me up. ;)

Dad Boren went to Vegas to protest with a group of people who want life to go back to normal. Staying indoors for longer isn't necessary. At this point Americans should be social distancing but going back to some normality and building their immune systems toward this virus.