Some Photo Evidence of Our Learning

When we first entered into this period of learning at home, I had some images in my mind of how things would be. I pictured us gathered together, reading, planning, creating--cooperating and getting along. What you will see below, however, is what has actually been occurring....

We've all seen the funny pictures of people dressed for the camera from the waist up only. 

Here's Ben with some pretzels he made for his ... digital media/now turned to cooking class? 

Ben has online classes every day; he's diligent about doing his work, and he gets dressed in his usual T-shirt and hoodie every morning, but below the laptop, it's PJs every time.

And after a couple of weeks of home learning, he started to think nothing of walking down the street in his PJs, either (although I do discourage it!).

Alaina is not far behind. Here she is seeing how much food her hamster will stuff into his cheeks--a little science experiment, right? She's only met online with her elementary school class once so far, so why get dressed at all? Forget about blue pants and polo shirts; full PJs are her new school uniform of choice.

And Eric. I asked him today if he was going to get dressed, and he said, "No, it's not worth it." It might be worth combing his hair, though, right?

Here he is doing math while lying on the floor,

and playing with giant worms ... I mean, learning about gardening.

Just like real kindergarten, right?

And here he is working on some more advanced studies with Ben--looks like Minecraft. At least Ben put on a pair of jeans that day! 

You might be wondering how Janae is doing, with her strong will and feisty attitude.

Well, here she is with her schoolwork "all done."

Upon closer examination:

full gibberish.

So I asked her to practice her flute....

And no, it won't blow up a balloon.

But she's still on track for graduation ... at least, according to the boy in an elephant costume who just entered the room.

So, okay, maybe not ideal sometimes. But what about our home church?

Well, we try.

I make a point of dressing up, just like I would have done on a pre-Covid Sunday (from the waist up--yoga pants on the bottom every time).

I guess I set the tone for a more casual dress code, where a suit might be matched with a black T-shirt or a dress might be worn over PJ bottoms. 

We've tried assigning the kids talks and musical numbers, which have gone well at least 50 percent of the time.

Janae once volunteered to give a talk, saying she had something to share ... then launched into a confession about how earlier that morning she'd thrown a Barbie that had landed on our neighbor's roof, and then she'd got Jason's ladder and climbed onto that roof to retrieve the doll. Really inspirational!

Eric's talks have been a little unconventional, too, involving a lot of wandering around the living room.

Last week it all ended with a boy pile-up on Jason (for Mother's Day, I guess?).

After our sacrament meetings, we've adopted the mainstream Christian custom of "coffee hour," where we have whatever treats are in the house (no actual coffee, of course). We've joked about it so much that Eric asked us this morning if we'd be having "coffee hour" today, and later when I asked him what his favorite part of home church was, he said ... you guessed it. I tried to start calling it our "no-coffee hour," but this hasn't caught on yet.

Anyway, even though it's had its moments, I think home learning has taught us a lot. We've had opportunities to learn in non-traditional ways, to relax and spend more time together, and to be a bigger part of each other's learning. I actually really like it! And instead of asking what the kids did at school/church and hearing, "Nothing," I have plenty of photo evidence of what they've done every day!