Day 190 & 191: Schoolwork, MAP Testing

Jeremy had a dentist appointment and a meeting Monday morning, so I was left in charge of helping the kids get some schoolwork done. For William this involved watching a short video on counting to five, writing 1-5, and a worksheet on his tablet. And it was like pulling teeth. He wailed for like an hour, "I HATE THIS!!! THIS IS SO BOOOORING!! I HATE SCHOOL!!!! WHY ARE YOU BEING SO MEAN??!!" all while I tried to say, "I know this is hard, but it will only take a minute if we sit down and do it," which was about as effective as trying to coax him to eat fresh blueberries instead of his preference, frozen berries straight from the freezer. That is to say, I was unable to persuade him. He is as stubborn as they come sometimes. 

I eventually got him to practice writing 1-5 when I wrote them out in dotted lines on his white board. He added an x at the end of his numbers, marking it wrong. He is a very tough self-critic. 

We never finished the little worksheet. Thankfully, in the afternoon we had a parent-teacher conference with his teacher over Zoom and she said she could send home blocks and other things so he could "do" the worksheet activities with these things, and as long as we took pictures or videos, and he is getting the concepts she didn't care if he did it on "paper" (on his chromebook tablet). Phew! 

On Tuesday, both kids had to go to the school for MAP testing (I don't know what this is, but I'm assuming it is state-mandated). This felt like the first day of school because it's the first time we dropped William off there without a parent. He was very nervous, and cried several times leading up to the big day. But I told him he needed to be brave and listen to the teachers, and they would take good care of him, and he'd be with Taiya the whole time too. Eventually he accepted the idea, mainly when I said I'd buy him a matchbox car afterwards. Bribery. I am not above a little bribery. 

First day of going-to-school-for-a-test!

Jeremy dropped them off because I was afraid I'd get choked up, and then we had two hours of peace and quiet at the house. I realized that this is what it would be like all day if we sent them to school in person. So tempting. I would get so much work done. I wish it could be so, but we are anticipating that the case numbers, already high, will rise even more - nearby Fort Smith has the highest school numbers in the state. So for now, it's just something to look forward to when things are safe again. 

William finished his test on time, but Taiya is a very slow test-taker. She has a hard time sitting still and focusing, and because reading is hard for her it is a slow process. She is going to have to go back again tomorrow to finish, and to do her math test. She hates this so much. I hope it allows her teachers to see where she struggles, though, so maybe they can think of ways to help her. 

William and I went home for about 45 minutes and played, and then had to go pick Taiya up when school was almost over. We headed to Walmart to get a grocery pick-up order, and then we all went inside together for the first time since the pandemic started (all masked with strict orders not to touch anything) and I let them pick out a small toy each. William got a cool matchbox car, and Taiya got a notebook and felt tip pens. I got elastic to sew masks. I am sure I can figure out how, though I have a feeling that after attempting a few I will gladly go back to buying them from people better at sewing than me. 

We fled home after this excursion, and I whipped up a dinner of falafel on a bed of leftover rice, potatoes, and sautéed kale all mixed together for us adults, and dinosaur pasta for the kids, which William refused to eat. He had a scrambled egg, a few bites of strawberries, and then he was full. And then he needed ice cream. If anything causes me to really lose my marbles during this pandemic, it's going to be William's eating habits. I joked with Jeremy while the kids were gone at school about how much therapy we're all going to need when this is all over. I can just see myself in the therapist's office in tears, saying, "Raw sage! He will eat raw sage but not pasta shaped like dinosaurs!! What did I do wrong?! What did I do to deserve this?!" Oh, William. You are a puzzle some days, bless your sweet little heart.