Corona Day Virus Day #9:

Our guest writer today is Finley Joe…our sweet, hard working and handsome 9-year-old son!

Today was a fun day!  We started school at 9am today.  We did math worksheets, we played a flip a coin workout it was a really fun workout today!

Wall pushups!  Coin flip workout was a success!

Then we wrote a letter to ourself.  It was a cool activity and my mom is going to laminate them so they can look even cooler.  Then we had a great lunch and then I played outside with GiGi while Mommy, Cooper and Ellen made dinner.  Then I went to the barn, it was a fun time.  I shot a bunch and kept going until I made 400 shots.  My arms are sore from the workout and from shooting!  I love shooting at the barn.

Then we played with Hunter and Logan outside for a long while.  We were playing capture the flag. My team won 2 times and we tied once.  It was an awesome game and I like to play it.  Hopefully I get to play it again tomorrow.  It great to be outside today because we ran around so much in our space and the sun was shining.  My favorite part of the day was going over my shooting goal to get to 400 shots made. Today I am thankful for the barn to play in, cousins to play with, a big yard, brothers and sisters to play with, Mom and Dad and Gaga and Gi Gi, Zoey and Cutie Pie (a little)!  I want to pray for all the people that have the corona virus.

Love, Finley

Day 3 of homeschooling was a success. I am going to give all the credit to the sun.  The glorious sun was shining today and what a blessing that was.  We knew she was going to make an appearance today so we worked hard this morning, got all our work done so we could get outside and soak her beautiful rays right up!

The schedule for today was a bit different than the previous days.  No stations today, we all worked together.  I learned a few valuable things today…the first is Fletcher likes this way of learning a lot better.  He liked having the attention of his siblings while he worked.  Rather than just one person assigned to him he could have access to them all…and he was a fan.  He definitely prefers Cooper help him more than anyone, but he will accept help from anyone.  The only issue I have with the other kids “help” is they sometimes just do it for him.  I get it, I do, it’s easier to just do it for him then wait for him to do it…but we are trying to learn that valuable skill of patience.  Patience is a virtue…one the Dorsey family needs more of!

The other thing I learned today is that it’s ok to deviate from the schedule.  I am a very schedule oriented persona and I have a hard time when there is no structure. I thrive in structure but sometimes…schedules be damned!

For example, Fletcher insisted on story time today, and I hadn’t written it in the schedule.  But when Fletcher insists…he insists.  He also demanded that he pick all the stories and that he read one of them. The “kids” aka his siblings were good sports and even clapped for him as he read.  It was pretty sweet.

My favorite activity of the day was the letter writing activity.  I’ll post a picture below so you can see the questions they had to answer.  Basically, they wrote a letter to themselves.  I can’t wait to read these back in 10 years.  I am sure we will get a kick out of the answers.  I cannot take credit for this assignment…shout out to JoAnn Verhaeghe for the idea!  It’s hard to pick a favorite line, but I do love that several of our kids said that when they grow up they want to take over Alex’s Lemonade Stand…my heart!

I also learned today that when we need a music break we can all just follow Fletcher to the bathroom.  When Fletcher takes his potty break to have a moment, he sings.  Not just every once in a while, like every single time.  I’m just hoping that all these months he hasn’t been going to school and use the bathroom while stripping down naked, singing songs at the top of his lungs then asking his teacher to wipe his butt…cause that’s what’s happening here.  Good times.  I did snag a little video of his singing today but couldn’t get it to upload.  But it was Uptown Funk…Fletchy style…and it was awesome!

The final lesson I’ve learned involves the kitchen.  A place I used to loathe as it took so much of my time and my time was so limited.  Time I spent in the kitchen was time stolen from my children and I resented the kitchen and cooking for that reason.  Since we have invited the kids into the cooking and the kitchen (and we have the time to do so) my kids have eaten better, complained less about what they are eating and snack less frequently because they are excited for our meals due to the fact that they have a hand in preparing them.  Today my sous chefs were Ellen and Cooper.  We made lasagna (Cooper’s favorite), fresh corn and monster cookies!  It’s amazing what you can get done when you have time on your hands and you aren’t rushing from one thing to the next.

Which brings me back to the glorious sun and my final point of the day.  I do believe that when the sun is shining everyone is happier.  We were outside by 11:30 and stayed out there most of the day.  While I cleaned a bit…the kids went outside and created their own games.  In one game they were “arresting” each other (Fletcher’s influence no doubt) and the other was like a modified version of capture the flag…in this case a ball.  They must have ran miles in the bright sun, the beautiful breeze without a care in the world.

“Jail” Ellen trying to arrest Fiona!

Gi Gi meets the neighbor’s pig and horses.  She was very confused but really liked them!

Pretty much our whole afternoon!

It’s beautiful how children can forget the reality that is right in front of them.  They haven’t left the house in weeks.  They haven’t seen any friends in weeks.  Today they didn’t care.  And tonight we will explain to them once again how lucky they are.  Not everyone is healthy.  Not everyone can run in the sunshine.  Not everyone has siblings to play with…and the list goes on and on.

The cold, hard reality we are faced with each day is that we all know someone who is immune compromised that this disease would not only impact but kill.  I live with one.  One of my favorite people in the entire world.  So while this is an “inconvenience” and makes us a little sad or anxious at times, it is wholly worth it.  The small sacrifice of being home all the time is literally saving lives, including my moms.  It’s our job to make sure our kids know that!

Stay well my friends.

#celebr8awesome

#dorseyshenanigans