Homeschooling Cousins

Joe and Kym came up for a visit last Saturday. It was such a welcome relief to have people to talk to and play with. All of us were getting major cabin fever, and company was the perfect antidote. They came up on Saturday afternoon, stayed the night, and had church with us on Sunday. We played games, the kids watched movies, and everyone had a great time. When it was time for them to leave, Kym suggested that we trade some kids for a few days. Our families are both doing homeschool, so it was a great option. 

Hyrum had a great time down in Price. Kym and the kids made him feel special, and I think it was really good for him to be away from his brothers for a little bit. There has been a lot of fighting at our house lately, and I think everyone has been frustrated. It was super convenient that Kym has her kids doing all the same curriculum that we have been doing. I just sent Hyrum's books and computer log-ins down with him, and she was able to help him do it. They got a lot of snow down in Price, so the kids worked really hard every morning so that they could go outside and play as soon as possible. I missed my HyGuy, but I am so glad he had a fun time.

On our end, we had a great time with McKay. Mckay is two years younger than Andrew, but the three of them get along so well. Christian never acts annoyed with the younger kids, and I think he enjoys being the "leader" of the group. They did school in the morning and then played board games or Minecraft in the afternoon. Jonathon also took them to the Rec Center pool one night, which they loved. When McKay is around, the boys do all their work super fast so that they can play. I love it! 

McKay was here for our group science lesson and for cooking class, so he jumped right in and participated. For our Space lesson, Christian and Andrew did reports on the Apollo missions. I love our combined Science class so much. Miurvy and the rest of the Buskers are ideal learning partners. They are committed to learning and are such good examples of being diligent and thoughtful. I think it has been so good for the kids to learn how to do research and reports in front of people. They both did an excellent job on their Apollo presentations.

For cooking class, we are still required to do it via Zoom because of the governor's recent coronavirus guidelines. Grandma Hill dropped off all the supplies and then taught the kids how to make homemade pumpkin pie, including her famous pie crust. They worked together to make a bunch of small personal pies. Their reward for doing a great job was getting to eat them afterward. They were delicious!

Here are some things the kids liked about homeschool this week:

Andrew:  "My cousin stayed with us this week for a few days, and we got to do homeschool together. We both do Beast Math and Good and the Beautiful Language Arts, so it was fun to do it together. We did school extra fast so that we could play afterward. For cooking class with my Grandma, we made pumpkin pie. We had to do it over Zoom because of Covid, but it still turned out really yummy." 

Christian: "For Life Fitness, I was finally able to go swimming at the Rec Center again. It was closed because of coronavirus, and I have missed going for my exercise. For Geography, I did a report on Lithuania. An interesting food that I learned they eat was called cepelinai. It is basically potatoes that are stuffed with meat. It sounds interesting, and I would definitely eat it if I got a chance."

Hyrum: "I got to do homeschool with my cousin this week. We did our Beast Academy math together. For art I drew a picture of Toon Link from Legend of Zelda. I also drew a picture of a solar system since we are doing Space for our science class."