Remote Learning at its BEST!

 We chose remote learning for the first nine weeks of school for our son.  It is working great so far for us.  Time is flying as we start week five this week.  One of the benefits is that I can give him way more motivation to finish his work timely.  

He works hard.  Sometimes our internet is not the best (especially 8:30 am to 10:10am)  I'm guessing it's because the schools are logging in and getting started?  We got a wifi hotspot from the library.  It's not working that great either.  We had a lot of trouble Friday, then Monday and Tuesday.  Tuesday last week was BEAUTIFUL!  I had wanted to go canoeing all summer but we did not go.

Tuesday was the day!

I told him to hold still for a second so I could take this photo and then put my phone and camera in my ziplock bag and put them in my bag that snapped around the support in the canoe.  Boy am I glad I did!  About a quarter of a mile down the stream we completely DUMPED!  Owen went in to his waist on one side.  I went in to my EARS!!!  The water was cold in the high 60's.  I've never dealt with a completely submerged canoe before.  Boy was it heavier than I expected.  It was hard to dump.  Luckily I drug it up onto a log and almost had it completely emptied.  A good Samaritan came along and helped me finish dumping it and we were on our way again.  Eyes opened wide...

My phone (also in a waterproof case) and camera were still safe and with the canoe after the flip.  Yeah!  Perfect timing.  You don't get this kind of lesson in the traditional school setting!

It was a seven-mile canoe trip.  We had fun, but we were also happy to make it back to the bus.  All laughs and smiles.  You can tell in the photo how wet my hair got.  Brr.  We seemed to be the only people on the return bus to be wet.  There was another mom on the bus with her two sons.  We gave each other the "remote learning rocks" nod.

We learned some interesting facts from the bus driver as we waited for others to gather on the bus to make the return trip.  They were shut down in April and May due to COVID-19.  The first day they were allowed to start back up they were PACKED--as was the rest of the summer!  More and more people went down the river this year than ever before.  There are four choices when you go there:  canoe, kayak, tube, and raft.  Canoes are not as popular as they once were.  The "cool" people want to try to kayak.  The party people want to take the slow raft and a cooler with them for snacks and beverages.  When it's hot the tubes are fun for the swimmer group.  The old-school people want to canoe.  That's about right... we're old school.  

The bus driver also told us that they thought if they doubled the price of the adventure trips that it would deter people and help with social distancing.  They said it didn't phase people at all.  The health department was called frequently because of the lack of social distancing.  He said that people that came to enjoy time on the water this year seemed so happy to get out of the house.  He told us that all of the staff got $/hour raises and extra $/hour bonuses for working weekends.  They have more vessels on the water than ever and business is booming.  They did have to add to their buses and trailers because of the demand.  Personally, I think that's great for them.  I love it when good old activity and fun wins over modern/electronic stuff.

Here he is in the way home... He didn't want me to take a photo of him sleeping in the truck.  This is starting to become one of my hobbies (taking a photo of him sleeping in the truck.)  Don't worry, I am stopped when I do this.  He still thinks that if he covers his face with towels from McDonald's that I can't see him and won't take a picture.  Ha ha.  He made good use of his glasses to hold the towels in place so that he could nap on the way home.

We also enjoyed some magnet fishing this week.  He finished early on Wednesday and I talked him in to riding his bike for half an hour (up the path) to magnet fish at a new place.  We got to magnet fish for about an hour and then had to head back half an hour to where we parked.  When we were all done I don't even think he realized that he rode his bike for an hour!  Win, win!  We didn't have any luck at this magnet fishing spot.  But it was still fun.  

This is the local place where we could canoe.  We did not canoe here because we didn't know that we needed a 24-hour advance reservation to help with social distancing.  Also, the river is much more narrow and the water is down.  We would have had to get out and walk the canoe down stream in several places.  It's definitely on our list of things to do next summer.

Friday it was quite cool (in the 50's).  I had to scrape the first frost of the year from my truck windshield and burn the dust off of the registers by turning on the furnace for the first time.  I caught some kind of bug this week (my sister-in-law had the same symptoms 2-3 weeks ago.  Ugh.  I'm just starting to feel more pep today.  Woohoo.  

This dock is about 37 minutes from our house.  There is a really nice bathroom very close by.  Owen earned his magnet fishing reward by working hard on his remote learning, so I didn't want to let him down by not going.  He really looks forward to our adventures--as do I!

Remote learning has been such a positive experience for the both of us.  Yes, it's definitely not the income I made when I was working, but the memories we are making are priceless.  I honestly think that with the fewer distractions and teen drama that usually goes along with middle school, the individual attention, and the motivation that I can offer at home can't even come close to what he gets in traditional school.  Yes, he does not get the socialization skills that he really needs right now, but we have been participating in some social activities that helps with that.  He doesn't have to wear a mask all day when he's with me, although he would wear a full hazmat suit to school if I would let him.  He LOVES his masks and costumes and this is no different to him.  I can still tell when he's saying things he shouldn't while wearing his mask or making faces at me like moms can tell.  LOL