October Pandemic Times

In early October we had a trip to NJ scheduled to visit Derrick's family.  About a week before we were to go, NJ was put on Massachusetts' "no visit" list.  So we reconfigured and met up in CT for a day and did some outside activities which included apple picking, pumpkin picking, old tractor riding, and dinner.

About a week later, it was time for Big Dinner - COVID Edition.  Instead of doing a Thanksgiving style potluck inside per usual, we sat outside, had pizza, and did pumpkin carving.  

Here is Jack modeling some of the fun things in his goody bag.  

This was the first Halloween that Jack did not have a costume.  He had a Halloween party at school and brought home plenty of treats from that, and was okay with not going trick or treating.  In lieu of trick or treating, and since Halloween was on a Saturday, we took a trip up  to Hammond Castle.  

Jack's favorite room was the library. 

Up next - November Pandemic!

- S.

School and Stuff

Jack just finished up school for the year and is on winter break.  He has been very fortunate to be in school full-time since September since his school is so small.  Here he is on his first day back.

We just got his progress report and had a parent-teacher conference.  He did quite well considering the transition into third grade and how many changes had to be made at the school because of COVID.  

One of the things Jack has been learning in school is cursive!  He is excited about it.  

Then things quickly devolved into the above.  His penmanship is really coming along, though!

Jack is also learning "keyboarding" at school (or typing if you're of a certain age).  

This is something he typed up for his portfolio review.  Each student at the school keeps a portfolio of work for each year and parents can come look at it at designated times throughout the year.  Usually it is a quick browse, but this year there were multiple pieces of writing and stories.  The kid who last year complained about having to write more than one sentence is now writing three page stories.

A benefit of Derrick working from home due to COVID is that Jack has been able to partake in some activities he normally would not be able to.  In the fall he took archery (you can barely see him there with his bow in front of the teacher with the green shirt).  

He did seem to enjoy it, but wasn't up for signing up for a subsequent class.

Jack also just finished a hand-building class at the Clay School and we picked up his creations last weekend after they'd been fired in the kiln.  

He did say he'd be interested in maybe taking another class in the spring.

Here is a sample of some of his creations.

Jack has been back into drawing lately too.  Here's a sneaky photo of him at home drawing a Baltimore Oriole using the iPad for reference photos.  

It is very nice to see him being creative.

- S.

Hiatus

 

It may seem like this is all that has been going on and that is the reason for the lack of posts, but Jack has actually been quite busy with school and some extra curricular activities and we've managed a couple of adventures along the way.  I'll be putting a few posts in the queue which will pop up over the next week or so and hopefully will bring us kind of up to date. 

- S.