Robert

School-at-home Day #4 went alright. So far, it's flexible enough to accommodate day-to-day, weather-dependent spontaneous things like family bike rides and taking down a couple huge limbs from our backyard oak tree, AND it's incentivized sufficiently to motivate all the kids to work without me nagging. I hate hate hate nagging *shudder*

Here's what Robert's been up to lately:

Bobby snapped this picture of Tuesday morning's school-at-home. Alice is working diligently and in a very self-directed way. James is on the floor, staying on-task as long as I can keep him company. Matthew is on my back because he's 5, I guess? And he's always looking for ways to be closer to me than the rest of his siblings. The more surface area contact, the better. Robert brought his schoolwork over to the party. He's been enjoying math on Khan Academy and learning to type on typing.com. He and Alice had a contest today on typing.com. They wanted to decide once and for all who is the better typist (Alice has been doing the typing lessons for over a year). At the end of the race, it turns out Robert was going for the most words per minute and Alice was going for the least mistakes. They both won and lost, which was terrifically frustrating for this little brother.

His "elective" for school  Tuesday was learning how to power sand. Here, he's sharpening his favorite wooden spear. The mask is for the wood dust. 

Here, his writing assignment is to document the pros and cons of joining me and his siblings on a bike ride. He did ultimately decide to go, and got halfway with no problems. A wet sidewalk did him in, though, and sent him tumbling off his bike. He tore a hole in his pants, got a good scrape on his knee, and grouch-pouted in the park until Bobby could come rescue him.

PlayStation 4. The kids can earn PS4 time every afternoon (thank you, Erin!!). Robert is especially thrilled about this new development in our routine. He's currently playing Kingdom Hearts.

He's logical, he's literal (most often when it works in his favor), and sometimes he's hot-tempered. He can also be gentle and generous. He rescued a sparrow today with extraordinarily tender, patient hands. He's very proud of a 7-pound ball of clay that he dug out of the digging hole over the last two days. Each pound of clay earns him a new title.

This is what Robert's teacher sent me for his "virtual" parent/teacher conference:

First off, Robert is such an awesome kid. He is kind, funny, mature, smart, and curious! He is always following expectations and doing the work given to him. For example, we are currently doing a book club where he and his group read a few chapters every week or so, answer questions, and meet to discuss. I never have to remind him to get his assignments done and he always comes ready to discuss! His writing is always so creative and has such a strong voice. He does his work and does it correctly the vast majority of the time! Overall, his academic performance as been great! One thing I would like to see him work on is taking a little more time to be neat with his work. Also, I am hoping that when we are back at school I can assign Robert some more leadership roles in the class.

Don't tell Robert about the "leadership roles" thing, he might wither and die at the thought ;) This kid does not enjoy taking risks in front of peers.

I love all the bits that make him who he is. And maybe I'm a little glad for this chance to see more of him than I normally would this time of year.