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Pi Day and quarantines


Due to lack of a holiday we went crazy decorating for Pi Day this year.  It rained really hard all day yesterday, and we really needed some cheer.  Luckily Pi Day is coming up on Saturday! I think we'll celebrate by eating pizza, making pie, and doing some craft projects (https://www.whatdowedoallday.com/math-art-for-kids-pi).  I also ordered a book Sir Cumference and the Dragon of Pi, but for some reason it hasn't arrived yet.

I've had a lot of people ask how we are doing here during all of this Coronavirus stuff.  The kids have been off school for almost two weeks now.  Husband had the great idea to make a schedule to stick to during the break, and that has really saved some sanity.  We don't end up following it 100%, but it gives the kids an idea of what to expect and keeps our day moving along.  Plus, husband also had the great idea to add quiet time to our day.  Yes!  It's a small house here and we can get on each other's nerves, so this idea was exceptionally genius.

Since I was already homeschooling B, I just decided to add in homeschool for G to the day as well.  I've been wanting to add English and Math into her days anyway, since it's something she doesn't get enough of in Japanese school.  She thrives in an environment where she gets lots of mental thought happening, so it was important to find ways to keep her mind engaged.

While schools are shut down they have asked kids to stay home and work on the mountain of homework they were sent home with.  We are currently keeping them off public transportation and out of indoor areas.  We still go to the park and beach.  We are trying to be mindful of how the people around us are acting and to behave accordingly.  People in our area are definitely keeping kids home more.

The kids don't seem too worried about the virus.  I did share a graphic zine about it with them that I found on NPR's website. https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2020/03/07/811616161/kids-around-the-world-are-reading-nprs-coronavirus-comic  It helped G.  At first I think she was nervous since it's such a big deal to close schools, so she assumed something really bad must be happening.  But I think she now understands the point is to limit spread of disease and kids don't seem to get sick much from it.

Husband and I aren't nervous about the virus.  It's the containment measures that worry me.  Knowing that I can't just pop home for a quick visit really hurt me mentally.  (Technically we can fly home, but I'm unclear if maybe we'd have to self-quarantine for some period of time if we did?)  And, the things we loved about being here have been temporarily taken away.  The next two people who were planning to visit us here have said they aren't coming.  (Rightfully so! This is a terrible time to fly here.)  And, so many things here are closed.  So, I feel rather stuck.  I'd rather be quarantined near my friends and family.

But, we are making the best of things here.  We did get to see cherry blossoms the other day, and we plan to go to Ise Grand Shrine this weekend.  The kids are getting along really well!  They'd been fighting a lot here, but seemed to have finally found reason to like each other again.  They have an immense Lego party happening on the floor in their rooms.  And also some sort of badminton tournament going on that's pretty intense.

Japan announced today that they'll keep everything closed for another ten days and reexamine how it's all working then.  They also said to not be surprised if this lasts a year or more.  Some more things about Japan that I find interesting at the moment.  One reason the school being shut works here is that people actually follow that advice.  And also that kids here stay home alone for long periods of time.  It's not weird for them or against the law.  I've heard of five year olds staying home for 20 minutes or so while mom runs to the store.  And elementary school kids stay home while parents work for many hours.  It's just a totally different cultural mindset.  Also kids here are accustomed to getting a huge packet of homework over breaks.  And they actually do it.  So learning while not at school is normal here.

Anyway- that's our update.  Hopefully my pie turns out this weekend!

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