The Luckiest No Matter What!

I honestly can't believe we are nearing the end of 2020. Most of it felt so challenging, often shocking, and so pain-stakingly slow sometimes that I wasn't sure the end of the year would ever come. I'm sure this year, especially, has us all reflecting on a lot: thinking back to where we all started, how we first felt when the pandemic hit, when we were smack dab in the middle of it, and how we've adjusted to what is our new normal for the foreseeable future.  I have so much I want to leave behind and never revisit: the memories of all the time I lost my patience with my family, crying in the shower more times than I'd like to admit, the feelings of isolation and loneliness, the worrying. I chose right now, however, to focus on the bright spots of this year. It was hard, indeed, but it wasn't always  hard. Here are some of the things I'm incredibly grateful for in 2020... Starting 2020 on the Right Foot On January 2nd, 2020, I started taking care of myself. I...

On December 26th, 2000, Josh and I had our first official date. We were 17 and juniors in high school. THAT WAS TWENTY YEARS AGO TODAY! WHAT?!? We had been friends for over three years, and our 'more than friends' chemistry had been building, slowly. A little flirting here and there during health class, butterflies when I'd see him in the hallway, getting on AOL Instant Messenger to talk almost every night.  I don't exactly know how the date got scheduled, but we were talking on Instant Messenger joking around about how we'd be spending our time over break and how fun it would be if we did some of those activities together. All of a sudden we were talking about seeing each other the day after Christmas. I think I kinda blacked out on how we really got there, but I remember signing off the computer, a few days before Christmas, thinking I had a real date scheduled with Josh for December 26th. AH!   The First Date This was taken at Yellowstone this year. I have no pic...

Throughout this pandemic, I lost myself.  I lost my personal interests and my personal identify. It was a gradual process. I began to notice, through the spring shutdown, that the things that helped me balance out my role as mom were not allowed or closed. Seeing friends was off limits, going out to eat or drinks or dessert with adults was not an option, writing curriculum while I was taking a break from teaching was put on hold. Not having these things in my life, suddenly, made me really, really sad. As time went on and the weeks became months, I began to also notice the other things that helped full me up and provide respite were also taken away from me. Having time to myself to do ANYTHING like reading, writing, working out, or working on creative projects was non existent. One day, in early summer, I realized that anything I did or was interested in or spent time doing that was just for me was gone. Anything that helped make me who I was ripped from me.  Kicking and Screa...

My kids have been learning remotely since March. There is no end in sight for us. I am working my tail off, the kids are working their tails off, their teachers are working their tails off. We've had ebbs and flows of things going pretty smooth and going like a goat rodeo, but one blessing (and curse) at this point is that we know the drill.  I know N and J will have zoom calls from 8:30-11:45 with a 15 minute break at 10:15. I know they will do literacy first and then math. I know what their asynchronous work looks like and about how long it takes. I know C will write about his weekend every Monday morning. I know he does Freckle on Friday. I know when he sees his new sight words. It is all predictable and known at this point.  I called this kind of monotony a blessing because consistency is important, routines are important. My young children can show a lot of independence when things are predictable. I also put that it is a curse in perenthesis because knowing exactly what'...

For many years, my favorite part of teaching has been doing Genius Hour with my students. Genius Hour is based on companies like Google or 3M who give time to their employees to work on passion projects. They allow for the time, choice, and space for people to use innovation to create. As teachers, we spend so much time with students on things we HAVE to do- genius hour gives some of their school time back to them to do with what they WANT. Giving freedom to my students is the best part of teaching for me.  Now that my own children are at home with me doing distance learning, I was trying to figure out a way to allow them some voice and choice within our own school constraints. Nolan was my first guinea pig in bringing genius hour into our home. Genius Hour At-Home My whole family has been super into Hamilton since we saw it on Disney + over the summer. The soundtrack is on repeat and #hundtboysx4 dressed as Alexander Hamilton, George Washington, Aaron Burr, and King George for Hal...

Thursday September 17th, 2020- that is the day this pandemic broke me.  I laid on the floor next to my bed sobbing- the kind of crying where the tears are coming so fast you can't catch your breath. It was hard enough to make my way upstairs so that I didn't worry my sons, but I couldn't even make it to the actual bed. I collapsed right next to it. My husband rubbed my back as he sat beside me. I could tell by the look on his face, with his eyebrows pushed together and his mouth in a straight line, he was worried about me. He should've been- I was worried about me too.  I Can't Do This... It's Every Day He asked what was wrong and I didn't even know how to answer. It was nothing, it was everything all at the same time. I can't remember what sent me over the edge. It was probably something small.  I kept repeating "I can't do this... it's every day" over and over and over. Even though those were only seven words, they had so much more be...

 In January 2020, I finally made the phone call I knew had been coming.  Preston was doing very little talking. At his 18 month appointment, his pediatrician wasn't terribly concerned yet, but did warn me he had some things against him: he's a sibling meaning that his older brothers would likely do a lot of the talking for him, he's a boy, and he wasn't in daycare. Because I was home with him, I knew what he wanted most of the time so he didn't NEED to work on his verbal skills. Here we were, a few months later, with little to no progress in his speech development since that appointment. I felt like it was time to get EarlyOn involved and get him some help and us some tools.  Speech Development Preston had a very small handful of words- a mama and dada here or there, a couple animal noises and that was basically it. The thing that was interesting about him was he was ZERO percent frustrated. It never bothered him if we didn't know what he was trying to communica...

Cities are near and dear to our hearts. Some of our favorite travels ever are visiting Toronto and NYC, for example. We love big buildings, the endless yummy food options, the hustle and bustle. We love cities so much that we bring four little kids to them even though cities are not always large-family friendly.  This pandemic has brought a pivot for the Hundt family. Where we'd normally research a tip to Boston, Washington DC, Charleston, or Madison. We are now looking for teeny tiny towns and a lot of land to roam free and away from people.  The need for social distance and being able to wander around together isolated and safe is what sprung our trip to Montana where we stayed in a town of less than 300 people. It was one of my favorite trips we've ever taken. A hustle/bustle travel gal always on the go go go is slowly becoming a hiker who takes her time ;) Landing on Maine Learning from home and working from home has brought a silver lining in this pandemic of having freed...

I have two second graders and one kindergartner who have been in remote learning for about a week. There is a learning curve in this for us all: kids, parents, teachers. We are all learning technology. Each of us are learning norms, learning new schedules, and learning routines. The chaos of it all and the camaraderie of it all is unique and palpable. We are all working hard and trying our best and that is easy to see. I could go on and on about all the feelings present, what the kids have been doing each day, and how we are all adjusting. Whenever anyone has asked me how things are going, I usually have a lot to say.  However, I thought I would share some smiles and frowns from the week. We still share these about our day each night at bedtime and the biggest take away is that, no matter what happens, there are smiles and there are frowns each day. Reflecting in this way helps to find the positives when we may feel like there is none and invites us to examine problems that may...

I saw a meme recently that really super triggered me. The meme said something to effect of "Parents please stop calling what you're doing homeschooling- unless you are planning the lessons and grading the assignments, you aren't teaching. What are you doing is called parenting. " I tensed up, I felt myself get hot. I read that post over and over again becoming more and more uncomfortable with it the more I read it. Pandemic Teaching Isn't Normal Teaching A lot of people 'liked' the post. I get it, I really do. The teacher that posted it was well intentioned I know. She was trying to share her feelings, I assume, about how frustrating it is for people outside of teaching to think they have ANY idea what teachers actually do. Unless you have been a teacher yourself or worked in a school you don't have a clue. Not.A.Freaking.Clue.  Teachers are educated and experts and, unfortunately, are very used to having to make magic happen in situations that ...