Catching up on Classics (and lots more!) discussion
"Junk Drawer"
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Has the Coronovirus changed your schedule and your reading habits?
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Luke
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Mar 20, 2020 08:25AM
This might be more of a welcome change in reading: Archipelago Books is releasing 30 of their eBooks for free starting today. Includes Our Lady of the Nile, Gate of the Sun, and more: https://archipelagobooks.org/2020/03/...
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Sandra wrote: "I thought that a quarantine would mean lots of reading done, but no. I can't concentrate for long periods of time in a book. My 8 kids are at home now and if course that doesn't help. I am trying t..."Yes, you'll figure it out. In my personal experience (so nothing scientific) most of the mothers I know with six or more children are quite good at getting these sorts of things organized due to experience. Granted, I don't have an overwhelming number of people who have been in my life like this, but probably 12-15 or so (Plus my both of my mother's parents came from large families and not Catholic).
Here some other resources I just received in my Teacher email stream..Brainpop.com is free right now. I highly recommend their videos with interactive quizzes on every subject and every grade level K- high school.
Audible.com says that "while school is on pause, kids listen free."
Go to stories.audible.com and you will find hundreds of our titles available completely free, handpicked to appeal to ages 0-18.
A website we used in the classroom is noredink.com, think no red ink . com as in no grammatical errors in essays. It is individualized. I assigned work without having to pay anything. There is an introductory level and a subscription level.
Michele and Lynn, thank you. That's very useful. It is great what Audible is doing!
Karin wrote: "Sandra wrote: "Yes, you'll figure it out. In my personal experience (so nothing scientific) most of the mothers I know with six or more children are quite good at getting these sorts of things organized due to experience. Granted, I don't have an overwhelming number of people who have been in my life like this, but probably 12-15 or so (Plus my both of my mother's parents came from large families and not Catholic)."Yes, we'll figure it out. They are kind of used to help each other, take turns, and help with the organization, so I guess after a few days will get into the routine.
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Had a friend in Seattle pass away from complications with COVID19, so some mourning also.
Stay well all of you.
Oh no, Katy! My thoughts are with you! I've got a very good friend working in a pharmacy in Bologna, Northern Italy, and I so hope that she will stay all right.
A friend of mine posted this on Facebook earlier today:
https://kidsactivitiesblog.com/135609...
Philina wrote: "Oh no, Katy! My thoughts are with you! I've got a very good friend working in a pharmacy in Bologna, Northern Italy, and I so hope that she will stay all right.
A friend of mine posted this on ..."
Yes Katy you have my sympathy. My youngest child (youngest of 3) works in a pharmacy. He has been putting in 60+ hour weeks.
That is very sad news, Katy, and I'm sorry to hear it. The garden sounds like a good, healing place to be right now.I am reading so much less than usual, and have no patience/interest in all the reading plans I made prior to this disaster. I was looking for something last night though, and started Wolf Hall. I think it may be perfect--so engrossing and far removed from the present.
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I was thinking of reading the series now that it is complete.
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I’m so sorry to hear of your loss, Katy!
I am going to be checking out my library’s digital collection since it will be closed for the next three weeks at least and there are some group reads that I would like to participate in. I had never done so as I much prefer to read on my Kindle (rather than a lit screen) if I cannot read hardcopy. Those of you who read ebooks, what device(s) do you generally use?
Erin wrote: "I am going to be checking out my library’s digital collection since it will be closed for the next three weeks at least and their are some group reads that I would like to participate in. I had nev..."I prefer Kindle as well and my library gives us the Kindle option for downloading books. Perhaps yours will as well. When I select the Kindle option it routes me to Amazon and I download the usual way.
Susan O wrote: "Erin wrote: "I am going to be checking out my library’s digital collection since it will be closed for the next three weeks at least and their are some group reads that I would like to participate ..."Thank you so much! I’ll check for that! :)
So sorry Katy. Worried that many of us are going to lose friends and loved ones. Praying that all of us stay safe.
We all have to find a new normal which hopefully won't last too long. For me, Monday will be my first day of working from home. I will have to figure out a new schedule for getting up, getting on my laptop to work, taking breaks, and checking in with the people I supervise. I am hoping the surreal feeling that I'm in a movie or a nightmare goes away soon.
It’s giving me a lot more time to read than usual though my primary source of books has been taken away (the library) so I’m primarily using ebooks and audiobooks at the moment
Its changed a lot. I am in California and the entire state is on lockdown. All non-essential business have been shut down. My husband is working from home, for now. But if this goes on too long then he will end up on Corona furlough. Since we have one computer, I am now on my phone a lot. The sole library book that I have, the due date has been pushed back from March 24 to April 15. We have been streaming a couple of movie via Kanopy. Kanopy is a LA county app to check out movies from the library system.
We are ten minutes walk from a beach here; opportunity for plenty of exercise but the strong winds have pushed sand onto the promenade which means it is pushing people walking on it closer together. This Weeknd it’s been reported lots of beaches have been crowded and it’s March and windy and cold still! People are advised to exercise so they turn that into a social occasion. This is a level of complacency at odds with the sober tone adopted by the government who seem to be in the business of herding kittens at the moment! The bars and restaurants have been forced to shut having only been asked that people stop using them; asking didn’t work.
I could understand in America, where the President and his media have been offering an alternative narrative, for this message not to have percolated through; he is still touting stories of measles vaccine cures and hospital ships that are in for maintenance currently; trying to reassure Wall Street as a priority. Yet, even with the scientists to the fore in the UK and the nanny state in full gear; I don’t believe the ideas that this is happening passively, isn’t anyone’s fault and they won’t pass it on to someone vulnerable have been disabused. The UK is two to three weeks behind Italy now. Concern bordering on terror is psychologically difficult to maintain for a day let alone three weeks or the three months.
PinkieBrown wrote: "The bars and restaurants have been forced to shut having only been asked that people stop using them; asking didn’t work ..."Same here in NYC. It’s heart-breaking that so many people are unwilling to give up their weekend entertainment to save the lives of their vulnerable brothers and sisters. This medical crisis is also a moral crisis.
Here in Germany they've just announced a prohibition of more than two people being together (exceptions for households). However, no curfew. We can still roam free in nature alone or with another person.
In Chicago, I have noticed a lot of compliance, especially with social distancing. I am impressed with people giving way on narrow sidewalks, etc. By far, you only see people in singles, not multiples, if they are outside. Younger people seem less inclined, though. On Thursday last, there was very little traffic on the expressways and major arterials in the City.We are in a city where there are not a lot of fans of this President, so we have mostly not believed his fantasies from the start. Many business had already sent their employees home to work and many more, like mine, figured out how to do that just a little ahead of the stay at home order.
Our infrastructure, including the internet, may lag a bit behind our new reliance on increased use, it seems — just my perception.
Some people may be having trouble adapting to these changes. Older people who are not as computer savvy may end up feeling really isolated. On the other hand, my husband, who has worked from home for years, welcomes my new routine since I am now home with him. My family (brothers, sister, extended family) has been getting in touch more frequently as we get older, and I would say that this is likely to increase with this new reality.
I have a supply of books to read at home. I can read books on my IPad using the Kindle app, and other apps. I may rely on the free books that are available through Gutenberg or other sources. I have an Audible subscription, but now that I am not commuting, I have to find other opportunities to listen. Our upcoming book club will need to go online, I guess.
It's so sad to hear about all the problems caused by recent events. My daughter plays high school basketball. Her team was knocked out of the State playoffs but unfortunately for those teams that advanced the Championship games were all canceled. So were college basketball tournaments and all spring season sports. I feel so bad for those seniors, both high school and college, who may never be able to play their final games. Same for those who will miss graduation, prom and other senior events. Although I respect the decisions made by health officials to help protect us from the spread of the coronavirus, I do hope that work is being done to develop some alternate solutions. The effects of long-term quarantine actions will be devastating in many ways that are not being fully considered yet, especially economically. Alternative solutions are not important merely for the present, but also for future pandemic situations which could happen every few years (remember, the last pandemic was the Swine Flu a mere 11 years ago, and there's no reason to believe it will take another 9 years for another pandemic - and who's to say the next one might not be worse?).
As for my schedule and my reading, I'm working from home right now, and work is very light. With my extra time I am spending more time in line at the grocery store (finally got some potatoes today!) and cooking meals. I used to eat out or get take-out more often but now have the time to prepare meals at home. Turkey black bean chili today!
Extra time is also going towards reading. I am finishing books a little bit faster than usual since I can spend a little more time each day reading. I may also try to get into more group reads and/or buddy reads.
I do find myself watching more movies now that I have the time. My TV watching used to be confined to a couple series (Walking Dead and Stranger Things) along with a lot of sports. But with no sports, I've caught up on my series and have turned to movies for entertainment when I'm not reading. Yesterday I watched the Paul Newman movie Slap Shot (3/5 stars) and the old SF classic It Came From Outer Space (2/5 stars). I've set my DVR to record movies on TCM and HBO and I've just about filled it up.
My daughter can't play or practice basketball indoors since all the gyms are closed so we try to go to the park every afternoon to get some shots up. Weather hasn't always been cooperative though.
PinkieBrown wrote: "Concern bordering on terror is psychologically difficult to maintain for a day let alone three weeks or the three months. "Rather than concern/terror, it might be more helpful (and mentally healthful) if we could all foster a positive sense of "this is how I do my bit not to kill other people's grandparents or immune-compromised child." The chance of any given individual getting it and dying is still low, but if someone with a mild or asymptomatic case goes out breathing on other people, thus passing it on, that increases the chances exponentially that a vulnerable person will catch it and die. Not to mention the risk to docs and nurses, and the collateral damage from other illnesses when ICU beds run out. See this graphic for a good visual.
Scribd is offering access to free ebooks or audiobooks for 30 days. Use the link below to get access without being asked for a credit card.https://www.scribd.com/readfree?utm_s...
Brina wrote: "Lynn, I feel for your family. My parents canceled going to a wedding only to find out it was postponed. My personal reading habits are opposite yours. My kids are now home. I have two in elementary..."Same
Except my kids are in preschool and I just have to keep them engaged and away from the screens.
I am really sorry about your daughters wedding too, Lynne.Hugs to you both.
My area's extended quarantine from the next week to the next month and ramped up standards for essential operations for business and individuals. It'd be easier if I eventually got used to it, but I'd rather not have to.
They announced today that the kids will be out of school until May (at least), and could be later depending on how everything goes. They've had three weeks off so far. March Break (1st week), then two extra weeks off because of the virus. John has been working from home for now, but his boss is asking him to cut hours so he's worried about getting laid off and not getting a paycheque. Will have to see how everything goes. As far as reading goes, I've gotten off to a horrible start, firstly because I was sick for about a month with bad bronchitis, so coughing my head off didn't make for good reading time, and now with all this going on, I'm trying to keep reading time up, but either can't find time, or just not in the mood.
PA governor extended today the stay-home order through April 30th, and schools will remain closed until further notice. Not looking good. My kids have been on a school remote instruction plan for two weeks now. We are well organized by now, but we all hope this is not for the rest of the school year.
Sandra, here in Ohio it’s exactly the same. I wanted to read for a few hours this afternoon but my 5th grader needed help with her work. That took two hours plus an hour tonight, all my reading time although truthfully I enjoy math. I hope school will start before the end of the end if anything so the kids and teachers have closure. Reading is secondary in all this but in the meantime I’m hoping for one book a week.
I know. It would be nice to come back to school at some point this year. I can't wrap my mind up the idea of not coming back until September.
Most of the schools I know about in my area have been planning in accordance with the assumption that they'll be closed for the rest of the school year. I imagine it helps motivate the transition to online instruction.
We had our book club on Google Hangouts. It went really well. Our normal routine was that the group would choose a book, a host would volunteer, and then the host would have people over for dinner, serving food related to the book. Our March book club choice was to be The Dutch House.
Enter Covid 19 and a Stay at Home order. So, we all downloaded Google Hangouts, and our host sent a New York Times recipe for Dutch Baby Pancakes. We joined the video call, with our prep done and ovens pre-heated, and all of us cooked our pancakes together. We cooked, we discussed the book, and we talked about the food too. What could be better? (Well, in person meetings are better, but not possible now.)
Overall, I give this approach a thumbs up, because it was a way to get into a much needed social setting after working from home.
Hangouts requires that you have a gmail account. You can get one just for this and no other reason. Everyone must download the free app. Then someone has to set up the call and invite the members. When it’s time, you open the app and click on the video icon. Voila!
I hope this idea helps some people get together during our current strange time.
Even my dad learned how to do his book club on zoom. All of my book clubs are here on goodreads. I’m great full for that although I miss the library. In the summer I have my kids home anyway and they’re not doing work that needs clarification. It’s the school year where I’m the teacher. I’m hoping that once teachers realize that it’s the rest of the year and not just these three weeks that they will have class for more than an hour at a time. They are supposed to teach all day not just a half hour in the afternoon. My daughter got homework that was never explained and I literally had to write out steps for order of operations for fractions. I said I don’t mind but this is supposed to be done in class and if the mindset is that it will be the rest of the year, teachers should know that they will be meeting their classes for most of the day. Hopefully once that happens I will gain more reading time.
Schools are out in Texas until May 4th as of today. I can't imagine that they will actually go back to finish the year after that but we'll see. The shelter at home order is going to get so tough soon I feel. I always thought I was a homebody but that was when I had an option to go out when I wanted. Now that I can't, I feel deprived. I am thankful I don't live alone. My mom does and it's gotten terribly lonely for her.
Brina wrote: "Even my dad learned how to do his book club on zoom. All of my book clubs are here on goodreads. I’m great full for that although I miss the library. In the summer I have my kids home anyway and th..."So do your kids actually get homework every day from their teachers? We don't have anything like that here, just have to put stuff together for them to do, and a few websites to visit, but no actual work assigned. It would be nice to have something like that because they could still do work they need to do for their classes.
Yes, from day 1 the teachers sent home packets and the students met on either zoom or google hangouts. Teachers assign additional work on google classroom so that the kids can do it and turn in for a grade. It’s still not perfect- the class meetings are only up to an hour a day. That was when the stay at home order was only for three weeks. With it being for the whole year I have a feeling that teachers will transition to longer meetings so that kids have less down time and feel that they’re actually in school. I feel for those families who don’t have access to a computer as I don’t know how those kids will keep up with school now.
Renee, this is the second week my kids have been in remote learning mode. The teachers are using google classroom. Every day they get many assignments to do. Last week they were just reviewing content (after 2 weeks off school) but this week they are getting new content. Teachers use different ways, but in general they post videos explaining the concepts, ask for the kids to do exercises from the books (all materials were sent home), suggest videos en youtube with concepts or similar, use sites like xtramath, ixl, spellingcity, etc. for practice, suggest assignments using google docs or google slides. The reading books my kids use are from pearsons, and in their website there are exercises and extra activities to do that are not used usually, but now come handy. This is for my kids in 1st, 3rd, 5th and 7th grade. My two highschoolers are doing something similar through Canvas.I wouldn't say that is like going to school, but it keeps us very busy.
With gyms closed, volunteer work cancelled, coffeeshop doing takeout only, I am grateful for Goodreads. Gotta exercise so I have been doing easiest yoga here in my apartment and walking around the building. With spring come, I have been on and off doing tasks of deeper cleaning. I have laid down some foundational ideas for some short stories. Those are my activities.As for reading, I am find I am more content with escaping into fiction/literature. My projects that I am settling into are The Decameron, Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, and Beowulf. Medieval and peeking at Early Modern literature seems to be the thing right now. Plus a Catching Up friend and I are reading fiction/literature that informs our individual understanding of the Trojan War. Escape seems to be my thing right now.
A newsletter just talked about our Covid 19 virtual book club, of which I previously posted. Go to website below. On right side click link to April newsletter. Scroll down the newsletter till you see article about The Dutch House. How fun!https://www.bookclubcookbook.com
Poffertjes! This is my fourth year living in Flanders, and I've still never had one. Funnily enough, you cam even buy them vacuum-packed in the refrigerated section. I'm sure they are much better homemade. :D How cool that you all made them and have a newsletter! Did you enjoy your poffertjes?
Cynda wrote: "With spring come, I have been on and off doing tasks of deeper cleaning.."Me too! I usually love sports and do a lot of it (Karate and gym), but for the past two weeks of quarantine I somehow just couldn't motivate myself to exercise at home. So all of the excess energy is going into thorough spring cleaning.
Terry wrote: ". So, we all downloaded Google Hangouts, and our host sent a New York Times recipe for Dutch Baby Pancakes. We joined the video call, with our prep done and ovens pre-heated, and all of us cooked our pancakes together. We cooked, we discussed the book, and we talked about the food too. "Terry, that sounds amazing :D
The only thing in my schedule that's changed is that I can now (a) sleep in about 45 minutes later in the morning, and (b) pour my first glass of win about 45 minutes earlier in the evening ;)As to reading, I find it difficult to concentrate so am doing less than I expected :(
Catching up on Classics (and lots more!)
Books mentioned in this topic
Beowulf (other topics)The Decameron (other topics)
The Canterbury Tales (other topics)
Beowulf (other topics)
Chaucer's Canterbury Tales (other topics)
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