What person didn’t want a playset in their back yard when they were a kid? We both did – but never had one! So we’re spoiling our kids with a playset of their own! They’re at the perfect age to play without too much concern from us and the pandemic makes going to one of the local parks a much more complicated decision than how to get there…
*UPDATE: Apparently, I (Ryan) had a swing set for a few years that didn’t survive the move to Illinois when I was 5.*
So Karissa found a good deal on a used playset on Facebook – just $100. The people selling it had just bought the house (that day), didn’t have kids, and wanted it gone to enjoy their back yard. We brought our tools, took it apart, and hoped it would fit in the back of our truck. The sellers noted how it was in worse condition than they thought and offered it to us for free – they just wanted it gone! It wasn’t in horrible shape, so we split the difference and gave them $60.
What do people who don’t have trucks do? How do they get large purchases home? We’ve always had a truck and use it to haul big things very often. Clearly, we were able to get it all loaded up and home in just the one trip!
It’s amazing to us how flimsy kids playsets are made. They use 2x3s instead of 2x4s for the structure, 5/8″ thick boards for the walls and floors instead of 2″ thick like we would use. The one we bought has been around for a while and needed some support. We picked a safe spot in the yard – about 80 yards away is a tee box for the golf course that is our back yard – and figured out how to level and support the playset. We drove some stakes into the ground, added some 2×6 boards to ensure solid ground contact all around, and strengthened the frame of the swingset.
Karissa pressure washed it all and removed years or gunk and grime. After a little bit of discussion, we let the kids pick some paint colors. We tried to convince them to make it match our house and look really cute, but they wanted to pick their own colors. We decided that Adelaide got the bottom and Emerson got the top. So it’s obviously half blue and half pink – if you know our stereotypical kids.
We still have a little bit of painting left to do, it needs a second coat, and we need to figure out a color for the roof, but the kids have been loving it! It was the best $60 + $50 of paint + $50 of wood = $160 we’ve spent in a long time!
We’ve been debating what to do about Adelaide and Kindergarten all summer. At various points, we thought sending her to physical school would be worth the risk – given how much she loves being around other kids. But we kept defaulting back to not being able to justify contributing to the spread of the virus – whether kids get it or not, the teachers and staff would. After watching one of the school board meetings, we decided not to send her. One of the choices offered at that time was where the district would provide a curriculum and the parents would basically homeschool their kid. The other choice was a hybrid plan where kids attend school 2 days a week and e-learn 3 days.
The school board presented their plan without talking to the teachers, 72% of whom didn’t think physically going to school was safe. Why the school board would present a plan to the public, which requires the teachers to implement, but didn’t consult with the teachers is beyond us. Thankfully, after a bunch of districts around us and around the nation announced fully remote plans – and various districts that tried physical school had surges in covid cases within the first few days – our board changed their plan to be 100% online to start the year.
Now we have a difference choice to make. The plan requires kids to be live on their computers at certain times each day. In my mind, the biggest benefit of remote/online learning is the flexibility. Why a board would not fully embrace that flexibility is beyond me. Anyhow, we don’t know if staring at a computer is the best way for a Kindergartener to learn. So we might unenroll Adelaide and homeschool her this year. We never thought we’d be homeschooling, but we also never foresaw a global pandemic.
Anyhow, we’ve gone full-steam ahead in creating a classroom in our house. We moved our furnace and water heater to make a 5th bedroom. I thought it would be a great office for me, but have sort of established myself in the craft room. So the 5th bedroom is the perfect place to create a learning environment in a dedicated space. We bought a school table and chairs and Karissa has gone all-out in making it feel like a real school room.
What else have we been up to the last few weeks since the last post? In no particular order, we spent a long weekend at the lake house, I’ve run at least 3 miles for 27 straight days, we keep eating great plant-based foods, Karissa’s Norwex business is booming, and we got to play with puppies!
