Tag: Homeschooling

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Quarantine

Kids VT Cover Photography

Look who’s on the cover this month of Kids VT–it’s my daughter, Remy! Its the June magazine issue and you can find it inside of this week’s Seven Days, June 10-17, 2020. We were rollerblading down on the Burlington Bike Path near North Beach and we went through the tunnel. It was almost like an optical illusion and I’m including the original photo below, which I shot with a fisheye lens. I love how Kids VT designed this cover and I especially love the Editor’s Note Managing Editor Alison Novak wrote. Here is only the last portion of it. She fully encapsulated the feeling of this photo. Please read it in its entirety here.

“The cover image of this issue, taken by Cat Cutillo on the bike path in Burlington, resonated so deeply with me because it feels symbolic of our world right now. We are in a bleak place, and there is so much uncertainty about what the future holds. Yet still we roll on, wobbly and uncertain, arms outstretched, with hope for a better tomorrow. That future is only possible if we work to counter those who espouse bigotry and hate. Let’s keep on moving toward the light.” —Alison Novak, Managing Editor Kids VT

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Quarantine

STAY-SCHOOL ADVENTURES: Gardening, Quarantine Week 9

a girl gardening

STAY-SCHOOL ADVENTURES: Gardening, Quarantine Week 9 from Cat Cutillo on Vimeo.

We’ve buried a lot of things in the backyard recently. From a fish funeral to a time capsule, my kids, Remy and Bo, have gotten used to digging holes over the past two months. The thrilling part is what they find: Worms, snails and more worms.

My 3-year-old, Bo, is a worm connoisseur. He knows every variety they come in, from long ones to fat ones to stubby ones. Worms are his biggest motivation in life.

This weekend, my husband, Ross, was equally elated about worms. Earthworms are a gardener’s gold and a benchmark for healthy soil. They speed up the composting process and help mix soil by eating the bacteria growing on decaying plants and giving off “worm castings” —  a nutrient-filled type of manure that plants love. As we were out in the garden planting seeds and seedlings, Ross took the abundance of worms he found crawling in the dirt as a sign that the growing season would be successful.

“It is going to be a great garden this year,” he said.

In response, my 7-year-old, Remy, started pumping out worm facts.

“Did you know worms have five hearts? They also breathe through their skin and don’t have any eyes. I’ve been studying them,” she told me.

Like many Vermonters, the first thing Ross did when he heard about the quarantine was to start planning for an expanded garden. He had the kids start seedlings with him in the house as part of their homeschooling curriculum. Watching the seeds sprout up from the soil never gets old for them. But perhaps the best part of planting this year was the digging. The creepy crawlers were like buried treasures.

Worms are a great reminder that life is odd and, at the same time, resilient. These creatures without eyes and ears might spend most of their time buried beneath the surface, but they are the first things you see in the aftermath of a rainstorm. And when life tears them in half, instead of dying, they multiply and crawl off in different directions to continue enriching gardens and delighting kids.

Music by Ben Sound:
bensound.com

seedlings growinga girl holds a wormgirl planting a flowerkids look at garden

Categories
Quarantine

STAY-SCHOOL ADVENTURES: Drive-By Parties, Quarantine Week 8

a drive-by birthday sign

STAY-SCHOOL ADVENTURES: Drive-By Parties, Quarantine Week 8 from Cat Cutillo on Vimeo.

I once did a project called “Passenger-Side Stories” — a collection of drive-by photos I took while riding shotgun. The images include oddities, like a mannequin on a bicycle, and slice-of-life moments, like four-wheelers racing alongside the road. It’s amazing what you can capture and connect with in the blink of an eye from the car window.

This week — the eighth in quarantine — I was reminded of this project. The week began with the distant sounds of sirens. My heart skipped a beat as they quickly grew louder. I worried something had happened to one of our neighbors. We opened the front door to see fire trucks and police cars streaming by, waving and yelling Happy Thursday! to our neighborhood. Relief and tremendous gratitude washed over us, and we joined the chorus of cheers. The sounds of sirens and honking brought reassurance this week.

My daughter’s good friend, Matilda, turned 7 and her mom planned a drive-by birthday party. She drove Matilda to friends’ homes, where they held up signs, waved and cheered. We live across from Matilda’s aunt, uncle and cousins, so there was a surround-sound celebration at our stop with handmade signs, bells and presents that we slipped into her trunk. Still, I know my 7-year-old, Remy, and 3-year-old, Bo, wanted to run up and give her a hug. It felt strange keeping our distance.

The next day we met up at a parking lot for a birthday parade for Remy’s classmate, Adara. We held handmade signs out the window and cheered and honked as we drove by Adara and her family, who were standing on the sidewalk with balloons. Then we returned home and just the four of us had a festive marshmallow roast in our backyard.

The week ended with a parade of teachers and administrators from Remy’s school, Chamberlin Elementary. Dozens of them drove the length of the entire school bus route, honking and yelling students’ names out their windows. My kids stood on the lawn, waving.

These drive-by parties and parades made a big difference this week. It was amazing how connected we felt, in the blink of an eye, to friends, classmates and teachers. All it took was seeing them in person — albeit 15 feet away and through a car window — instead of just online.

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Quarantine

STAY-SCHOOL ADVENTURES: Quarantine Costumes, Day 19

Stay-School Adventures, Quarantine Costumes + Kites, Day 19 from Cat Cutillo on Vimeo.

My family has entered into a new realm of quarantine. My 7-year-old, Remy, wears a pink tutu and crown daily. My 3-year-old, Bo, wears a cape with or without his Batman mask. My husband, Ross, has even unearthed an Irish cap from the closet’s darkest corner–and he’s been in a great mood ever since.

I don’t have a costume yet but I did dig up my rollerblades from 1998 and rolled through the neighborhood with Remy.

“When did you get those!?” Remy asked me, next-level excited.

“Remy, these blades are old enough to be your mother,” I told her.

And as I gained speed, swerving in and out of a neighborhood of empty driveways, I thought, “Why did I ever give this up? I am really good.”

Then I swung out of control and did a crash landing on the neighbor’s lawn.

We spent April Fools’ Day trying to fly a kite in the backyard. Ross mostly dive-bombed our kids with it, but there were a few good moments where the kite really took flight and soared.

Its not all capes and kites over here. At least once everyday, I nose-dive into feelings of doom, grief and dread about what might happen and what is already happening– happening to people that I love.

But I think the kids–and Ross–are onto something with the dress-up. Those things we haven’t done or worn in years that used to bring us joy, those things can still bring us joy. It’s been well-worth the trip to the back of the closet.

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Quarantine

STAY-SCHOOL ADVENTURES, A Fish Funeral + The Death of a Snowman, Quarantine Day 0

STAY-SCHOOL ADVENTURES, A Fish Funeral + The Death of a Snowman, Quarantine Day 0 from Cat Cutillo on Vimeo.

This is a retrospective: Its Friday the 13th and I’ve picked up my kids from school and brought them to Barnes & Noble to buy a birthday present for a party my daughter is excited for on Sunday. I’m simultaneously texting with my friend who lives in Florida and had visited us just last week. Her son’s school has just been cancelled for at least two weeks.

The reality is sinking in that this thing is fast approaching. I suddenly realize we need to leave the store immediately and go home. It suddenly hits me we will probably be missing the birthday party altogether.

When we get home, we decide its time for the fish funeral. The ground has thawed just enough so we can dig a hole. Shiny is the oldest fish I’ve every known and just this week she has died. We estimate she was 300 in fish years because she was 1.5 in human years. So on Friday the 13th we lay Shiny to her final resting spot in our backyard.

Unfortunately, it is also the death of a snowman in our backyard.  We had built him just a week earlier with our visiting Florida friends. But now with the thaw, he is just a pile of dirty snow with his pipe sticking out.