610-687-9660
Making the Best of Their Time at Home
Students are cooking, playing guitar, skateboarding, drawing, and creating a news show on YouTube.
By Kyndale Mitchell, Darrell Moten, Duncan Connor and Tayiana Kishoiyian
Informer Staff
While many students and teachers have been stuck at home bored, some people are making the most of their time both inside and outside the house. During these gloomy times, it’s good to do things that take our mind off the negatives.
Senior Connor Vail decided to finally pick up the electric guitar. During the weeks before we went into quarantine, Connor was putting his money into a new electric guitar: A new Fender Duo-Sonic that cost about $600. Connor mostly played bass throughout his life, but he also liked playing guitar too.
Connor said playing his new guitar hasn’t been too hard because he’s been on it for a while. He practices often and he said he just picks it up anytime his fingers tell him to play.
COOKING
Sophomore Cherie Fuhrmann-Darcia has found that cooking is something she loves to do.
Cherie loves making brownies, apple pie, muffins, lemon cake, and even some savory dishes such as chicken nuggets — “anything new that comes up,” she said. Cherie likes listening to music while she cooks because it helps her to have fun and take her mind off things.
Cherie says her family enjoys what she cooks just as much as she does. Cherie has always liked making food, but now she is cooking more than ever.
As much as cooking is a nice distraction during quarantine, having a pet is even more fun. Cherie has two cocker spaniels in Costa Rica and she has three German Shepherds — which are 4 and 5 years old — living with her right now.
As much as humans don’t like being cooped up in the house all day, neither do dogs, so Cherie takes her pets to a large outdoor area and throws them a ball. Some other fun games they like to play are hide-and-seek and tag.
DO WHAT MAKES YOU HAPPY
Senior Zandy Wurts is using his time at home to watch shows and get artsy.
“I've been working on improving my artistic ability. Been watching shows like Parks and Recreation, The Office, and an anime called Hunter x Hunter.”
He has also been trying to stay connected with friends through video games.
“I've also been trying to beat this really long game called Xenoblade Chronicles 2,” Zandy said, while adding, “I've also been trying to figure out ways to play D&D [Dungeons and Dragons] over Discord since it's the only way to play with everyone stuck in the house.
“I recommend doing things that make you happy since most of the world is already miserable from the virus,” Zandy said.
ROLLERBLADING
While some are using this time to become more laid back, freshman Morgan Lang has been trying to stay active.
“Over this quarantine, I’ve been trying to work out more, I’ve been playing some lacrosse with my brother, rollerblading, skateboarding, tanning some because I’m so pale. I have also been practicing driving.”
But she is also making time to watch some of the movies from her childhood.
“I’ve been watching some of my kid movies again to bring back memories. I watched the old Dumbo, 101 Dalmatians, Little Mermaid, [along with] The Office, and Curb Your Enthusiasm.
Morgan has also been playing Fortnite with her friends, “and I finally got my first solo win, which I’m very excited about.”
SKATING
“I've been skateboarding a lot when it's nice out,” junior Hayley Needelman said.
LEGEND OF ZELDA
Lower and Middle School Music teacher Mr. Richardson said he has been playing two games while stuck at home.
“I could offer perspectives on two games that have been ‘giving me life’ during quarantine – both involve huge investments of time, which we suddenly have a lot of, and total immersion in imaginary worlds,” Mr. Richardson said.
“First, a video game. Though I beat it two years ago when I first got my Nintendo Switch, I started a new play-through of Legend of Zelda: Breath Of The Wild with my son Declan.
“For the last month, we’ve woken up every morning for ‘Zelda Breakfast’, which is an excellent way to start the day and makes me pretty excited to get out of bed. We did finally beat the final boss about a week ago (and again yesterday, by Declan’s demand), but the open world of Hyrule is so huge and full of so many secrets and surprises that there’s still plenty left to do. We’ve probably sunk over 80 hours into the game already.
“Second, a board game. I got my copy of Gloomhaven last week, and have been solo-campaigning my way through. I’m only 5 missions deep, but for a ‘D&D In A Box’ experience, it’s pretty great.”
“BUNNY FUN”
“I am walking, hiking, playing video games, having bunny fun, eating snacks. watching movies,” junior Kinsey Koch said.
BUILT A FIRE PIT
Athletics Director Mr. Purdy said he has been running more and doing many projects around the house.
“Usually on the weekends, most of my time would be spent at my children’s sporting events. Because they are canceled, I have more time to finish projects that I started.
“I sanded, refinished, and painted the staircase in my house. I built a closet organizer for Mrs. Purdy’s classroom stuff. I painted the hallways and stairwell. Outside, I power washed and repainted my decks. The boys and I built a fire pit in the backyard.
“All in all, I’m spending more time with the family and teaching the boys how to do repairs and projects around the house.”
VIRTUAL TRIVIA
History teacher Mr. Robison has been playing a virtual trivia game with his wife on a website called Table.Fish. A friend of his was one of the scorers and helps makes the questions each week, which is how Mr. Robison got involved with it. He plays almost every one of the games they had and he says it’s fun to play.
The trivia game is based out of Dublin, Ireland. They livestream the questions on YouTube and one member of your team has an answer sheet to record and submit your answers. There are 8 rounds and a total of 64 questions. It occurs at 3 p.m. our time (8:00 p.m. Dublin time) each Tuesday and Friday.
It initially was created to give people something to do during the quarantine across the world. It is free, but you can donate money to the people who score and come up with the questions. They also donate to charities sometimes, too.
-
-
FooterAccreditation
-
Woodlynde School is a private, co-ed college prep day school located in suburban Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, that serves intelligent, talented students with learning differences in grades K - 12. Woodlynde provides a comprehensive, evidence-based Kindergarten, elementary, middle and high school program in a challenging yet nurturing environment for students with average to above average cognitive abilities (IQ) who have language- or math-based learning differences (such as Dyslexia, Dysgraphia or Dyscalculia), Executive Function Challenges, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), or Auditory Processing Disorder. Even for those students without a diagnosed learning disability (LD), Woodlynde offers expert and caring teachers in small classroom settings that support academic success. Woodlynde School also offers a post-graduate (PG) program in partnership with Rosemont College as well as a regional Summer Camp for students who learn differently.
©2023 Woodlynde School All Rights Reserved
Comments