Duxbury’s Youth: Coronavirus Archives Project

At the Duxbury Rural and Historical Society, we miss our young visitors, and we want to hear from them! Archives are places where historical materials are collected, preserved and shared. The mission of the Drew Archives is to care for the historical material of Duxbury. We invite children of all ages to help us create an archival collection to document this period in our town’s history. We will share some submissions online and in the display case at the Duxbury Free Library; all will become part of the Drew Archives Collection. Each week we will release some new submissions, so be sure to check back again!

Do you know a child who would like to participate? Download a flyer here for instructions: Our Times Flyer – Final.

By: Henry Weiss, grade 4

Our Times by Henry Weiss

My name is Henry Weiss. I am 10 years old and I live in Duxbury, Massachusetts. I live in a neighborhood with lots of trees and woods. We have a stream in the back of our house too. I live with my mom, my dad, and my brother William.
I like to play a game called Roblox on the computer, I like playing outside with my friends, I like biking, and I like going out on boats. I like doing art and I like creating things out of model magic. It’s kind of like light, air dry clay that’s a bit foamy. It’s not wet.
I wake up around 7 and I go down to watch t.v. and I eat breakfast. I get ready by taking a tub, brushing my teeth, and getting dressed. Then I do my schoolwork at the kitchen table with my mom and dad. School was canceled because of the Coronavirus, so we have to do work at home now. We have to do all our school work online or print it out.
I get outside a lot to play since we can’t go anywhere. I like to go on the trampoline with my brother, we ride bikes, and we play in the woods. Sometimes we all go for a drive to a spot and go for a hike in the woods.
I miss how my friends used to be able to come in the house and play. Now they can’t come inside to play. I miss going to school and seeing my friends. I miss going out with my family to go into stores and look around.

By: Mary Snell, grade 4

Life in Covid19 by Mary Snell
April 13, 2020

Day 30
My name is Mary. I am 9 years old and I live in Duxbury. I am interested in tennis, photography, reading and writing (most recently I started archery). I like to write stories and songs. I like to read sci-fi and fiction.
My family and I have been doing well. We are good at keeping ourselves busy. Depending on the weather if it’s rainy I am on my Kindle playing Roblox or reading my book called the World Ends in April by Stacy McAuntly. It’s a great book about an asteroid hitting earth. If it’s sunny, I’m outside doing archery or playing on my ninja line or I’m with my dog Sparkles on a walk. When I am bored I ask my Mom or Dad if we can do archery or play on my Kindle.
The things I miss the most about my normal life are playing with my friends, school, going to see my grandparents and going to parties at my friend’s house. I am Zooming with my friends and grandparents and my school friends to keep in touch with them. Zoom is an app you can use to see your friends and talk with them on your computer or phone. My friends that are too far away I get to zoom with them. It’s really fun to zoom with them. We start screen shares and play tic tac toe or just talk to each other. When the meeting is over we sometimes talk in the chat.
My family and I have adjusted to being at home by saving more food by eating what we can and eating leftovers. My Dad works from home in his office and comes down once in a while to say hi or to get a snack.
My mom, my sister and I made a classroom in my dining room. We have a map of the United States and a poster of the digestive system on the walls and my big white board is also used in the classroom 🙁 . We use it to keep our schedule for the day, our spelling words, and Mom uses it to teach. We have to write in a journal everyday. My mom makes us do Google classroom, reading and writing every day.
I can see my neighborhood friends when we go on walks but we have to stay 10 feet away from each other. Sometimes we bring a ball on our walks so if we stop and say hi we can kick the ball around.
The pandemic has taught me to keep busy when I can’t do much!