I’ve been calling our situation here “homeschooling,” but “remote learning” is more accurate. Because at this point my kids are 17 and 15. Their work and study habits have been in place for a long time. If we don’t backslide too much, I’ll count that as a victory.

Of the the many jobs I’ve held over my lifetime, one of the most educational was teaching at a public high school in San Diego. My first full-time year, I taught American and British literature to 165 students in 9^th and 12^th grades. And let me tell you, I was overwhelmed.

There was so much information to transmit, and I didn’t feel experienced or capable enough to transmit it. Yes, I had a degree in English and had earned a California teaching credential. But what did I, a rank amateur, know about controlling classrooms filled with energetic, headstrong teenagers? Absolutely nothing.

Then one day, another teacher said something I never forgot: “If order is maintained, learning will occur.”

That’s the plan for this week.

Maintain a degree of order—what that looks like for us: get out of bed, eat breakfast, log in to classwork–and learning will occur. Not all learning, but some. Enough.

We’ll see how it goes.

Upside # 1: What’s great about order is that you get to break free of it. Once the job is done, of course. Here we are in the kitchen dancing to Jai Ho with Charlie.

Upside # 2: Charlie.

Stay safe, everyone. Xo

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Tags: adoption, adoptive families, coronavirus, COVID-18, Guatemalan adoption, shelter in place

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