Posts Tagged ‘coronavirus’

Week 2

Monday, March 23rd, 2020

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 9th and 12th 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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Day 5

Friday, March 20th, 2020

Day 5 of homeschooling and sheltering in place.

First, we thought 2 weeks seemed impossible. (“Whaaaat?” we said. “How will we manage????”) Now, with no definite end in sight, 2 weeks is a nanosecond. We’re looking at a marathon, not sprint. A new normal.

“School” remains a work in progress. Assignments? Learning? At this point, I’m happy to see our kids standing vertically and changed out of pajamas. Don’t get me wrong: the school has been great; the teachers are on it. But in the interest of maintaining peace in our household, I’m taking the George Costanza approach: Serenity now.

Upside # 1: Tim is now working remotely and able to walk our dog, Charlie, with me. Charlie’s thrilled and so am I. Many of our neighbors are out walking, too. We keep our distances, chatting from six feet away, and comparing notes. Our daily goal is two walks with a total of 10,000 steps.

Upside # 2: Our Meyer lemon tree is the gift that keeps giving. Today I made lemon bars, from the best recipe ever. Omg, delicious. I’ve pasted the link here. Stay safe, everyone. Xoxo

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Corona

Wednesday, March 18th, 2020

I found this photo of me at our rented house in Antigua last summer. The world is so different now. Everything from before seems quaint and naive. My daily excursions to the artisan market. My crazy affection for handmade plastic baskets. Our carefree visits to restaurants and museums. Today, we’re grateful to breathe fresh air.

From March 16:

Day 1 of homeschooling and sheltering in place. Day 1 of many days to come. The school district said 2 weeks, but we’re anticipating much more time than that.

Upside # 1: We’ve discovered Downton Abbey. Which everyone in the world has watched, except us. Omg, every night, the joy!
Upside # 2: We’re all healthy, so far. That’s a big one, and we’ll take it.

From March 17:

Day 2 of homeschooling and sheltering in place. Our planned schedule of kids waking up at 8 and starting “school” by 9 are, shall we say, subject to change. Especially since it’s noon and one of our teenagers has only now gotten out of bed. Reminding myself: Flexibility in all things will be key.

How do we even try to keep life normal for our children? When they only want to see their friends and socialize. The latest news report is that schools will remain closed until the Fall. We’re not even through the first week.

What choice do we have, what control?

This will be an adventure.

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