Schooling from Home

The longest spring break ever finally ended, and the kids could go back to school! Well, kind of. The pandemic is not showing much sign of slowing down around here, and we had to tell our school district whether we wanted to go in person or online for school several weeks ago. We decided that for safety and continuity, it made sense to start off school online. We can always change after the first 9 weeks grading period, if things are looking up. Plus, we have to remember that in-person school is not really the school we're remembering. It's masks all day, spacing six feet apart wherever possible, and limitations on lunch, recess, and socializing. But we are hopeful to return in person at some point this year, especially with teachers talking about figuring out how to do labs and other hands-on activities at home.

As a result, the traditional first day picture doesn't have backpacks or cute, new outfits, or even shoes. After this, it's up the stairs to your device to login! Owen, by the way, put his quarantine diet to good use and grew an inch this summer.

Since we're staying home for school, I thought it would be nice to give each kid their own "classroom" outside of their bedrooms to minimize distractions and to separate school from home somewhat. Luckily, we have enough space and surfaces to do that! The kids helped me set up their own desks with their school supplies.

Here are actual first day pictures. (Do you like H's death stare? She wasn't approving of the pic while she was in class, but she looks like a little executive, doesn't she?) So far, online school has been more of an exercise in telling time and being able to navigate apps than any sort of traditional school subject. The kids have blocks of time scheduled for each subject where they log in to Zoom for a brief intro from the teacher and then log off for independent work time for that subject. But so far, they've both had hours of down time throughout the day because the assignments are very simple. Of course, the first week of school is mostly about getting settled anyway, so we're hoping that next week will be a better indication of the next 8 weeks' work flow.

And this guy has been working from home since February! We were just starting to make plans to close in the formal living room to give him a proper office when the pandemic hit. So, he's still on a temporary table and open to the rest of the house. Thank goodness for sound-proof earphones! He often has a cat companion, too. I don't think she's appeared on any Zoom calls yet, but it's probably only a matter of time. We are both so thankful that we have jobs where we can work from home and be present when needed!