homeschool

we have a fifth grader and a third grader, and this has been the long awaited year: two kids, finally back together at the same school building again, for one year! one bus stop location and time! one after school program location! one teacher appreciation lunch! one office to contact! ah, glorious. HOWEVER, most of the pleasure of that efficiency has been lost, as have oh soooooo many other things, as they start their school year at home. just like millions of other kids across the country, our kids are learning on line, virtually, from over worked teachers learning new tricks in a new paradigm of education, and are located in their own homes, alongside their working-from-home parents. it's full of challenges, but has also been full of (some) delights. 

i could get into my frustrations with lack of trust in scientists to lead us, with lack of clear leadership on important public health issues, and instead a focus on re-opening bars in madison which prompted the surge in cases that caused the county to close schools. we have bad priorities, and the consequences will rest on the shoulders of a generation of children. ahem. but i won't delve into that because it is fruitless and the best work to do is the work of getting this pandemic under control so a return to a normal life that supports health, education, and economic robustness can happen as soon as is reasonably possible. blaming helps nothing, but working together to reduce cases helps everything. 

so. anyway. first day of school was weird. 

it was a full week later than usual, and was spent doing absolutely nothing other than figuring out how to log in (which they remember from last spring). so we took some pictures, without shoes on, on our new doorstep, and tried to make the day feel special. 

note the conspicuous absence of shoes. silver lining of home school?

(if you're wondering, yeah, we did choose one of those yellows after lots of input from every front door visitor, including the UPS and FedEx workers). 

the school managed a back to school welcome event with an around-the-block "reverse parade" where we all strolled around the school and chatted with our masked teachers from about 6 feet away, outdoors. it was weird. 

i did force the kids to go stand in front of their real life school building, marquette, on the first day of school. 

and some pictures from home schooling, including the basement work area,

 

and their preferred bedroom work spaces.

here are day one and two of my failed attempt to get the kids to journal their home school experience. listen, you guys. this is HARD. i am not a teacher. i am a mother. i am a frustrated health care provider doing my job from home, at the same time that i'm supposed to be keeping an eye on my kids, keeping them on task, and feeding them. it is HARD. 

but let me leave you with something positive, which is this little screen image of james' homework, in which he details his identities. "cat daddy" is about the grooviest sounding thing ever.