Well, that escalated quickly

Odd times we're living in, huh?

I've been wishing for extra time with my kiddos and eagerly looking forward to Spring Break and this week I was granted three weeks of Spring Break and am trying my very very hardest to soak up these days and create special memories during this extra time with my children.  Of course, if I got to choose the perfect circumstances to spend this time, I wouldn't have chosen a pandemic obviously, but I am trying to remind myself that time is time and I need to spend it wisely.

Next week was supposed to be our Spring Break but we were given this week and the week after next as additional time to socially distance ourselves.  By March 30th, we will be told whether we return to school in April or if we are facing more time off or other school options (like doing school through Google Classroom, etc.).

Last week was such a blur.  I tried to keep a calm environment in my classroom though my students (mostly 9th graders) were becoming increasingly nervous as the week progressed.  Thanks to technology and smart watches that my students have, they were notified immediately when the first case was diagnosed in our state. About an hour later, I received an automated phone message from our superintendent saying that school would release at noon the following Thursday (which would've meant today), so that teachers could undergo training for how to utilize Google Classroom.  I already know how to utilize it since this is the medium we use when our students are sent to the county's alternative school.  I found it odd that students were going to have to come back to school the following day (the 20th) and then would be released for spring break at the end of school on that day.

Over the next several hours, the plan kept shifting.  At one point, we were told that school would be cancelled for Thursday and Friday but that teachers and students needed to come on Monday through Wednesday.  Later, we were told that we'd be out from Wednesday through April 6th.  The following day we were told that if students stayed home on Monday through Wednesday that their absence would not count against them at school.  At that point, I was solidified in my decision to keep my sons out of school on those days.  By the following day (Sunday evening), we were told that school was officially closed from Monday March 16th through April 6th and we did not have to do any online schooling during that time.

Having been home-schooled during several different years while growing up, I knew of the basic structure I'd need to set up with my kids at home.  In addition, being a teacher now and having to create content or utilize resources to find content for my own lesson plans, I knew that I could come up with adequate material for my sons. I'm still so so happy to see all of the free resources being shared online for parents who find themselves home with their kiddos attempting to home school.  Although our school district is not requiring online schooling right now, the elementary school teachers are being very proactive about listing topics by grade level and outlines of lesson plans to follow along with.  Both of my sons use computer programs at school and we are able to access those at home too.  I will give them their official spring break next week, but have already incorporated school work into this first week at home and will continue this during the last week of March as well.  This week, we've eased into it with just a worksheet or two everyday sprinkled in with some computer programs and lots of reading.  I'd like to add in some National Geographic shows (available on Disney+) and hopefully be able to see some of the virtual field trips and virtual national park tours during our time off together.

For my own classes, I've made it a personal mission to finish my lesson planning for the rest of the year while I'm off.  This would be SUCH a weight off my shoulders, so I'm really pulling for myself to get it done!  I've done a little bit here and there this week, and it helps that I've been able to use some of these weeks that I've already planned out and bump those plans into April.  Aaron is off tomorrow so I really do plan to use a chunk of time to nail some things down and create my PowerPoints (I have lots of outlines right now).  I'd ambitiously like to finish everything tomorrow.  I feel as though that would give me the mental permission I need in order to relax and further enjoy my time off.

We had planned to take a trip down to our family beach town.  We rented an airbnb way back in early January and we were SO looking forward to this trip.  However, with the hit of the pandemic in our part of the country, and not wishing to be stranded in a remote town during this ordeal, we chose to reevaluate our plans.  Airbnb offered full refunds to people who booked within a certain date range for a certain trip time frame.  We fell into their categories and were able to get our money back.  The host of the house we had booked was so accommodating and kind.  I told her that we plan to book the exact same place in early summer (depending on how quickly the virus dissipates).

Although I'm certainly an expert at burdening myself and checking the news stories too much during the day, I'm going to make a conscious effort from here on out to limit my time online and to take photos of my kids (with my phone and with my nice camera) and join in their games and really work on those memory creations.  I bake when I need to relax but I'm worried I'll run out of supplies, so I might try to make a morning store-run tomorrow while Aaron is home so I can get some baking supplies to sustain us.

Wherever you are, I wish you peace and the hope that things will get better and that we'll all come out of this more appreciative of our daily routines and comforts.

Until Next Time,
Much Love, Reba