“Some days, this is our classroom.”
What a time to be alive, huh?
So much has gone on lately, I’ve scarcely had the time or energy to write about it.
Both the boys are home. Mama’s out working at the ICU in the hospital.
Our state is on lockdown… basically a mandated “shelter in place” order has gone out for at least the next 2 weeks.
And there is uncertainty everywhere.
Especially with Mama being an RN in the ICU and nurse manager.
A lot of uncertainty.
There was a time we had discussed isolating ourselves from her completely as she is a VITAL frontline caregiver in one of the states that has been hit the hardest thus far with this virus.
But after a day or so, we decided against it. Mama needs to see her boys at the end of the day just to get her through it.
And besides that, We are a family. We are in this thing together. Through good times and bad. We will get through whatever life can throw at us…
…together.
So we have adapted.
We are establishing a new “school routine.”
Jonny has been perfectly amenable. Jonah has had to get used to the idea.
But “used to it” he IS.
I have a feeling Jonah will be loath to return to school again. (Yaaaargggh!!! So much DADDY time!!)
Auntie has been a vital resource in helping me with the boys.
It’s not “homeschool.” It’s “auntie-school.”
(Even though I’m also a “teacher.”)
I am blessed to have a sister in education (who just so happens to have the next several weeks off) and has helped to write curriculum, who has come up with homeschooling ideas and provided materials, and who has volunteered her time and energy to continue my boys’ education over the next several weeks.
Even if it’s through video-conferencing.
My sister is a natural teacher.
Me? Not so much.
I feel a little bit like we have been tossed into the educational “deep end” of the pool and it is “sink or swim” time… and while my sister setting some kind of record doing the 400M butterfly, I’m just trying to figure out how to “doggie paddle” to the edge of the pool to keep from drowning…
Maybe I can be the “teachers’ assistant” or something.
So during our typical “school day,” my sister works with Jonny and I work with Jonah.
Jonah is reading books OUT LOUD. He is also learning his sight words (1G “power words.”) and is learning to add and to write “number sentences.”
I’ve also re-taught him some of the intra-verbals had had forgotten from last year (“what’s your name? How old are you? What is your Daddy’s name? What is your phone number?” Etc…)
We work 1 on 1 for about an hour and a half or so each day.
Jonny has been writing a RESEARCH PAPER!
He is researching Disneyland and making notes about all the different aspects of it. He’s writing it all out and then typing it all up and adding pictures.
The boy is a reading machine. He is finishing almost two chapter books a week!
He’s also working on fractions and story problems and doing great work.
Each day after lunch, we have also been walking to a local playground (usually empty) or driving to the local beach for recess (observing proper social distancing), though with the state now officially locked down, those trips will stop for a couple weeks.
The rest of the day has been a combination of tablet time and creative ways to “get Daddy’s goat” until Mama gets home (usually involving turning all the lights out, stealing Daddy’s “key,” or purposefully putting clothes on backwards.)
Mama gets to come home to enthusiastic smiles and joyful cries of “Mama! Mama! Mama’s home!”
Lord knows Mama needs to hear something joyful after what work must be like lately.
yeesh.
How are we dealing with it all?
I see it like this.
Mama works around sick people all day.
But, Mama has worked around sick people for the past 17 years.
There is a real chance we could get sick. There is ALWAYS that chance.
Some statistics say health care workers and their families are 3 times more likely to catch the coronavirus then the general public.
Am I worried about it? Of course. (I worry about A LOT of things.)
But we cross that bridge when we get to it. Worrying won’t change a thing.
How’s mama doing?
Mama has had better days…
Better weeks…
And it’s not supposed to get any easier in the near future. Quite the opposite.
And the world has gone crazy.
But when you think about it, all this stuff we are doing… the social distancing… the isolation… the economic shutdown…
…all that…
…is so that we can give Mama and all her colleagues the fighting chance to save one more person’s life.
So we can give all those healthcare providers the best possible chance to treat everyone who needs it, now and in the days and weeks to come.
…so they don’t need to worry about how many beds they have available or “rationing patient care”
If there’s one thing I can tell you it’s this.
STAY HOME. STAY SAFE. STAY HEALTHY.
Because who knows?
Tomorrow it just might be YOU Mama has to save.