These are historic times. We have never before shut our country down over a virus. Granted, this virus has killed people and will continue to kill people, which is always a tragedy. That said, we have had much more serious pandemics run through and not had anywhere near the same panic.
First, our college age daughters were switched from physical classrooms to turning on their computers. That was a difficult switch for my middle, who loves routine like nobody’s business. My oldest is considered part of the housing staff at her university and stayed until the campus ordered everyone home a week ago. My son, a high school student, has been home for two weeks, this third week being their scheduled spring break. Rumor is strong (the superintendent’s office spreading it as well) that our governor will shortly close school for the remainder of the school year.
My husband has been working from home for three weeks now as well.
My eldest crumpled into a fetal ball against me and bawled. She hasn’t snuggled into me for any reason in perhaps ten years. My son has fought frustration bordering on anger at not being able to go to school. My middle child burst out screaming last night.
We live in the middle of the country and have a home large enough for everyone to have a place to work alone, as well as a good sized yard. My son helped me plant hydrangeas one afternoon, and we’ve done a few other outdoor things. We have cats which provide fuzz therapy. We are mostly home-bodies who don’t need to be on the go all the time. Our church has been streaming services for years, so that was already in place, but we miss our church family. We don’t normally eat out more than once a week. We’ve been taking neighborhood walks.
Yet here we are, fighting the stress of HAVING to stay home. No new library books. No butterfly house (a yearly March highlight for my middle). My eldest had to part with her boyfriend, possibly for another month. No woodshop or blacksmith class for my son. They were half way in to the blacksmith class.
Having home schooled my middle, I’m in the midst of planning the last marking period for my son. It won’t be graded and I won’t be pulling him out of public school, but if the school year is finished, I don’t want his education to suffer any more than it has. Some teachers have assigned minor tasks, but nothing graded or involved. I can’t let an entire marking period go idle. He understands, but is starting to worry a bit. He’s in French 2 and I don’t speak French, but wouldn’t you know that it’s a language I want to learn and purchased a Living Language course for last year? It won’t be the same as his class, but it’s better than nothing.
My son got a bit freaked when he saw the assignment sheets and read that English and Literature are two different subjects with my class and I’ve lined up four books for him to read plus some Sherlock Holmes. He used to ask to be home schooled (it wasn’t the best option for him at the time). He’s about to find out what his sister experienced.
Somehow, we’ll get to the other side of this craziness.
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