Day 150: Fish, Star, Mansion, Jail

My workday got utterly derailed today. Jeremy had meetings and work all day, so I was home alone with the kids. Sometimes this is fine, and they occupy themselves with shows or pretend playing while I work, but today they needed me for all kinds of projects they invented. First, Taiya wanted to make another video of Copper the Pop Star on her stage she built. Then, Taiya built a mansion for Copper the Pop Star and while she did it mostly by herself, she did need help here and there. Then we had to make a video tour of the mansion. Then William wanted me to make him a stuffed animal fish. Then Taiya needed a star-shaped pillow for Copper. Then William needed a box house for his fish, one room of which was a jail. Etc., etc. I quickly gave up on getting any work done and just focused on them. When I'm not being pulled mentally in three different directions, working on these projects with them is actually pretty fun. 

Two days ago, I told the kids what we had decided about school. Taiya was upset, and said, "But I want to go to school! I'll wear a mask, and I'll stay away from people, and I won't touch anything!" It was heartbreaking. She got teary but didn't cry, and she understood when I said we just didn't feel like it was safe enough right now. And she was cheered when I said we'll just see how the first nine weeks go and maybe then it will be safe to go back. William, as I predicted, was totally happy to be staying home instead of having to start at a new, intimidating school where he doesn't know anyone. 

Tonight we all had to go to an in-person training in the school's cafeteria on how remote learning will work. Everyone wore masks and they had the tables all spread out, so it felt fairly safe. Remote learning is all going to be done on Google Classroom, and they'll have teachers like usual, but those teachers also are teaching the in-person students, so it'll be very part-time interaction. The school is giving all students Chromebooks, which is helpful. They've created WiFi hotspots in various places in the community, and there will also be ways to download materials and do the work off-line. They are doing their best in a bad situation. I also learned that only about 20% of Cedarville students are doing remote learning. For now... (she says pessimistically, ominous music playing).