Day 163-166: First Week of School

It was the first week of school for the kids, and the first week of my being back to a full 40 hours of work. The only reason I could cut my hours to 20 per week this summer was an Emergency FMLA rule that was passed this spring that allowed for 12 weeks of paid leave if you lost childcare due to COVID-19. We had lost childcare in the form of Taiya's school and summer program, so I went half time and Jeremy went half time (though his organization didn't qualify for that EFMLA because it's a state organization - he just burned through all his sick and vacation leave) and we shared the load of childcare. But now that they have the option of going back in person, even though we chose remote learning, I can no longer work half time without using up all my sick and vacation leave and then eventually having to just cut my hours and pay. So what this means for us is I have to go back to work full time and Jeremy, who makes less money than I do and likes his job less than I do, stays at half time, and takes on childcare full time, and somehow squeezes in four hours a day of work. And we do this until some mythical time when it will be safer for the kids to go to school in person. 

So how did the first week go? Because 80% of the students at Cedarville are going full time in person, the teachers are focused, obviously, on in-person learning. I am sure they spent a lot of time this week teaching the kids about masks and hand washing and proper spacing. What it meant for us was the kids only had a bit of school work to do each day, easing us into the world of remote learning. Jeremy guided them through the work on their chromebooks while I worked in my home office (I have a home office!! I am still so excited about my meager corner in the old cabin room) knocking out all kinds of work that I'd been putting off. And it felt great. I missed my job, honestly, and missed getting to do it without being interrupted every two minutes. 

William's school work talked about shapes and cooperation, while Taiya took some assessment tests and read some stories and did some math. Jeremy and I were both expecting the work to take longer, so we hadn't really planned anything to supplement their work. This meant that we let them watch more shows than I would have liked, but we also were able to let them learn about things that just popped up in conversation. Somehow totem poles came up, and Taiya asked what they were, and we gave a brief explanation but then Jeremy found a good video explaining all about them. William always wants to know more about animals and plants, so he watched more videos on things like the evolution of mice and photosynthesis. William also got to learn how to calibrate seeding rates on a no-till seed drill, which Jeremy is using on the farm to seed rye and ladino and crimson clovers. They also discovered a really random YouTube channel that involves someone building tiny dollhouses while chatting with Sam the Slime, a little animated red slime guy. I thought it was enormously silly, but then I heard them talking about solar and wind power and how those were the best form of electricity, and now I'm fine with it. 

We rescued a turtle that had fallen into the pool,
and when we released it, it found safety under this ceramic turtle. 
Turtles, all the way down, as the story goes. 

On Thursday Jeremy had to go to town to pick up his paycheck, and his mom had presents for the kids to help boost their spirits on the first week of school. And boy did it ever. She got Taiya a giant Rainbocorn toy and William a Paw Patrol firetruck that comes apart and becomes a truck and a three-wheeler. They had no idea these gifts were coming, and when they opened them up they were squealing, bouncing, thrilled-beyond-belief little balls of energy. I tried to take pictures to share with Gammie but they were moving so much they all came out blurry. You can still see the smiles, though, so I think they captured the moment pretty accurately. 

One of the days this week (can't remember which) I finished for the day and walked back into the main part of the house saying, "Honey, I'm home! How was school today, dears? Did you have a good day?" and the kids thought it was so funny. And they told me all about what they learned at school. We have fun pretending it's actual school. When we go to the pool, it's P.E. When we do art projects or science experiments, it's a "pull-out" (that's what they call art, music, P.E., or STEM activities at the school). On Friday we did "flex Friday" which at the school meant the kids got to choose a fun activity to do on Fridays if they got all their work done. 

It has continued to be summer-hot this week, which has made us all lethargic about spending much time outside. One day William wanted to go for a walk in the woods, so Jeremy and I took him out (Taiya stayed home with a walkie-talkie) while we tramped around the woods behind the house. We found mushrooms, mosses, vines, big interesting trees, and then, just before we got back, seed ticks. Deep Woods Off, it turns out, doesn't do diddly for seed ticks. Just another reason I am looking forward to fall and colder weather. 

Meanwhile, in Kenosha, Wisconsin, police shot Jacob Blake in the back seven times in front of his three children, and a white shooter at the protest that arose after this horrific tragedy left two people dead, and yet he was arrested without a single gunshot. The election in November cannot come soon enough. Will having a new president change how police behave? Maybe not right away. But we cannot continue down this road - it is far too rutted and potholed and heartbreaking. As someone more succinct than me said, all lives won't matter until Black Lives Matter. Vote, vote, vote.