Homeschooling Week 3 - The Journey Continues
Another reflection on settling into homeschooling routines, virtual meetings and hang outs, and the emergence of spring by our director, Deb Bump.
As we complete week three of our homeschooling experience, I am happy to say that we have gotten into somewhat of an established routine. No, we aren’t doing work all day, and there are the occasional tv shows here and there, but we have adjusted pretty well to our new learning situation. Our school day does consist of as much outdoor recess time as possible, so we are very happy to welcome spring and the warmer weather.
I feel lucky our kids are young enough that they don’t really understand the gravity of the situation around us. They just know we can’t go out now because people are sick, and we pretty much leave it at that. This time is actually leaving them with some great memories, such as the car parade the teachers in their school district did this morning. It was an amazing event with so many teachers participating; the kids loved seeing them, and it just showed what a caring community we live in.
Our time at home has definitely brought some new aspects into my life, such as the Zoom meeting. Prior to this week, I had never participated in a Zoom meeting - this week, I have Zoomed (is that how you would describe it?) with my co-workers, my PTSA group, family and friends. Recently, on a Zoom chat with my college friends in Virginia, we wondered why we hadn't done this before? If anything, this time of social distancing is teaching us to appreciate the people we have in our lives and the resources we have to communicate. The irony of the situation is that for me, it seems that being apart is strengthening the bonds we have with our family and friends; after all, we are all in the same situation, with nothing but time to reach out, when before, our hectic and busy schedules prevented such communication.
The words of a Jimmy Buffett song have been going through my head quite a bit during this time: “Breathe In, Breathe Out, Move On”. It was originally written after Hurricane Katrina and some of the lyrics feel pretty relevant right now. Here is a video of the song; it’s one of my favorites, and hopefully can bring you a few moments of peace in an otherwise chaotic time.