Our New Normal & Remote Learning
What is your new normal? Is it waking up and forgetting what day it is? Is it taking zoom calls while in your pajamas? How was your remote learning experience?
Schools out for summer!
Our last four months were very interesting, waking up as if we were heading to school but not leaving our home. Remote learning was surprisingly an easy transition for the girls, they had live lessons with their teachers on google classroom and work to do throughout the “school-day”. At the beginning of our quarantine, I was moving “learning stations” around the house trying to figure out what would be better for them. Having the girls in separate stations worked better because they would end up talking to each other instead of paying attention. MJ’s school had activities assigned by his teacher weekly and teletherapy with his Occupational Therapy, Physical Therapy, and Speech. Teletherapy was at times difficult because MJ isn't much of a fan of facetime or looking at the camera.
We were hearing so many different ways schools were implementing remote learning. Our school seemed to be more prepared then most schools we were hearing about. Our school scheduled two days to pick up a laptop if needed and textbooks. Each classroom had the student’s books and extra supplies in large ziplock bags to help with remote learning. We heard from parents that some schools were not doing live lessons, some schools were just assigning work and some parents were having difficulty in getting their little ones to sit still with little help from teachers. I am glad our transition went smoothly as possible with the occasional ups and downs but for the most part not so bad.
Explaining what the coronavirus was to the kids initially was difficult, my oldest said it was a serious flu and my little one kept thinking it was a bad cold. There were so many videos that actually helped us better explain what COVID-19 was. Sesame Street came out with several videos to help children better understand what this illness was and how they could keep safe. Also why we were staying home for so long. This helped out a lot.
Our food budget doubled! We’re all home and constantly eating, we all gained weight and diets went out the window along with working out. A lot of my work got pushed to the back burner which explains this long-awaited post. Our food shopping is mostly done online with very minimal trips to the pharmacy and market. We ended up getting the yearly membership for Shipt along with using Instacart and PrimeNow for our whole foods orders.
Even with the city opening back up, we’re still a little nervous and cautious about the upcoming school year. We have been going back and forth about whether or not to do homeschooling for the upcoming school. The survey options that were given seemed like much more of an impact on children then the remote learning. I understand that while going back to work is in effect the need for child care and school is needed, my hope is that we can do this in a safe way.
Our new normal like most is wearing a mask when outdoors, keeping socially distant, and keeping safe. Hopefully, soon I can go have a summer drink with my friends :)
