One more week of home school this year

It’s Friday and time to celebrate another week of survival. Survival of COVID, survival of distance learning. Three people in my FB feed posted about losing parents or grandparents today to the virus. There will be a lot more of this in the coming months. It’s like Jonestown in slow motion. 

I burst into tears in the car. It’s all too much. 

Now, Chinese takeout and a family soak in the hot tub, because why not. Grateful for every thing and every one we have, right now. 

We are down to one week left of school in 2020. On their last day of school in March - March 13th, Theo’s birthday - I turned to the boys in the car as I dropped them off and said, “ok boys, this may be your last day of school for a really long time - be sure to be nice to your teachers today, ok?” Even then I never would have imagined we would close out the entire year STILL not in school. And with no plans to go back. My kids will likely never see a school room for their 1st and 3rd grade years. Possibly even the start of their 2nd and 4th grade years. It’s nuts. 

They are a bit antsy but doing ok on this penultimate week. I am dreading the three week break - but then I have to remind myself, it won’t be that much different from the summer, only that with the complete shut down I won’t be able too see any friends, there will be no pool days, and I won’t be working on an event. But at least I won’t be dragging kids through schoolwork. I’m worried about my own boredom, but maybe now’s the time to start some projects, like taxes, foreign languages, books, etc. 

Hanging in the balance is our Joshua Tree trip next Saturday. The contact person for the hippie compound we’re staying on has not canceled us, and a quick check of their other structures confirms that we will be completely alone there. We’ll only be visiting the national park, which should be ideal for social distancing. I know that we will be safe there as we’ll have virtually no contact with people the whole four days. However, we would be defying our state mandate to not leave home. I’m a rule follower and it bothers me to consider this. But. I’m going to give myself a few more days to contemplate. I’m loath to give up the one thing I have to look forward to other than a vaccine in six months’ time. 

Our school offered a “gifted child” zoom a few nights ago; I attended hoping it would shed some light on testing vis a vis middle schools; it ended up not being that at all, but was still really interesting. It ended up being a “how do I deal with my high energy, unfocused child” support group of sorts. I had always assumed “gifted” meant extra smart and excellent grades - it actually sounds more to me like children on the spectrum (mild) with some ADHD tendencies and sensory issues, some of which Bobby exhibits, some which he doesn’t. I’m pretty confident that if tested he would qualify as gifted, which would inform his entire school career going forward. It’s pretty fascinating to think of how much is done to support kids with different brain function these days, and how much people in my generation were left to fend for ourselves with our OCD/sensory/ADD issues. We truly are the lost generation - kids in school in the 70s and 80s. Kids can’t be depressed! That obsessive behavior is just a bad habit, just knock it off! If you’re failing school you get kicked out of the house (the BF). But our music kicked today’s music’s ass so that’s something...?

My hope is Bobby can finally take the 2nd grade OLSAT which he missed by a few days in March when school does return so we can see if he’s considered “gifted” or not. I’m genuinely curious.