Working and learning at home, Day Five

I am creating an online journal during the Coronavirus social distancing so I can look back and remember how my thoughts and actions might change during this time. This is Day Five.

Wednesday, March 18

Since I was gone yesterday and the kids didn’t have school on Monday, today feels like the first day that all six of us are all home all day, either doing school or working.

I wasn’t sure how we would even figure this out logistically since we all need our own space with a computer to do our work. Over the weekend, I asked all of the kids to do a deep clean in their rooms so everyone would have a neat work space. My husband set up his office in a bedroom that we have used as a play room.

This all takes me back to our homeschooling days when my husband worked at home, and all six of us were together everyday. Thankfully, our kids are all old enough now to keep themselves on track, which is good because I don’t really have time to try to “teach” them anything. Our fourth grader has been excited that she finally gets to homeschool, since was only a baby during this era of our lives.

Our biggest challenge is that the two high school students have heard information that teachers won’t be grading the work they do during e-learning. So, not only are we trying to convince them they need to stay away from friends all day, but we also are arguing about why it’s still important to do school work that might never be graded. All of this really tests a person’s motivation to do something, even if it potentially has no impact on one’s life!

I don’t have a ton of time to even work through these issues because I spend most of my day on Zoom calls. I set up my own Zoom room, and it’s kind of fun to log in and see the bright smiling faces of my co-workers when they join me for meetings. I thought I might be bored working from home, but I actually feel like I have more work than usual. I’ve been able to start work earlier since I don’t have to get our youngest off to school first. Somehow, I’ve also been finishing later than usual.

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On a funny note, we’ve been taking advantage of the early release of Frozen 2 on DisneyPlus. We watched it the first day it was available, and then the second, and then the third. We’ve decided we might just watch it every single day. It’s already become a joke around our house to ask, “Is it time to watch Frozen 2 yet?!” Samantha!?

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