One day at a time

Day 9: Hitting the (virtual) books

Today was like a second first day of school.

Emails from the teachers poured in from 9 to 10:30 a.m. for each of my four students as CTR Catholic launched its distance learning platform, and they were legitimately excited to be doing “real school work.” For them, it felt a little more like the lives they knew two weeks ago, with assignments from their science, social studies, English language arts and math teachers.

They happily spent their School/Learning Activity time today with assignments from school, instead of finding books to read or videos to watch on their own.

Of course the obvious and most palatable difference was not being surrounded by classmates – of their own age group, that is.

It was a beautiful thing though, to see Alyssa working on Romeo and Juliet for English 10 right next to Hannah, who was using a tablet to listen to a story read by her kindergarten teacher and watch videos recommended by Mrs. Edwards.

Christian finished his entire week’s worth of math sitting on the living room couch – “This is more comfortable than what I’m used to.” I’ll have to convince him somehow to pace himself, but that boy devours numbers and problems faster than the fresh cookies he made yesterday.

Brooke settled in for a day with her English 30 work, which she’s missed. It’s one of her favourite subjects and she has always enjoyed the class. Right now they’re doing critical thinking and essay-writing exercise with Forrest Gump, which is also one of her favourite movies, and she spent nearly all day in the loft plugging away (with episodes of The Office running in the background – whether for inspiration or distraction, I’m not certain).

I asked at lunch how it felt to be doing assignments from their teachers, and the answer was unanimous: “So much better.”

There’s some relief in finding familiarity in expectations and in knowing they’re able to connect with their teachers again after more than a week of floating aimlessly through each day, wondering what this distance learning thing would look like.

I think they’ll be okay. I know they will – but more importantly, I think they all feel the same way now.

It’s added a new dimension to my work-from-home routine, because Hannah needs a little more guidance and attention now that she’s completing worksheets or watching videos sent from St. Mary’s. I’ve set her up with a tablet that has my email to access lesson plans and the Bloomz app her teacher likes to use, and she works by my side so it’s easy for me to pause and lend a hand or direction when needed.

It means my own work takes a little longer, but that’s okay. Seeing the smile on her face as she watched her teacher’s storytelling online and sang a song along with a video today told me just how much she’s missing school.

The same goes for the other kids.

On Saturday, Alyssa admitted how much she longed for the routine of regular classes and schedules: “I know I always say I don’t want to go to school, but now that I can’t I realize how much I actually like it.”

Today, she told me she was enjoying this time because she's working out religiously every day, focusing better on the schoolwork she does and teaching herself new skills like how to play piano. It's an interesting period of growth and I'm proud of my 15-year-old for embracing it as the opportunity it can be.

Distance learning isn’t what we signed up for, but I am so grateful for the option. And grateful I am able to be home, working alongside my children, my young students, as they adjust to their home classroom just as I made the transition into home office a week ago.

This is a time of learning not only about the alphabet, algebra, chemistry or To Kill a Mockingbird. It’s a time for learning just how resilient we can be, how adaptable and malleable we become when thrust into the fire.

We are being forged, and we will be stronger once the flames die down.

Krista Conrad, OkotoksToday.ca

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