So... what happened to this year?
Beginning of the year, I started this blog and put a ton of articles up after my highschooler switched from Online Public school to our local district in January. I have 3 kids and 2 of them are school age.
Then March happened. Can I just say it? This pandemic has had some soul sucking qualities. I feel gyped out of digital progress this year!! My 9th grader studying Algebra and my first grader (who read along with the first Harry potter book after kindergarten) both got sent home from school to do their studies at home. So here I am, full time sewing with mom in our alterations shop, juggling which kid gets the homework help between sewing, With an almost 4 year old running around begging for attention.
Then: "Don't make masks." "Everyone stay home." "Wait, some people are essential, so they should keep working." "Wait, make masks cuz we can't buy them." "Cancel all the events, stay home for 2 weeks to flatten the curve, but then life will resume." "Ha, that's a joke, this ain't going away." "Well, maybe we could lift the restrictions some..." "Ok, everyone be mindful and resume activities, but social distance and stay home as much as possible, but if you social distance, you should be fine to have weddings."
Then, in Minnesota, they decided in JULY that we needed a mask mandate.
July.
Not March.
Not April.
Not May.
Not June.
July.
Come August, there was NO PLAN YET for the school. Our district held a town hall zoom meeting to try to reassure the parents. WHAT A JOKE! I have a kid with an Asthma action plan! She's an age that they wanted to send her to school and they expected the teachers to do an impossible job of implementing several separate plans at once. No thanks.
So we took a long look at our options. Mom and I had been operating at a level of overwhelm that can cause a psychotic break. The burnout was real, folks! We knew the option of an actual online school from having used it before the pandemic. But I can't sew full time (because people got married anyway - they just moved it out to farms), child care the 4 year old, assist the 2nd grader to suddenly do a bunch of computer work, and help the High Schooler move into geometry and 10th grade pursuits.
So I had to hire help. I have a friend that's a rockstar and acting as the second me so we can split the to do list in half. This was a temporary solution to pandemic stress. We're really hopeful for next school year and hoping that we can resume some sense of "Normal."
So, Here's to being hopeful for what the New Year will bring.
