Virtual Schooling - Two weeks in

Virtual school has been a lot more work than I thought it'd be.

For me, at least. 

Shane thinks it's easy by comparison. He's gotten more Super Nintendo and electronics by being quiet when I'm working my tail off!

Indeed, one of the challenges for Shane is making sure he remembers to log in to his class. His main Zoom starts at noon. Unfortunately, I have a class session from 11:15 AM to 12:45 PM, so I'm in the thick of it when he needs a reminder.

There was an oops or two, but I started setting the oven timer to remind him (and me) when his class starts.

I'm better at getting him on the 30 minute small sessions he has one or two of each morning....usually. There are times I'm knee deep in my own preparations and I look at the clock and he's already a few minutes late and oblivious!

Somehow, Carrie was out of the house during this time window 3 out of 4 days (There was the farrier who came one day, errands another...)

I have meetings from 11:15 AM -4:30 PM with only a few minutes offline to use the bathroom, so I really haven't seen much of anything Shane's doing in class. I set up my email to be able to see his progress, but to be honest I haven't checked.

Our internet situation has improved, though. Instead of Shane and I fighting for and draining all our bandwidth, Carrie signed up for internet through the Caylx Institute. We had to pay for a year contract up front, but so far it's working.

We tried a bunch of different options when we moved in. We found out Sprint was the best option. They offered a 60 GB/mo hotspot or a 100 GB/mo hotspot if you used a phone for a similar price. 

Caylx was around $600 for the whole year and claims to be unlimited GB/mo. They go off the Sprint network, so I'm not sure how they can say or do that.

But it's working. For now. 

It didn't stop the cat from turning off my computer one day. Aria stepped right on the power button mid-class! 

The kids were highly amused.

She's been seeking all sorts of attention and doesn't seem to take the hint no matter how many times I push her onto the floor.

She helped me one time to many and I moved my laptop to the bedroom Thursday and Friday.

It'd be more frustrating if it wasn't funny. I think it's good for the kids to see me having those kind of problems.

Loki's been acting neglected, so I tried to let him in the bedroom while I worked.

He laid down for a hot minute before he started rolling around and wanted to play! I had to kick him out, too.

Whenever I get a lunch break, I take him outside to run for a couple of minutes to make up for ignoring him all day. Then it's right back to the grind.

I had 7 zoom meetings on Friday.

9-9:30 AM - Parent meeting on Zoom

9:35-50 AM - Planning phone call with coworker

9:50-10:15 AM - Shovel poop at the barn before office hours.

10:15 AM - 12:30 PM - Office hours on Zoom

1:00 PM - 1:30 PM - Sophomore Seminar on Zoom

2:00 PM - 3:00 PM - Staff meeting on Zoom

3:45 PM - 4:30 PM - Geometry meeting on Zoom

Emails and stretching my legs filled the gaps.

I got a request from Carrie during the staff meeting: Run outside and meet the bus! I was amazed the Caylx router's signal reached that far.

It was a bit windy, so I relocated to the rocks and waited for Shane's school bus.

There was a scheduled supply drop off. Carrie had taken Shane on an errand and was running late. She got a 5-minute warning on her phone and it was fairly accurate.

I ran out to the bus, grabbed the supplies, and never technically left the staff meeting.

There were some directives from above I would have preferred not to know about, so maybe it was a mixed blessing.

So far it's gone fairly well. Yes, everything takes longer. EVERYTHING. I'm working my tail off, but it feels like it could work.

I meant to do my grading over the weekend, but I needed time to recharge. I'll have to scramble Monday, but the break was needed!