I Never Really Did Like Roller Coasters…

We are in the midst of an unheard of time in the history of public schools…you know, because of the ‘rona. And, as a result, I am now a full time first and fourth grade teacher. It’s like a one room schoolhouse up in here. My once beautifully appointed adult work space is now covered in process charts, word walls, post it notes, and folders because we are DOING THIS. We are officially in week 3 of staying home and week 2 of distance learning, so I decided to stay sane I would bleach my desk, engage in obsessive hand washing, blow the dust off my keyboard and start blogging again.

I thought that today, I would write to catch you up on how it is going so far at Chez Mimi. My once tiny people are now 6 and 9 (Remember when Mini Mimi was born here ? And then remember how abruptly I stopped blogging? I smell a connection there…). They are some of my favorite people in the world despite the fact that occasionally I think to myself, “Would you just STFU and get in the car so we can go?”

When the announcement that schools were closing indefinitely in our town, they were pretty pumped. The idea of Mommy School was thrilling as is the possibility of staying in their pajamas all day because I have taught them all the important things. Over the last few weeks, they have occasionally complained about not seeing their friends but mostly? They are cool with this and have adjusted in only the way small people can adjust. Yes, we have our moments when spending every waking second together makes them want to claw each other’s eyes out, but Zoom calls, Seesaw and Google Classroom became the new normal with no real problem. Do they always want to do the work they are assigned? No, but what else is new?

Me? How am I doing you ask? Well, that is an entirely different story. Pour yourself a quarantini (I had to) and I will fill you in.

Here is the routine I have seem to fallen into:

Monday: drink coffee, snuggle with kids, rejoice in the power of one-on-one instruction, marvel at their progress, pat myself on the back, do some laundry, make a beautiful dinner, put the kids to bed in a timely manner, drink wine, read a book

Tuesday: drink coffee, lock myself in office to get some alone time, drag kids through learning assignments while wondering what is so f*$#ing hard about writing a sentence, feel panic about looming possibility that school we be closed for the year, cry in the bathroom, drink wine, order pizza, put the kids to bed later than I should have, tear our schedule to shreds, give up

Wednesday: drink coffee, play a family game, crush all learning activities, make lunch, start to panic about Peapod delivery, furiously add items to online shopping cart, text friends to see if anyone has coffee to spare, zoom with girlfriend, b&tch about how no one is helping with household tasks, spiral into wine drinking, make dinner out of old canned goods and things found at the back of the freezer, bed

Thursday: drink coffee, make time for some exercise, shower (please note that this is the first time during the week in which showering is mentioned…send help), enjoy teaching my kids, feel good about their progress, drink some more coffee, finish the laundry and congratulate self, go for a walk with the dog, order dinner and feel as if you are saving small business, watch Tiger King (I can’t look away), bed

Friday: drink coffee, secretly love doing Go Noodle alongside kids (The hotdog? Love her.), do most learning activities and then decide enough is enough, go outside with kids and play, read a book together, make popcorn and watch a movie as a family, dinner and bed (giving up on everyone now sleeping in our bed including the dog).

This experience has been an emotional roller coaster and I am not really a fan of roller coasters. But we are. This is happening.

Stay well and wash your hands.

xoxo,

Mimi

(Want more? Read about past emotional roller coasters here, here, here and here. I know. I have a flair for the dramatic.)

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5 Comments
  • Cricket
    Reply

    I want to quarantine with you beautiful people! Love the weekly journey.

    April 3, 2020 at 4:03 pm
  • Emily
    Reply

    I am SO glad you are “back.” I needed to read this tonight. My husband asked why I was having so much trouble with our kids schedule because “this is your regular job…isn’t teaching the kids the same thing?” He will never be asking that question again. And he is currently upstairs folding his laundry because he knows he said the WRONG thing.

    April 3, 2020 at 11:54 pm
  • Bruce Angelo
    Reply

    Don’t worry, the election is almost here and a vaccine will appear right beforehand.

    September 12, 2020 at 11:58 am

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