Back to work

We are starting to get into a rhythm with this home school.

Up, a bit of online Professional Development, a bit of time on the treadmill,  then a staff meeting.

After that I work on putting assignments up for students and holding help sessions for those who need it. I have less than half my class participating, and only a few of those are actually doing all of the work.

Happy Easter

Well DS is officially out of self isoation.

His gf came up last night. She has a month left of work at her temp job in a law office and then she will be here for good.

DS cleaned the house ahead of her arrival.

The spent the morning shopping and cooking and were coming over here for Easter Dinner

Definitely a quiet one due to Covid. DS2 will stay up with his gf. We aren't sharing space with any other parts of our family, so just the four of us.

DS and gf made springrolls and a dip along with a salad. We did up a ham and the fixings and I made a cheesecake.

It was so good to have people in the house. Laughter. Noises. Watching DS play with his cats. Food cooking.

It was our first Easter celebration in this house. I gave a bit of reflection to mom and dad and all the celebrations we have had in this house. I couldn't think of it too much or it is just too darn hard.

I have to say DS is quite a cook. The springrolls were delicious. He used to be such a picky eater but all his travels with hockey around the world have opened up his palate more.

We watched a movie after supper and had a fire downstairs and then went home.

Our district traditionally does not have school from Good Friday and all of the next week, and the government of SK has decided this will continue forward. So a week off online learning for us.

Woot $ news

So as of today, I am mortgage free!

I am flashing back to an episode of MASH where Colonel Potter learns his wife has scrimped to pay off the mortgage. She then sends him the mortgage paper and he has a little ceremony to burn it.

Well it wasn't quite that dramatic.

We were down to $2000 ish on the mortgage. There was enough in the buffer they build for our 2020 property tax to pay this off with a little extra left over. The trick - I would have to save between now and June 30 to have the money to pay our property tax.

Compared to many of you our taxes are lower which is due to living in a small house in a small town in the middle of the prairie.

DH and I had done the calculations and we figured we could do it. Redirect the mortgage payments and use the bit of left over and voila!

I signed the necessary papers and they would have the documents mailed to me. Much less exciting than Colonel Potter but still.

I am now the owner of two houses with no mortgage. Just tons of work to be done and the bills that go to maintain it.

end of the first week

Well the good news is that DS1 is safely through his first week of self isolation.

I have spent the week making contact or attempting to make contact with families repeatedly.

I started work on google classroom. I have a lot of steep learning curves for all the nuances I actually need. videos. writing on pdfs.

I have made multiple mistakes and thank goodness the kids who are working are patient with me

I am so grateful for a weekend where I don't have to worry about school.

I have barely left the house. It's really weird to be home this much. I do a drive and stop each day to indulge my pokemon go addiction. I visit with DS1 through the screen door.

I have learned that I do not get more laundry done when I am at home, even though the machines are just steps away from my office.

First Day of Work - virtually exhausting

Well that was certainly a different day of work.

I tried to keep it normal. Up. shower. breakie. all that stuff.

The commute to work was rough. Traffic just about knocked me over on my way to the office.

(read, cats raced me down the stairs, between my feet)

I tried to set up the office to make it feel as real as possible. I have a whole house to work with but making the office work -central makes me feel more focused.

We started with a virtual staff meeting. They gave us a list of things to do for the week

• contact each family through email, phone or text and get a yes or no on whether the family wishes to continue with online learning. 
•  fill in the responses we get on a shared document
• for those who wish to, do they have wifi and devices to do this
• decide on our platform for work and class meetings.
• a full staff meeting each work day at 10
•  a grade level team meeting
• decide on how you will communicate regularly with parents.

The troubles became apparent

• missing contact info for parents. we have been trying to update this all year but some families sure do avoid filling it in. I have many bounce back emails. 
• I am not terribly comfortable using my own phone number for contact but there was no choice. Lots of calls and texts unanswered
• students in gr 7 really don't know how to log into their email online. or check it if they do know how to log in.
• my basement is really cold. socks and a small space heater helped
• my head was spinning with email alerts, text messages and calls and meeting reminders. too many coming from too many different sources.

I pulled out a coil notebook, put down the date and started keeping track of what I was doing. Why  a notebook? I am sure at some point the powers that be will want to know what we are doing each day. A notebook shows that step by step progression while an online document can be altered. We have been cautioned before about being able to prove documentation happened authentically and things weren't 'added later'. kind of like a numbered police officer's notepad

Things I learned

• I am glad I had my class set up on google classroom and we used it during the year. for those who hadn't it was a nightmare
•  sticky notes are my saviour. I have notes everywhere for passwords and reminders etc
•  I don't know how ppl sit at a computer all day. My ass was so sore. 
• my head was spinning from staring at  a screen all day
• parents (the ones who were actively wanting to learn anyways) are hungry for information. I have used a class facebook page for years that parents 'like' and follow. My post on there got more responses than my emails. I plan to write on it each day even if it is just to touch base.