In the beginning...

Dearest Friend,
Today I suddenly became a homeschooling mom, like you. God help us all. I never asked for this job. I never wanted this job. In fact, I protested at any mention of it in my 14-year marriage. "I think you should homeschool our kids." "No." , "At some point I think we should homeschool our kids." No."

And now, here we are....

Day Zero:

I sat in bed and planned. I learned google classroom.  I found resources. I said "I can do this! The teachers won't have enough school work for them, so I will supplement it! My kids will stay up! We can do this!" and then I shut my computer and went to sleep.

Day 1.o - It was supposed to be a school holiday anyway right?  Yeah, that's how it was. Expectation setting in passing "hey remember we are going to start school at home tomorrow, its not going to be like regular school. We are going to have a schedule" "ok, i'm going to ride my bike." And that was that.

Day 2.0 - So we got a little more done. We at least figured out the log-ins...that was painful. Our teachers did their best, so we can do our best. I played IT help desk to one of our teachers. I DID IT! We got one assignment done and kind of turned in.

Day 3.0 - Alright, it's clear. we need a schedule. Oh yeah, didn't I say that on day zero...shoot. Damn work got in the way. How am I supposed to balance work and school? CRAP. Ok we got a few things done, but tomorrow is going to be better. I think we balanced school work and play pretty well, right? And my real work got done, with conference calls and only a few interruptions. So it's getting better. Except for that eye-rolling from the eldest. I sent him to the principal's office, who tore him a new one and reminded him that this is NOT GOING TO BE LIKE REGULAR SCHOOL, WHATERVER YOU DID THERE IT'S GOING TO LOOK DIFFERENT HERE, WE TALKED ABOUT THIS! (well in passing we did. Crap I should have set them down like I planned to and set the expectations #parentfail504). Ok so tomorrow is a new day. At virtual happy hour we all talked about taking it one day at a time, so help remind me of that.

Day 4.0- I made it out sweatpants for the first time in three days...and into yoga pants, they look more professional after all. I even put mascara on. I feel like a living person! It's going to be a good day! I even got my morning bible reading in (though I am 7 days behind -ugh. Just catch me up Youversion, I'm sure ill have time for you this morning).
The kids woke up: NOT a good start to the day.  Friend, what on God's green earth happened to my children overnight. They literally woke up fighting, and one in tears and the waterworks with that one never stopped. I implemented the Headspace cool downtime. Nope. I implemented the Go Noodle Flow - 2 sessions. That seemed to have worked...for a bit. Then it was back at it. They had to be separated the whole gosh darn day. Tears, everywhere, you would think we hit Waterworks on the Monopoly board.
The upside? We successfully got the eldest on a zoom call. And I think they both got some work done and maybe turned in. Damn these teachers are on it. I have about 12 emails from them about new things, and updates, and that damn google classroom, I can't keep up.  Oh and I had about 6 conference calls today, two interrupted, good thing I am quick on mute (or ever on it). But I got work done, and that's the good news. I even read some old emails that I have been hoarding in my inbox for a few weeks.
Beyond the tears and the frustration, I think we are starting to get somewhere.

So tell me how has it been for you?

PS See you at the now standing 7 pm Virtual Happy Hour that we are all desperate for, even though we don't ever see each other this often when life is "normal"...

PPS...Send help in the form a place where I can send my children all day and they teach them all these things i'm failing at teaching them.

PPPS: I'm collecting a fund for our regularly scheduled teachers to say how much we appreciate them. Feel free to contribute. Also accepting alcohol on behalf of them.