Sarah Tyler

I swear I read Sunday’s email about what my third grader was going to need today, but apparently not super carefully. When I checked it this morning I noticed a bunch of things I did not see before, like 3-5 fresh leaves the size of my hand. So first thing this morning before my mug of tea I'm out in the back yard in my pjs hunting for leaves.

Filling out the school choice form today. We decided to remain remote rather than return in person. It's been hard, but an unexpected benefit has been watching the kids grow and become more independent and responsible.

On Monday, I realized I had forgotten about spell club. Nicole told me not to worry. She had been watching the clock while chatting with her friends online during her break period, so she could be sure she'd sign off with enough time to get ready for spell club. She was on time and prepared.
Yesterday, Alexis was watching one of her phonics assignment videos for class. The instruction video was using materials we didn't have, so I made a plan in my head to adapt the lesson to the materials we did have. Then I got distracted by email. When I looked up the video had ended, and Alexis had found her own way to practice the lesson.

Remote is certainly not usually this smooth. Many days I feel like a walking disaster and I've had persistent stress headaches since March. But when we way all the pros and cons, we think it's the best choice for our family.
Good luck to all the families making their choices. ❤️

Email I sent at the start of the week to Alexis' teacher: "I'm so sorry Alexis missed small group last week. I forgot to put it in my calendar and it slipped my mind. It won't happen again."

Email I just sent Alexis' teacher: "I have no excuse. It was in my calendar. I'm so sorry."

Remote learning feels like a parent test I am failing.

Remote learning kindergartener or budding YouTube influencer?
Alexis doing her "V, Not V" assignment: Hi everyone! Today I'm going to show you V and not V. Where is the V? Is it, "puppy"? "violin" or "elmo"? That's right! Violin starts with V. Hope you enjoyed my video. Bye for now!

Kindergarten teacher to parents: We want to foster independence, please don't hover.

They're doing a writing exercise. They're writing the names of objects onto stickies and then sticking them on something (e.g. Lamp, Desk, Book). Alexis accidently had her stickies upside down so she was writing on the sticky part and there was no sticky on the back. No worries, she used glue.

Independence ✔
Next time I'm going to hover.

11:39 - I log her on to zoom for her 11:40 science class and start Dana's nap routine.
11:54 - As I am leaving the nursery. I notice Domingo standing next to Nicole, they're still waiting to be let in to the zoom meeting. I run to get my phone and message the other moms to let the science teacher know Nicole is waiting.
11:57 - Other moms report back that Nicole is in, but her camera is off. Our screen still shows that she's waiting to be let in. I try restarting zoom.
11: 58 - Zoom tells me there's an error with my camera and it can't start the video without a computer restart.
My computer is ancient. It's casing is cracked, and one of it's screws is currently in a Dixie cup over the mantel because it keeps falling out. (Nicole's on my computer, because the one purchased for her back in March is having a microphone problem.)
I start the restart.
12:09 - First signs of life starting to emerge again from my computer. I can see the desktop, but I can't click on anything because it's still booting up.
12:13 - Computer booted up enough that I can interact with it. I open zoom, but I can't log on to zoom because it's complaining about the account being in a different domain and I need to choose whether to consolidate the accounts or create a new one. I'm frantically clicking on the "acknowledge" option so I can get Nicole back on.
12:15 (a full 36 minutes after class started) - Nicole is logged in, the science teacher admits her to class. I go downstairs feeling so incredibly frayed, only to have Nicole coming running after me that it's not working.
It turned out my computer had just then finished fully booting up and was prompting me to update skype, but the prompt had taken over the full screen.
12:30 - Science class is over, it's time to go back to her regular teacher. Zoom crashed in the process.

Overheard
Someone else’s child over zoom: Mom, I’m muted!

Glad to know we’re not the only ones this happens too. Solidarity anonymous other mom, solidarity.

“Remote learning is not hard enough. What we need is to lose the internet at 4 past the hour, every hour.”
- said no one, ever