This week marked our third week since schools closed. On March 4, a parent volunteer was confirmed with a case of COVID-19; I picked Benji up about 10:00 am, and our school district hasn’t opened since. Meanwhile, other school districts have closed, and in my heart I’m preparing to not go back to school at all this year.

Even so, learning goes on. One week the school district did the “Classroom in the Cloud,” but to be honest, that didn’t work very well and put huge demands on us. This week they quit that, and we did our own curriculum. We’re trying to do math, reading, and writing every day: Math online through a platform called i-Ready; reading to himself, not a problem; and writing, it varies.

Later in the week this week, my Mom started doing basically online classes with Benji. She’s doing a combination of art, reading, and writing with some slightly lengthier picture books; music, with helping Benji write music for his kiddie xylophone; and writing with teaching Benji to write scripts for his stuffed animals to act out plays.

Here’s what some of that looks like.

All this makes things look idealized. Don’t get the wrong impression. We spend a lot of time whining, arguing, asking to play on my Surface and arguing when I say no, asking for attention, and hearing, “I have to work.” It’s not all happy art projects and smooth sailing. Ian and I would really, really, really like an entire day where we don’t have to decide what to do with Benji while trying to also get our own work done.

But, again: Through all the frustration and difficulty and getting nothing done, I remain thankful for so much. We have jobs. We continue to get paid. We have food and shelter. We remain healthy. Whenever I start feeling overwhelmed with the present or the prospect of the future, I remember all those things.