100th Day of School

 I genuinely do not know how we've done this 100 times.  

99 school days ago I was in a state of panic and yelling like a crazy person all throughout the house. 

98 school days ago a fellow virtual learning mom gave me advice that helped me chill out and take this adventure for what it is- the kids are capable and responsible for their learning, they still have teachers to guide them, and they will figure this out.  

And they did!  At the beginning of the year I felt like I might never leave my house again for fear that someone would not be able to log onto a meeting or couldn't figure out what they were supposed to be doing at any given moment during the school day, and while we certainly have had a forgotten class here and an Internet interruption there, overall these kids have virtual learning down!  I can even leave the house during the day for groceries or whatever might take me into town (it helps that Jason is always here too, although he's generally less available than I am).  

Everyone spreads out every morning- Noah at the kitchen table, Adam in the toy room, Emma at the desk upstairs and Leah in the front room- and they all come back together every break and lunch hour to swap stories about interesting facts they've learned or silly antics from classmates or frustrations over being forgotten by their teacher again (this only happens to Leah, who is just virtually joining the in-person classrooms every day.  Everyone else has a dedicated virtual teacher who only has online students). They get their work done, usually (but not always) without any guidance or assistance on my part.  And the bonus is that I get to see the work their doing, their presentations and projects and check their progress throughout the day.  Temporarily gone are the days when I would pick the kids up from school and they would be too tired to recap much of anything that happened over the course of the seven hours that we were apart- now I get the live report!  And for the most part, they are deeply engaged in school all day long. 

And with plenty of breaks and no "commute", everyone is overall well rested, happy, and learning the year away!

Oops! Forgot to take the 100 Day breakfast picture in time. 

The house is quiet in the morning and then erupts in chatter and energy at lunchtime.  Today Leah and Noah made lunch, and Noah called out to Emma and Adam, "Lunchtime!  Lunch is ready! Ding-a-ling-a-ling! Lunchtime! Macaroni is in the cafeteria! Hot and fresh!" 

It makes me sad that the kids have such limited opportunities to connect with classmates, and it makes me nervous that they have never set foot in the school that they should be attending in the fall, but it makes me happy that overall, they are having a fantastic year.  We've grown together and figured out how to work together and this is certainly a year that we will never forget!