Pandemic At School Week 39

Pandemic At School

 

Week 39

 

Day 265 – Sunday, December 6, 2020

 

I didn’t want to get out of bed this morning, but I did want to get grocery shopping done as early as possible.  I managed to leave the house around 7:15am.  Walmart was very calm, which I appreciated.  

 

I did more laundry, and dishes.  Hannah and I accomplished her “to do” list for IU.  They were basically auditing our FAFSA.  Filling out the information was no big deal, but they want real live signatures… so email you the completed form, you print it, sign it, scan it, and upload it.  At that rate, filling out a paper copy makes more sense.  

 

Trent barfed at least a dozen times, and he clearly isn’t doing well.  He often throws up three times in a day, but lately less than once a day.  He finally got comfortable enough to sleep on my lap for a bit, and later moved to his heating pad.  Poor guy, I’m not sure how much longer he’ll be around.   

 

I made the girls grilled cheese and tomato soup for lunch at Leah’s request.

 

Elijah has spent 99% of the day in his room.  He said he’s kind of looking forward to online school this week.  Tomorrow, he has a half day, and I’m happy that I don’t have to give up my lunch to run him home.  

 

Hannah and I watched a couple of episodes of The Mandalorian.  We are behind…

 

The day seemed really long, but I don’t mind that on the weekend.  

 

We have a Merry Grinchmas spirit week at school this week, so I have my holiday clothing ready to go!  I ordered a Grinch hoodie for Friday.  

 

Day 266 – Monday, December 7, 2020

 

Today was the start of our two weeks of Christmas/Grinch-mas spirit at school.  Today was wear a Christmas hat/headband/headwear, so I got a headband with a 6” pipe cleaner Christmas tree from Five Below over the weekend.  Normally, I don’t go for that sort of things, but the kids went crazy for it.  It was pretty funny.

 

The school day was pretty uneventful, but the kindergarten moving back to two classes was WONDERFUL!  

 

Leah had band practice after school, so I just waited in the middle school parking lot for 30 minutes.  

Hannah said a group of Reitz students had their own Christmas dance and, of course, one of them was sick with 102* fever.  

 

Elijah got back his PSAT scores, and I am very proud of my boy.  Next year is the year that counts, but I expect he’ll start getting college mail very soon.  

 

EVSC just announced that four regular days in the spring will be virtual days.  

 

The state of Indiana is requiring all schools to have proof of residence for all of their students.  I’m sure someone in the state government is afraid Indiana is paying for loads of out of state students to be educated.  

 

Day 267 – Tuesday, December 8, 2020

 

Today was Ugly Christmas Sweater day at school.  A few years ago, I found a 1980’s vintage sweatshirt with a snowman applique (wow, I didn’t spell that on my own!) at the thrift store.  It’s super comfy as well.  So, that’s my ugly Christmas “sweater”.  I am thinking about buying a Star Trek or Mandalorian sweater for next year.

 

I asked the custodian if there was any word on when my heater would get fixed.  It’s cold in my office.  He said that he’d check on it, but lots of maintenance people are out due to COVID…

 

The morning went well, and I only made the kid who hates working with me scream a little bit.  One of the other kids made up for it by screaming that everything was “TOO LOUD!!” all morning even when they were the only person making noise.  

 

My two virtual students both showed up, but both were late.  I was able to accommodate them, so I did.  That is not always possible.  There are times when my schedule is super tight.  

 

My afternoon seemed extra chill, and I’m not sure why.  I had time to do a little bit of laminating.  

 

When I got home, I played a little Animal Crossing.  Apparently, I hadn’t played in over a month!  What is this world coming to?

 

Elijah was supposed to give a presentation today, and he even dressed up even though he is quarantined.  Three out of the four kids in the group are quarantined, so the teacher said they could do it when they are back in school.  That’s probably good for them because it didn’t sound like they were actually ready.

 

Day 268 – Wednesday, December 9, 2020

 

I started the day by heading to Culver for a Speech Therapy Department meeting.  They gave me a Willowtree angel and a wooden “comfort cross” to remember my dad.

 

When I got to Daniel Wertz, I had a continuing education video from the school district to watch about epilepsy.  I actually learned several things that I didn’t know or that had changed since the last time I took a first aid course.

 

Apparently, I haphazardly packed my lunch because I was missing my Crystal Light (I brought the cup to drink it from) and I failed to pack a fork…. I thought I was paying attention.

 

My afternoon was full of WebEx IEP meetings which are ridiculously boring.  I did get some things laminated before the meetings started, and I got quite a bit cut out.

 

Leah had band practice after school, so I picked her up at 4.  I had bought a frozen lasagna that I thought would be a good fit for tonight.  I was shocked at how long it needed to bake.  I was expecting maybe 75 minutes, but no.  Two hours and eight minutes!!  I decided it would be worth the wait.  After 20 minutes of cooking, it’s was supposed to be recovered.  The rest of the cooking time was an hour and 48 minutes which was too long to put on my oven timer.  I cancelled what I believed to be the timer and put the timer on my phone.  At 6:30, I went to check on it…. and I had turned the oven OFF not the timer.  So, I had three starving kids (we’ve been eating in the early 5:00 hour) and no food.  I scrounged together some leftovers and rounded it off with mozzarella sticks and dino chicken nuggets.  The lasagna will thaw in the refrigerator and I’ll cook it tomorrow.  I bet it only takes an hour then!

 

Leah’s Wednesday night church activity was cancelled since all but one of the leaders are in quarantine.  Leah was left a make-your-own-gingerbread-house-kit on the front porch.  She put that together after dinner and had a good time.

 

Hannah’s boyfriend is in quarantine because his gym partner at school (why is that even a thing this year?!) tested positive.  

 

Elijah had a panic attack during chemistry as they were going over the last test.  He got a lot of the problems wrong and he was sure he had failed it.  Afterward, he talked to the teacher who said the test still needed to be curved, and Elijah had a good grade.  

 

During Leah’s first period gym class, the school mascot, a panther, walked in.  She said she was surprised to realize that she is still terrified of furries.  The last time we went to Disney, she was 7 or 8 and she did okay…. 

 

It was an interesting day all around.

 

Day 269 – Thursday, December 10, 2020

 

I can’t believe that I forgot to mention that my office HVAC got fixed yesterday.  It hasn’t worked since August so I had forgotten that it blows constantly.  I’m not sure why teachers can’t be trusted to have normal thermostats, but we have idiot proof ones that don’t allow for much adjusting.  I can adjust it up and down, but I can’t tell it how many degrees… just up or down.  It does reset itself overnight.  I would like the blower set on “auto”, but apparently the only setting is “on”.  Today, it was 65* in the afternoon, of course.

 

On Tuesday in the UK, the first Pfizer vaccines were given.  Canada approved that vaccine yesterday, and the US is expected to do the same in the next day or so.  Indiana expects to get their first allotment of vaccine next week, and Evansville is slated to receive 1,950 doses which will be given to frontline healthcare workers.  The Courier & Press headline was “The Beginning of the End of the Pandemic”.  I sure hope they are correct.

 

Our new kindergarten teacher started yesterday; her name is also Brooke.  It is so nice to see the small classes!

 

Leah had an 11:00 orthodontist appointment, so I left school at 10, picked her up, took her home to brush her teeth, drove 30 minutes to the ortho, waited in the parking lot for her for 30 minutes, grabbed lunch at Chick-fil-a, drove 30 minutes back, dropped her at school, and made it back just after 12:30.  She opted for purple elastic on her bands, and went from two skinny rubber bands, to one thick rubber band.  They are pulling some back teeth into place, so I’m guessing that one tooth was being stubborn?  

 

When I got back, I had one virtual student (who showed up!).  Then I spent the rest of the afternoon looking for new therapy materials… I was not successful.

 

When I got home, I popped the now thawed lasagna in the oven for an hour, and it came out perfect!  We only ate half of it, so I guess we’ll have another meal this weekend.

 

Leah missed part of her science class to day while at the orthodontist, so I got to help answer questions about the digestive system.  It’s a good thing I just finished a book on that topic.  

 

Day 270 – Friday, December 11, 2020

 

I got some very exciting news this morning.  Hannah was accepted into Hutton Honors College at IU.  She went ahead and “declared her intent to enroll” at IU.  She’s working on an essay for further scholarships, it can be about anything, but should be an argumentative essay with citations.  She’s writing about The Great Gatsbysince she’s super familiar with it.  

 

My school day started with an IEP meeting for a high school virtual student who has missed 36 days of school since October 5 when Virtual Academy started tracking attendance.  The phone call was ended abruptly by the parent.  So, that happened.

 

A few minutes before my 1:00 virtual therapy session, I decided to check that kid’s attendance… He was no longer in the system.  I sent an email asking if he’d been withdrawn from EVSC.  Yes, his parents are going to homeschool him.  Fine, but was anyone ever going to tell me??  

 

This afternoon I realized that Hannah might actually have a normal year at college next year, assuming people are able to get vaccinated by August.  

 

Colleges got Elijah’s PSAT scores this week, and his email is now FULL of colleges trying to get his attention.  He’s not thrilled with his full inbox.

 

Day 271 – Saturday, December 12, 2020

 

The morning was filled with grocery shopping and laundry.  

 

Hannah went to her friend, Grace’s, house to study for an AP Physics test.  She kept telling me that energy problems should be easy because there are only two equations to know.  I told her that energy problems were confusing, and she agreed.  When she got home, she told me they kept plugging the wrong numbers into the equations, doing the math, then checking their answers with the study guide, then realizing they’d used the wrong numbers…. Elijah is taking the same class, but they are a unit behind (even though they started school two weeks earlier).  It would be better for everyone, if his class was at least at the same point since he tends to grasp it a little faster.  Elijah would really like to take the next AP Physics class next year, but the school needs a certain number of interested students… and Elijah may be the only one.  However, I’m super proud of Hannah for taking the class.  She really enjoyed her regular physics class last year and the teacher.  No college major that Hannah would ever consider would require a physics class, but she was interested in the content.  She just loves to learn.

 

Leah’s friends had a Secret Santa gift exchange which ended up not being very secret, lol.  They met outside, masked, to exchange presents.  These four girls are so quirky and fun.  I’m so glad that this is middle school for Leah instead of some of the typical nonsense that goes on.  

 

Hannah had ripped a contact last week, but decided to just wear glasses until she would normally have replaced the lens.  Today was that day… and she realized that she didn’t have anymore.  I called to order some, but she’s due for an eye appointment.  I was able to schedule one for her Monday after school.  

 

I pressure cooked enough chicken for three of our dinners this week.  I don’t usually do that, but it will cut down on both prep time and clean up time.  I’m all for that!  Tonight we had chicken club quesadillas inspired by Moe’s Southwest Grill.  

 

I finished up the book Spook, Science Tackles the Afterlife by Mary Roach.  I’m not sure that was the best book to read right now, but none of it was upsetting to me until the end.  She covers near death experiences which I find fascinating… and so did my dad.  That’s what got me.  

 

On a happier note, the FDA officially approved the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine for the US on Friday night.  Vaccine started shipping today, so it can arrive at hospitals specially chosen by their states on Monday.  This first vaccine is described as “finicky” and needs super cold storage.  Deaconess in Evansville got the required freezers and are slated to receive 1,950 doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine on Monday.  This looks to be the beginning of the end of the pandemic.