We started online schooling this week. It’s not as bad as I worried it might be, but still I wish I could be with my friends.

He said

Another week in the books in a global pandemic and not much has changed. In fact it’s looking like we might even be headed for even more measures like the curfews that have been implemented in Quebec. Thankfully, my weekly tests continue to return negative results which is reassuring. This week, in line ahead of me (at the appropriate social distance of course) was someone getting tested because they were experiencing systems, and then behind that person was a divorced parent who had their kids over Christmas who have tested positive while with the other parent.

While that may sound scary to be in proximity of, the reality is every week I am getting tested amongst people with those sort of circumstances—I can’t assume that everyone is there with the same sort of precautionary, regular testing to see/support their parents in a retirement living facility. And they take the precautions at the testing facility very seriously. They limit proximity, time spent in any one space with proximity and I have to sanitize my hands no less than four times throughout the process. I definitely feel as safe as I can given the circumstances. And I have a string of nine consecutive negative results to show for it.

Emelia moved into online learning this week along with the lockdown and we were a little worried that she would find it frustrating and/or challenging. The good news is she has a really good teacher who works had to keep the kids engaged, and she and her besties, the twins have figured out ways to partner up and work together, albeit online. When I asked her how it was going, she said it was better than she expected and wasn’t feeling so isolated which is any parent’s concern in these trying times. They announced midweek that the online will continue on until the 25th of January which was expected. She is hopeful, but we’re doubtful that she could return to classroom to be with her friends on her birthday.

I am sure years from now we’ll all look back on this trying time and be happy that it is over, but for now, for all of us, it just keeps feeling like it’s coming and coming and never gonna end. We’re a little exhausted and challenged by it all. While we know eventually it will be solved, and life will return to some semblance of ‘normal’ we just keep thinking about all the big moments in Emelia’s (and everyone’s for that matter) life that have been taken away—the biggest of which will be her Grade 8 graduation. And we’re just really hopeful that we can make the dent that needs to happen to COVID-19 in the next couple of months especially. Here’s to hoping that the next few months bring the success we need to see with the vaccine!

She said

Covid fatigue is kicking in for sure! This week Emelia moved to online learning and we were all concerned how this was going to work. In the spring the tape and glue makeshift learning set up was an absolute disaster for many kids, Emelia really felt it. So much so that her therpist and learning support teacher pressed for her to be pulled from online learning. We were concerned how this was going to work—not only was she going to be online learning again but this time she was solo. I now work outside the house and John’s work schdule has him home some week days but not all. I reached out to her on Tuesday to see how she was holding up and she was surprisingly postitive. She loved being able to ‘see’ her teacher and classmates, she was able to work online with Anna and Grace on some of her work and this time they were following along with the school schedule as best they could. Emelia was as happy as you can be online learning by yourself in the middle of a pandemic.

As the week went along I could see the mental drain on Emelia from being online for full school all day but she handled this first week solo amazingly well. She has for the most part kept up with the pace of school and the increased load they have this term at school. Her teacher is prepping the kids as best as she can for high school with all the uncertainty. It’s a really strange way for her to be learning but she seems to be adjusting as well as she can.

Speaking of high school, we are still for the most part in the dark for the whole application process. The school is sending what information they have home with the kids and posting online some information but there is massive delays from the government, high schools and the kids are left not 100% sure what the next steps are. Emelia’s first choice is an out of zone school so over the break we set up as much as we could with her course choices with the anticipation of an application date sent out by the school. We are still waiting to hear if out of zone applications are going to be permitted this year. Emelia is much like me where she likes her ducks in a row and things planned out. So with the uncertainty she has prepped her courses for her out of zone application and the other two schools in zone. We have told her she will do well no matter where she lands. She has really grown over the last few months and is in a decent place to be as ready as you can.

By the end of the week we were ready for find a bit of down time and hang out together. We had no where we could go, we are of course listening to the restrictions so we can’t go see anyone. So we did the best to fill our weekend with positive things, Emelia and I went for a long walk by the river and through the forested area near our place, I love these walks, she and I always have the best talks on them. We also got in some family movie time. We are doing the best we can to make things a positive as we can and focus on our health and mental sanity.

Take care of each other, we will get through this!