Today was actually a pretty good day, if you don’t count the seven-hour school day that consumed the middle of it. I had a nice walk by myself this morning. The kids have been kind enough to let me out of lockdown for one hour every morning to take a walk with Fitzy, our pug. I think they realize that I will become more unhinged than I already do, during our “school day,” if they don’t give me an hour hall pass. Anyway, the school day was insanely stressful, with multiple zoom meetings; calls on the phone from various school counselors; emails pouring in by the truckload from teachers and other school staff; and school work coming out of our ears. One of the highlights of the day was when I witnessed one of our beloved teachers getting just a bit irritable with a student who wasn’t listening, during the zoom meeting. I felt completely vindicated at that moment. If this consummate professional, who actually chose this profession of teaching, unlike me, gets annoyed during a half hour zoom meeting, than I am completely off the hook! Fabulous! Another highlight was my executive decision to start knitting during the school day to calm my nerves, since drinking pot- after-pot of camomile tea hasn’t been helping (trust me, if I had the slightest propensity toward alcoholism, I would be getting that bottle and glass out at 9:00 AM sharp!). I realize that knitting during class is a highly unorthodox practice for a teacher, but given my extreme dislike for this new job which has been hoisted upon me, not to mention my overwhelming desire to be fired, I figured knitting on the job might serve multiple purposes. I tried to pick something simple (a scarf for Garin) so that it would be fairly mindless, rather than having to follow a complex pattern, for say, a sweater. It seems to have worked or at least partially. Unfortunately, I didn’t get fired (yet), however, I made a lot of progress on the scarf and I think the kids leaned a little in class as well. Job well done, "Miss Jana" (my teacher psdonym). After the school day concluded, we headed down to the Hidden Hills Farmer’s Market to look around and remind ourselves that there are actually still other people inhabiting this planet besides us. We couldn’t talk to them or even get close to them, but just seeing them did remind us that there is still civilization out there. From there we went on our nightly walk, visited lots of horses and then headed home for a yummy dinner, made by Chef Mommy, who, in case you forgot, is the same person running the school cafeteria at lunchtime. She just gets a fancier title at dinner. See below for photos of our day and more details….
Miles putting the finishing touches on his bed, which he made himself, after picking out his own clothes and getting dressed, all without even being asked! Impressive for a little guy who just turned 5, a month ago!
Graham doing PE in the house! Wait, I thought that was an outdoor subject? I must have been knitting….
More PE in the house. Just great! Another downfall of knitting on the job.
Minnie Horses
A big horse
Dinner: Healthy Mexican Casserole and Steamed Organic Broccoli from the Farmer’s Market.
Graham arranging some alphabet learning cards for an upcoming lesson with Miles.
When he’s not delivering bedtime snacks to Mommy, I. M. Pei is building masterpiece structures in his room.