Almost every country in the world is in some sort of a lockdown, all businesses and education centers shut down and life goes on within the walls of your own home. Something like out of a science fiction movie ..... a virus attack that is causing havoc and death. I used to love reading Robin Cook books which had a lot of books around this theme. This one isn't a fictional virus but is real and subtle, increasing death rates faster than we would want to know of. It goes by the name Covid-19 or the Coronavirus.
Living in the Netherlands, the country was a little slow in realizing the impact than some others. But surely, they caught on and schools closed on March 16. All the restaurants, cafes, sports clubs were closed too. For a country that doesn't legally allow homeschooling, this tiny country began it's very own the first school supported home school.
Benjamin attends lessons on their Microsoft teams and continues with homework. Elijah picked up all his books from school and has work set out by the teacher for the next few weeks. And watches lessons, does dictation, checks answers on What's App. David has also received a packet by post from school along with craft activities, links to specific concepts on school tv and other activities. As exciting as it was, it was stressful too. At least the first week. It was chaotic and tense at least until 14:00, after which they were done with "school", lunch and settled into screen time or a movie. By which I was knackered and didn't have any more grey matter left for my own work at the school, my speech therapy, and my masteral dissertation. But I learned a few things.
- Wake up earlier than the kids and get some work in.
- Accept the fact that you might not be able to do things the way you used to and settle for that.
- Things will settle.
- Use "Stress Away"(Young Living essential oil)
We are into the second week now and things have settled. Kids are managing on their own and just need an "All okay?" call once in a while. I am still not putting in much work but I am getting clever with my time.
Somethings that I am enjoying:
- Short walks with the family in the neighborhood.
- No school drops, pickups, sports and other after school activities.
- Breakfast, lunch, and dinner all together all the time.
- Small 15 minutes of decluttering around the house.
For an extrovert, I am doing okay without social contact, but I miss a few of my closest friends. which we have managed to meet through Zoom over a glass of wine or tea! So, all in all, we are fine and we are blessed to be together and safe. Our families are safe and well.
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| Our local church went online and 63 connections attended "church" |
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| Speech therapy through Zoom |
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| We celebrated Benjamin's 13th birthday this weekend |
