Tomorrow is the first day of homeschooling our 5 & 6 year old. That means that we have one child in K5, one child in 1st grade and another that is starting 10th grade using the virtual learning through our county school system.
A little background
My husband and I are both fairly successful. While neither of us have college degrees, we have both settled in nicely to the jobs we have busted our butts for. Both of us have worked from home for a few years so being here is nothing new. Having our kids at home all day, every day? THAT is new.
COVID has been a disaster. While my husband is at his desk all day answering calls and solving the problems of the world, I am the Sales Manager for two separate multi-million dollar companies. This requires travel. Not just a business trip here and there, I am talking about a solid one or two weeks per month. I won’t sugar coat that and pretend it isn’t a source of contention at home. It absolutely is. But that is a topic for another day.
In March of 2020 we were doing our thing. I was traveling, my husband was working, and our 3 boys were in school. Life was stressful, but manageable. The bus came for #2 at 6am and brought him back at 3:40pm, we dropped #3 off at his private kindergarten at 8am and picked him up at 5pm. Our freshman (#1) got himself up, on the bus at 7 and home at 4:30. We could get so much work done in those hours in between. Hell, sometimes we even packed a lunch and went an ate on the dock. Or went for a boat ride. Life was free of kids for a good 7 hours a day.
On March 13th (my 39th birthday) it all ended. I had flown home from spending the week in California. From North to South, I traveled the entire state that week. In fact, I spent a full 4 hours wandering the international terminal of the San Francisco Airport. (Do I think everyone in my house has had Covid? Yes. Yes I do. Do I believe I never had symptoms? Absolutely. I live in airports, on planes, rental cars, hotels and restaurants. Most of those “restaurants” being fast food joints so I could stop and use the bathroom. This lifestyle is basically the equivalent of licking a NYC subway door knob every day.)
Major Changes
The state of Georgia gradually closed school. Two weeks at a time if memory serves me. And we dealt with it. Work travel was canceled, I was at home and business slowed down. We did everything everyone else did. We drank more than usual. We baked banana bread until there was no more room in the freezer. My husband birthed a sour dough starter that has been the reason for soooo many dirty looks these days. Have you ever cleaned your kitchen from top to bottom only to have your husband take out everything to “feed his starter” as soon as you are done? Complete. F’n. Madness.
So, we have been home with our 3 kids, two dogs, two full time jobs and a sour dough starter since March 13. That’s 5 months of no down time. 5 months of trying to keep them occupied. And by occupied, I mean they have been playing Minecraft and watching YouTube. What else are they supposed to do when we have to be sure they are quiet so we can attend Zoom meetings, have conference calls and speak to potential customers? Do you know what happens after 5 months of being on an iPad? You turn into an ass. A screaming, bratty, nasty, sometime unbathed, douche bag. You fight turning it off, you fight eating dinner, pausing the TV and you MOST CERTAINLY fight going to bed. This is what we have become. I cannot even pretend my kids are behaved these days. Their brains are mush and it is all in the name of holding down our jobs.
Ah, COVID. The death of so many things. The death of weekend get always and concerts. Oh so many concerts. The death of dinner out. The death of work travel that counted as vacation time if you brought along your husband and kids. And the death of in person school. This is the big one. It has been decided that our county will have ONLY virtual learning until further notice. This we are unable to do.
Don’t get me wrong, #1 can do virtual school. We don’t have to pay attention to him. He is self-motivated, extremely smart and will do just fine. We cannot be responsible for making sure a 5 & 6 year are sitting in front of a screen for an entire school day. Neither of us can take that time from work each day to fight with our kids all day. And that is what it would be, a fight.
As a side note. Because we can both work from anywhere, a unique opportunity is there for the taking. We can teach our kids from home OR from anywhere else in the world. A camper, a hotel room, my in-laws in Poland…the list goes on forever.
So, after giving it some thought, and really not having much choice, we have decided to homeschool the younger two. Multiple reasons lead us to the Abeka program. Plus, while not being an actual religious family, Jesus could do us some good.
Real Time
We both drink too much, I swear too much and drink way more coffee than any human should. We are both also a bit overweight. Well, me mostly. As of my last step on the scale, 254. Yes. Two. Hundred. Fifty. Four. I am also 6ft tall, but that certainly doesn’t excuse any of that. When #3 was born, I set my sights from 233 to 180 and did it. It took about 2 years and it was AMAZING!!!! I bought new clothes and new bras! And then life happened, and I gained it all back, plus another 21lbs. It took 3 years to gain it back, but it happened a lot at a time and I couldn’t stop it.
Tomorrow is the day. Tomorrow is the day we HAVE to stop drinking during the week. It is the day we HAVE to start exercising 5 days a week. It is the day we HAVE to figure out how to have patience with our kids. Because if we don’t, we fail at homeschooling, we fail at becoming healthy and we fail at keeping our kids home and will need to send them back to public school. Is it all going to happen in one day? I doubt it. For the last 9 days I have attempted to start new habits. I started a monthly habit tracker and stuck it on the fridge. We are tracking weekday drinking, exercise, spending extra money and flossing. Turns out, I am AWESOME at flossing. And only flossing. Go figure.
We have to become different people.
We are going to attempt to get our kids to get up in the morning, get dressed, eat breakfast, brush their teeth, go for a walk and then settle into a school setting. Without them fighting us. We are going to attempt to do this for the next 180 school days. Yeah right! I have a better chance of losing 70lbs in the next month than of that EVER happening.
As I sit here drinking my 4th Truly, I am vowing to let you know (with 100% honesty) how our school days go. I am vowing to report my “accountability” on my weight and drinking. My spending, that could probably stimulate the economy of a small country-I vow to reign that in as well.
Today, the weight of our home is massive.
