One strange consequence of this bizarre time is that we are able to conduct a social experiment in our home.  My son is an introvert and my daughter is an extrovert.  We’ve known this for years, but it is playing out in spades right now.  This social distancing thing isn’t bothering my son at all. It’s just like every day is Saturday.  My daughter, on the other hand, is a mess.  She needs to be with others and while I’ve let her play with the neighbor girls (which I know some think is a big no no….), it’s not enough.  I’ve been encouraging her to try and do video chats with her friends and, this evening, she had her first video chat with her cousin in California.

I’m trying to find more ways for my daughter to interact with others.  My husband, who is also an extrovert, is working from home and much of his day is on the phone, talking to his co-workers.  But I worry about my daughter.  I fear a time will come when playing with the neighbors is no longer possible.  What then?

My new challenge is that I am clearly not a homeschooling mom.  My kids are at two different schools and there are two very different approaches to all this.  For my son, I ran out to his school and picked up his class box, filled with work, that will carry him through March 31 (which is 7 school days…5 days this week, a week off–ha!–for Spring break, and 2 days after that).  After that, the school has set up a digital platform to continue instruction.  My daughter’s school has basically told her to continue working on some apps.   That’s it.

Regardless of the differences between the two school, the fact remains that I am not someone who was meant to be a homeschooling Mom.  Folks, this is going to be a challenge and a full-time job.  My children’s education just can’t stop because of a virus.  I haven’t quite figured out how to do this yet and I think it will take a while, but we’ll get there.  I am also thinking of farming math and science out to the hubs.  As an Engineer, he’s much more suited for that than this particular History major.

I also (big sigh) need to take better care of myself.  I have been “eating like an asshole,” my exercise is non-existent, and I’m letting stress take over.  So, in addition to figuring out how to get and keep my kids on track, I need to also figure out how to get and keep myself on track.

So, three days in and I already feel like I’m over my head.  What will three weeks in look like?