COVID-19 Day 341

Now here's a twist I didn't see coming...

Our internet has been spotty for the last few days with the cold.  Not a huge deal as we had a long weekend followed by our last snow day that was built into the school calendar.  But the school district just decided that tomorrow will be a remote learning day.  Add to that, the fact that our kids didn't bring their chromebooks home on Thursday because I was planning on going to work today and taking them with me.  Fortunately, last Spring, we bought a chromebook for home, so we have one, but only one.  However, with spotty internet, it's still pretty up in the air whether the kids will be able to get on to their lessons anyway.  Oh yeah, one more thing, Rolling Blackouts!!  That's fun!  Now, please don't misunderstand me.  I understand why they are happening and I support Evergy's unpopular decision.  I would rather have 30-60 minutes of no power than have the grid overpowered and blown and be out of power for many hours.  It will make school a bit more of a challenge though.  However, if 2020 taught us nothing else, it is to be flexible, give grace, and know that we're all in the same boat together and we'll get through this.  Like I said in my post yesterday, I think it will be a light remote learning day, possibly writing or creating something to remember this long weekend that lasted a week.  🤷🏼‍♀️  In the end, if we even have to add a day to the end of May and just scrap tomorrow, that's fine with me too.  Plus, all the days I'm not working this week, I'm adding to book fair week!  It will be nice to know I'm not leaving Karla in the lurch that week!  It will also be weird to work a 5 day week again!  😳  Good thing Spring Break is the week before.  I'll have time to rest up before my crazy week.  😜

That's all I've got.  2021 is still not holding back any punches.  Are we more resilient yet??

Oh wait, one more thing!  Michael got me a new yarn color for single digit days on my blanket!  Look how beautiful it's coming along!!

COVID-19 Day 340 - Baby it's Cold Outside

Good gracious it is COLD outside!  Our weather station is showing -7 degrees outside right now.  It is So. Stinkin. Cold.  I have had over a week of dark purple on my blanket.  It's all just anything under 20 degrees.  I didn't buy a color for under 10 degrees, because I never thought we'd get to that point!  But here we are...  🥶🥶🥶  The kids had Friday off of school for conferences and Monday off for a conference credit day for teachers.  Andover has already canceled school for Tuesday as well.  It was (as of Thursday) going to be remote optional, but yesterday they decided with the wind chill and potentially dangerous roads and parking lots, to just call it all together.  That was out last built in snow day.  From. Here on out, in order to get enough student hours, any snow/cold days will have to be remote learning days.  I know many people are lamenting the loss of the snow day, saying now that online and remote learning are a thing, snow days will no longer exist.  But I don't think that's true.  I think school districts like ours will build the days into their schedule like they always have.  I think some years we won't use them, and other years we will.  However, what makes this situation good, IMO, is that now, when we know the weather is going to be bad, we can just send students home with devices and learn from home instead of having to add school days to the end of the year to cover the hours.  I HIGHLY doubt that the days when remote learning has to occur in the future, that it will be extremely stringent.  As it won't be utilized often, and it requires a lot more work out of everyone, I anticipate it still being a generally light day.  Kids may not end up having the whole days off, but they'll have a lot or most of it off.  Plus, being able to learn remotely will mean that school gets out on time at the end of the year, and that's good by me!  I don't think anymore wants to have to extend the school year.  And even if you did, those days wouldn't have any actual learning happening.  They would just be place holders, counting down the hours.  This way, with remote learning as an option, at least a little learning is capable of happening.  Our kids are little, so I might feel differently when they're older, but for now, I think everything is okay.  And I'd don't think snow days are going anywhere. 

So that's my 2 cents for this morning.  Stay warm and stay home if you can!  I'm going to!  I'll be working on my knitting today and keeping a close eye on our furnace and Lily's temp.  I've very much enjoyed the beautiful dark purple on my blanket, the extra long weekend, and the blanket of snow covering the ground.  If you're going to have frigid temps, at least have snow.  Although, now our internet is down and our furnace is struggling to keep up when the temps plummet so low.  Don't worry, the house is still at 70.  We've had it at 73 the last few days, so we had an extra degree to give last night (good thing), and I'm sure it will catch up more as the day wears on.  It's been fun and all, but I'm ready for things to warm up again anytime now.  😉  Once again, have a good one, stay warm, and stay home!  Love you!  💘