HKfamily5 Virustopia: Chapter 1

First and foremost, the fact thousands are dying from this virus in such a short period is absolutely heartbreaking. Yes I know tens of thousands die each season of the flu, but this bug moves very fast. I started reading about this virus right after the holiday break and by late January, I was restocking all of our emergency supplies. It had been a good 4 or 5 years since I restocked all of our emergency food and water and checked our supply of batteries. By mid-February I started buying extra dried goods, canned soup and jarred sauces to replenish our back. Now I wasn’t buying in large volumes, just enough to tie our family of five over. 

By late February I had filled our pantry, shelves and both freezers with enough rations to tied us over for a good 3-4 weeks. Snacks are the key to it all. Not just for the kids but also for us as parents. Fast forward to the first two weeks of March and we are all on edge and the chaos just seemed to get worse and worse. Probably around March 6th is when I started to see the first shelf or two empty at Whole Foods. First it was actually rice shelf and it was the same thing at a second store. That following weekend we started to see the photos online at big box stores like Costco, with empty palets and long lines to get into the store, especially in large metro areas life San Francisco. The following week is when we started seeing the long lines in local grocery stores and then the panic mounted with school closure in the state of California. 

As a parent leading up to inevitable of school closing, it because more real with Clem’s company shutting down offices for all non-essential or hardware specific staff. Which inevitably had him home a good week while the kids were at school. Now I will be honest and say, I was a basket case. The fact my husbands company was being proactive and my kids were still instructed to attend school, had me on a cliff all week. I think poor Clem had to talk me down the last 3 mornings that week, and even my good friend in AM who has an extensive background in such emergency situations, walked me back from yanking the kids out of school. A lot of parents pulled their kids that last week and many for very important reasons. I am lucky my kids don’t have such conditions as asthma and immune disorders. I can’t even imagine what their parents were going through the weeks leading up to the county wide closure.

The Friday before school actually closed there was a lot rumblings of a school closure. The following week was like a roller coaster ride, rumors and more rumors. By Wednesday that last week many parents had pulled their students and district finally shared new that Friday was the day to expect news. I was actually out for one last big shop that morning and the email and robocalls came through right after 12pm. That is when I realized the amount of anxiety and stress that had been weighing down on me for over 2 months, since hearing about a virus in China in December. That weight of to pull or not to pull the kids, lifted when I saw the email, it felt like an elephant getting off my chest. As a family we talked about the closure and what it meant for the kids on a daily basis. Earlier in the week I had heard rumors the district was not ready for an online learning environment for their students. As the weekend progressed, the news of what is expected of our students was pushed out another week. 

I’m not the kind of parent who waits around for someone to get something done. Instead a relying on the district, Like many other parent, I had already started researching  alternatives to teaching. With sites like OutSchool and Youtube, summer learning workbooks and even, Instagram. Now I am not going to pussy foot around it, I was not happy with the fact the district was either no prepared or relying to much on government to get things done. In reflection towards the end when we finally got that information. The bottom line is that we need to stop waiting for people in higher positions to take action or better prepare us all for a crisis. Education is such a delicate balance because in truth, the education is so sorely underfunded, it’s hard to plan or pay for thing ahead. Personally I believe that process is due to the fact education institutions are limited in how much money they can hold onto. Whether thats a school or even the PTA. This is where private institutions get it right. 

Rolling things back to the kids. Their first week of home school was not 100% regimented. 3 of the 5 days were a mix of worksheets, online learning APPS, playing on the iPad, walks, more walks, chores and the most important thing with 5 beings around the house all day. Walking the dog one extra walk. Overall the first week was filled with more restocking, checking on Grandma’s and helping a friend or two locally. The kids overall were distracted enough that they actually were more please playing and being around each other, there was no talk of missing friends or school. I was able moderate a teleconference for Lochlan’s class late in the week and kids all went nuts. Margot’s class did it the day before enjoyed the FaceTime immensely. Looking ahead to chapter 2, kids journalling and Papa entering his 3rd week of work at home. Maybe a shot of the screen? Check back soon.