Thursday was Max’s last day of 5th Grade. He missed Friday’s at-home Havern Hustle because he went to Gaga’s in Aspen. There was a drive-by “goodbye” at the school. We went as a family.
The newsletter said Max has had school at home for 11 weeks. That would put it around March 9 that he started, which seems right. He had Spring Break and then never went back to school after that. So he’s been home at least 12 weeks.
It took some getting used to. For the first half or maybe a little more, Max was really good. We had a video conference with his teachers, and they reported good things about Max.
But that changed for the last few weeks. He became distracted by toys in his room. He would roll out of bad 20-30 minutes before school started because he’d been up most of the night. He had to be coaxed into dressing. Brushing his teeth in the mornings? Usually didn’t happen. He stayed up very late most nights, wandering the house, trying to find a screen to use, or maybe just flipping through books in his bed (not sure exactly what he did most nights). Sometimes he’d find a device to use all night until Karolina and I became very diligent about locking them or sleeping with them, but even then I think we probably missed some.
For the last week and a half, we moved him to the basement because of wifi connectivity problems in his room. We should have done that sooner. I was working there, too, and he had fewer distractions.
I still wonder how effective those 11-12 weeks were. How much learning was there?
Anyway, the best part was that we saw each other every day nearly non-stop for 12 weeks! I loved being that close to him. Karolina made a point to go to Chatsfield Reservoir or Roxborough State Park with the boys almost every day. I went with them alone, sometimes, too, and other times with Karolina.
Ms. Fish retired.
