Distance Learning Day 5,000: neighbors and flowers

I didn’t really announce my last update. At the time I thought it was just TMI, but wanted it there as a part of our diary...  If you'd like to read it, see below (Distance Learning Day 2,571!)  There are actually a lot of great memories in there.

Things aren’t great, but I do like to focus on the positive.  So today, that is:  neighbors and flowers!

Since this whole charade started, one of the people who has really stepped up is our sweet neighbor Jamie. She has known Maddie since the day she was born. She is our Monday helper. Every Monday, Maddie walks to her house, two doors down, at 11:00, and they eat lunch together outside.

Coincidentally, I always have something that needs to be mailed on Mondays, so they take a walk to the mailbox. It’s a nice way for Madison to get out of the house and get a little exercise.  Jamie then brings Madison back home and does second and third periods with her. This is super important to me, because I teach online at that time and just can’t really be interrupted.  

Third Period is floral design, and coincidentally, Jamie took the same exact class in high school with the same exact teacher. So it’s kind of just perfect. This amazing floral teacher arranges it so that students have a “floral lab” once a month.  She’s incredible. So, that means we go pick up fresh flowers once a month, bring them home, and have them ready for a floral arrangement demonstration. Today was one of those days, and Jamie was here to help!

Floral lab #1:

Just as when the girls were toddlers...  I always said the days are long, but the weeks are short.  I am definitely feeling that now.  I will continue focusing on the positive.   I would not change this time for anything, especially because I trust in God's plan.  

But I do continue to wonder...  why does anyone think this is okay?  Why does anyone think it is okay for our high school students (any student?) to whither away at home on a computer, most likely all by themselves?  My family is SO blessed with our village of neighbors and helpers.  But so many kids do not have that.  I haven't looked it up lately, but the death rate of student-aged people due to COVID-19 is not astounding.  Nor is that of the age group of their teachers.  Oh the studies we are going to see in ten years - the repercussions of depression, screen time, suicides...  It makes me sick.

But for today, I will focus on neighbors and flowers!

Distance Learning, Day 2,571

 

At least that is what it feels like.

 Okay, so I knew I wouldn't actually be able to keep up with that DAILY log, but it was fun trying.  Once my school started back up again, there just weren't enough hours in the day…

 So here we are, beginning week SIX, and it definitely feels like Day 2,571.

 The last few weeks have been ROUGH.  

 BUT Madison has actually been a superstar.  She has really stepped up and I'm very impressed with how she is trying so hard to be a good student.  She loves her little work station (where she also gets to eat meals - which is a random motivator I figured out a few weeks ago…)  But she also has a little village that is surrounding her now and we try to make sure there are bright spots in each day.

 Okay, maybe she’s not a TOTAL superstar.  We are still experiencing at least 3 major meltdowns a day, objects being thrown, and doors being slammed, but I am going to pretend none of that is happening right now.  We have to focus on the positive…  At the end of last week, she finally stopped crying each day and asking me "why did my stupid school shut down?"  This has truly crushed her spirit.  

 So now that I have her schedule down, and I have a little team put together for her, I think we both are feeling like things are a little bit more in control.

 HOWEVER, while she is doing a really good job of staying "in class", participating, and asking for help when she needs it, the amount of learning that is taking place is negligible.  There isn't really a learning plan or sequence in place yet; it is just kind of a hodge-podge of random quasi-lessons.   I'm beginning to worry that this aspect of it might not be a "distance learning" problem, but actually a problem with Madison's program even during normal times. 

 Her current placement (COVID or not) is in an “LLH” classroom.  LLH stands for “Limited Learning Handicapped.”  This is a step “below” Learning Handicapped.  Students in this program are not shooting for a High School diploma, but for a “Certificate of Completion”, and have the opportunity to attend a “transition” program until the age of 22.  While I mostly feel like this is a good fit for Madison, I worry all the time about the low expectations that these kids are held to.  They could probably do so much more, but because of the nature of his program, they don’t really have to.   

 Curriculum?  I don’t think the administration really thinks that matters with this crowd.  I have been begging for curriculum since the first day of school.  Her sweet teacher actually brought some things by a couple weeks ago.  That was MUCH appreciated, but I'm not seeing how the curriculum correlates with anything they are doing in class.  

 There are several tech problems each day, and her class is still very confused by all of the different platforms that are being used.  Sometimes they start class off on "Microsoft Teams", but then move over to "Schoology Conferences", and depending on which computer she is on, which class she is in, and which computer everybody else is on, sometimes she can see people, sometimes she can't, sometimes they can see her, sometimes they can't.  Her school computer is terrible.  Working on one of my little laptops is the most efficient choice, but that is the laptop I “Zoom” on for my school meetings, so sometimes I need it.  I feel like we have devices coming out our ears, but none of them do anything quite right.

 Sometimes Maddie is in each class for the full 80 minute period, (80 MINUTE!!!) sometimes it's just a half an hour.  Sometimes she goes in a breakout room with a small group or her INCREDIBLE one-on-one aide, Nicole, who has been an ABSOLUTE God-send throughout all of this.  There isn't really any rhyme or reason to her schedule, and that is hard, especially as I try to create her schedule for each day.  This week, I was finally able to nail down 2x/day one-on-one time with Nicole, and I think that will help immensely.

 So back to that village I was talking about...  We have some incredible people on board, some of whom would like to remain anonymous.  I recruited this little team for several reasons.  First and foremost, I want Madison to have a bright spot and something to look forward to each day.  While every day can't be super-exciting, at least she has one of her favorite people to look forward to almost every day.  And, if you haven't noticed, the kid is kind of social.  ;-) 

 Our wonderful neighbor Jamie works with Maddie every Monday.  Maddie walks to her house at 11 and eats lunch with her there.  And then they walk back here and finish the day together.  This is imperative to me because I teach my business class every Monday from 12:30-2:30.  Madison has known Jamie since she was born, and we are so grateful for this sweet gal who better become an “official” paraprofessional someday soon!

 Madison’s sweet friend, Ciara, comes every Wednesday, which is Madison’s insane “minimum day” and the day I teach my other Business class.  While getting interrupted by Maddie during the regular online meetings I have with the families I work with, getting interrupted during the classes I teach is NOT an option!  Ciara usually goes on a walk with Madison, does her online PE class with her, and helps her with 7^th period.  Ciara has been SUCH a blessing. 

 And then we have “Speech Therapist Jamie”.  This is an incredible story that’s too long for right here.  The brief version:  Jamie was Madison’s speech therapist in preschool.  They had an instant connection way back then, even when Madison was non-verbal. We ended up hiring Jamie for private speech therapy for several years, and I strongly feel that Jamie had a huge hand in helping Madison go from “non-verbal” to “verbal” around age 6.  Eventually Jamie had to move away and we cried a lot.  We have kept in touch through all of these years, some years more than others, but recently Jamie moved back to town!  Now Jamie is back in our living room, all of these years later, working with Madison.  She is also serving as Madison’s therapist, behaviorist, yoga instructor, and acupressurist!  Madison Facetimes Jamie almost nightly so she can talk about and talk through all of her “behaviors” during the day.  It’s incredible.

 And…  then there are the anonymous people who are helping.  That’s changed EVERYTHING.

 So where is big sister Savannah in all of this???   She is RIGHT here next to us.  However, her work and college schedule pretty much exactly contradicts Madison’s school schedule, so she has become more of our “wing-man”.  If we are desperate, she is RIGHT THERE, but it is not her job or responsibility to be right there, and I try to use her very sparingly.  She has her own life to lead right now!!!

 All that being said, Madison’s schedule is insane.  This whole block schedule/A-B Day thing is something I still can’t wrap my head around.  Here it is:

 

Madison’s Weekly Schedule

 

Monday A Day	Tuesday B Day	Wednesday  Minimum Day	Thursday  A Day	Friday  B Day
9:15-9:55 1st Period Life Skills, Lyons	9:15-9:55 4th Period Math, Lyons	9:00-9:25 1st Period Life Skills, Lyons	9:15-9:55 1st Period Life Skills, Lyons	9:15-9:55 4th Period Math, Lyons
10:00-10:30 1:1 w/ Nicole	10:00-10:30  1:1 w/ Nicole	9:30-9:55 2nd Period Reading, Lyons	10:00-10:30  OT and Nicole	10:00-10:30  1:1 w/ Nicole
10:30-11:45 Break 11:00-2:30 Neighbor Jamie comes to help	10:30-11:30 Break 11:30-12:00 Online Speech	10:00-10:25 3rd Period Floral, Short	10:30-11:45 Break	10:30-11:45 Break 12:00 Every other Friday: go to Nana and Papas!
11:45-1:05 2nd Period Reading, Lyons	11:45-1:05 6th Period PE	10:30-10:55 4th Period Math, Lyons	11:45-1:05 2nd Period Reading, Lyons	11:45-1:05 6th Period PE
12:30-1:05 1:1 w/ Nicole	1:10-2:00 7th Period Science, Lyons	10:55-11:55 Lunch 11:00-1:30 Ciara comes to help	12:30-1:05 1:1 w/ Nicole	1:10-2:30 7th Period Science, Lyons
1:10-2:30 3rd Period Floral, Short 2:30 Walk Jamie home (PE!)	2:00-2:30 1:1 w/ Nicole	12:00-12:25 6th Period PE	1:10-2:30 3rd Period Floral, Short	2:00-2:30 1:1 w/ Nicole
3:00-4:00 Speech Therapist Jamie		12:30-12:55 7th Period Science, Lyons		5:00 Gymnastics! (every other Friday in Manteca)

 

So…  Where do we go from here?  I don’t even know.   Try to remain positive?  That’s tough, but I’ll do that for Madison.  I try VERY hard to keep my opinions on all of this private, but Madison is very smart and intuitive and it’s hard to hide things from her.  Right now it is a one-day-at-a-time situation.  That’s all we can do.  In a way, I am mourning our “old-life”.  I loved that life.  I had everything figured out in that life.  But I’m coming to the grim realization that we are in this “other life” for the long-haul, so I am just going to have to find a way to make this work. 

And then I slap myself, and realize…  this is all in God’s hands.  He knows what is happening and why it is happening.  When I wake up crying, I turn to Him and reset myself knowing that I can trust Him.  Someday we will see and understand why this is all happening.  I take great comfort in that.

Trying to be such a good student.

Every other Friday afternoon at Nana and Papa's.  

PE with Sissy 

Lunch at Neighbor Jamie's on Mondays!

Working hard with Jamie :-)

Maddie is just kind of happy when SLP Jamie comes over on Mondays!

Action shot!  PE with Ciara :-)

Ciara can kind of get Maddie to do anything.  

So excited that Ciara left her purple pencil behind!

Not sure how they are open, but Funtastic Gymnastics is doing a Special Needs Open Gym every other Friday.  

So happy Ciara could join us for school pics.  AND she did a fantastic job curling Maddie's hair!