How Baby

I call this hairstyle ‘I have a complicated undercut, and no one’s been able to cut it for six weeks.’

Momo’s school has been SO GOOD about communicating with us, and giving us small, fun assignments, and being aware that parents can’t and won’t be able to do the same things alone in our homes — however, Momo’s “return” to school coincided with a huge downturn in my mood that left me pretty unmotivated to do anything that involved leaving my bed, even for important things like… you know, eating?

At some point last week I realized that so much of what I am, how I interact with the world, is as a planner – things like, what’s next, what do we have to do, how do we do things most efficiently. Without anything to anticipate, my brain… needed a few days to lie down. Realizing that nothing was coming up to be ready FOR, it was just like… okay, why bother, then? With anything?

Realizing that, digging myself out was — well, not easy, but a clear path. I made smoothies in bulk to freeze so I wouldn’t starve like an idiot, I ordered some nice things to anticipate in the mail (like a weighted blanket, finally!), I envisioned a future where I was excited about things like making iced tea in the summer. I’m honouring the fact that my energy levels peak at night, in the quiet, by accepting that we will not be doing every assignment given to us.

There’s a lot to be said about the good of schools, especially the people who work in them. Seriously, they’re going above and beyond. But, the system of school itself, the way it works – putting lots of children together and trying to teach them all at the same time – it’s because teaching that number of kids requires that standardization. I’m realizing that that doesn’t have to be the way Momo learns while she’s learning from home.

I made a little tracking sheet to help record what educational activities we DO manage to do every day – everything from ‘sang along to Charlotte Diamond in French’ to ‘wrote letters to friends in Animal Crossing’ to ‘did her assigned math worksheets.’ If it’s helpful to you to have a little-bit-but-not-too-much structure too, feel free to use it or adapt it to what you need!