Today is the first day of semester 2 in the school year. After the covid-ridden crash and burn of semester 1, I’m really hoping this is will be a better semester.
The mid-year holiday (2 weeks) is a nice break because the Barbarians have no school work to do over these holidays (the term holidays have school work). As it is mid-winter (short, cold days) we didn’t do much, but the Barbarians had a nice break all the same.
The boys are going back with normal timetables, and many less restrictions at school. Parent-teacher interviews will be allowed, excursions, inter-school sport, assemblies and performances can all be restarted within current covid restrictions.
With normal schooling, life does feel a lot more like normal. I hope it stays that way.
Is life feeling any more “normal” for you?
July 20, 2020 at 10:58 pm
Life does not feel “normal” for me, but it’s summer vacation for the students and my first summer vacation as a teacher and my first summer not having a job since I was about 16. So it’s WEIRD. I did get a soft-confirmation that I will be in grade 2 again so I can go ahead with lots of extra planning and prep, and then just settling into my nice routine of not going anywhere but the park and not seeing anyone but the people upstairs haha.
How are you finding the return to school? Are cases still low in your area? We are all so worried! The public board just put out its plan for reopening in the fall. Thank goodness our school is private and we can make our own specific plan that suits us best. But we are all still sitting and waiting to see what happens.
July 21, 2020 at 6:06 pm
Sounds like summer would have been some level of weird for you – but this is a lot weirder than you thought though!
School for us is back on a normal schedule, although with social distancing etc (not that I think it’s actually happening that much with the kids). At the moment cases where I live are still really low (3 cases in isolation and that is all). But we’ve had an outbreak down south and it’s spread, so we are all waiting to see if it makes it here.
July 21, 2020 at 7:06 am
Nope. We’re in lockdown again. Thankfully so far, all my family are healthy and as safe as anyone can be in this crazy world.
July 21, 2020 at 6:07 pm
In and out of lockdown is tough (((hugs))). So glad you guys are safe, but I also know you are sensible so should stay that way.
July 21, 2020 at 7:46 am
Normal? They just locked us back down as our numbers are surging. I just got notification that fall sports aren’t going to happen. And we’re likely starting school virtually. But then again, remember you have a good government that actually did stuff to curtail the spread of the virus. I’m where we elected a reality TV star that’s only out for self-aggrandizement and his sycophants are doing everything they can to enrich themselves…
Sorry. Didn’t mean to rant all over your blog. I’m happy to hear you’re getting a fairly normal second semester. That’ll be nice for the barbarians.
July 21, 2020 at 6:38 pm
Oh no, I didn’t realise your numbers were going back up and that you’ve been locked back down 🙁 I hope you are still able to go for your walks? Our state of Victoria (where commenter Leisl lives) has had an outbreak and are getting daily numbers around 300 on average – but they’ve locked back down and it isn’t growing exponentially, so hopefully in a month they will have recovered from the outbreak.
There are spot outbreaks from Victoria in other parts of the east coast, but hopefully they will get them under control.
But yes, we’ve had a good government who has responded pretty quickly and are relatively consistent (and there has been more than one occasion where I’ve been so thankful not to be in the US).
And, by the way, you’re welcome to rant any time you like 🙂
July 21, 2020 at 10:42 am
America is so confused by this whole COVID thing. Their rules don’t make sense anymore. Things like, You can’t sing in church but you can protest. Good grief. I just need this all to end.
July 21, 2020 at 6:39 pm
It’s starting to look promising for a vaccine. I see the UK has been successful at phase 2 of testing (just over a thousand test patients who all developed good numbers of antibodies). Keeping everything crossed that sometime next year we’ll have a vaccine.
July 21, 2020 at 10:44 pm
Our rules are about the same in Canada – no “open air singing” in churches. Mostly because it’s a confined place and when you sing you breathe heavier and more forcefully, propelling stuff from your mouth farther. You can sing with masks on, and my church has constructed glass partitions around the singers at the front so they can lead.
I’m excited about the progress with vaccines that AJ mentioned! I’ve heard of a few, one that Canada is helping to develop in a partnership with a Chinese medical company too. Fingers crossed at least one of the ones being tested around the world is approved soon!
July 21, 2020 at 10:39 pm
Yes! LOL this summer would have had some level of weird haha! Although it probably would have been like last summer – I had the same job lined up and everything. Just less stress over what the fall would bring because I would be going into my second “teaching September”. Which I still am but ya know.
It’s good that things are seemingly going well. Toronto is still in stage 2, only 3 of the 38 regions in Ontario are in stage 2 for at least another week or so. About half went to stage 3 on the 17th, and the rest (other than 3) will be there this Friday. So it’s slow and it seems to be doing ok. We still have about 100-160 new cases daily. But it’s getting lower and it’s holding for the most part which is great! Slow and steady wins the race! I saw your comment for someone else and I am SO THANKFUL that I don’t live in the USA.