I feel grateful for this weird, suspended normal I’m swimming in. Or maybe it’s more like treading water; at any rate, it no longer feels like drowning. If I can’t have normal normal, then I’ll take this. I’m enjoying the indoor-outdoor format of my current classes. It allows me to return to a more focused curriculum and to converse with my young students, while still getting us all out on the lawn for a couple of run-around activities.
Most of our private teachers are back onsite and it’s nice to see students streaming in and out again and to be able to say hi to parents. A couple of my favorite teachers made a permanent move out of state, but they and their students are still learning happily online. Although most of the families I’m talking to now prefer in-person lessons, online options continue to prove valuable in a number of other ways as well: as makeups, as a way to continue lessons when a teacher or student is out of town or under the weather, and the newest one: to allow parents to observe a lesson even when they can’t be in the room. (We just came up with that one!)
Our holiday recitals this year will take several forms: online, outside, and small indoor “parlor” recitals of just four students. Registration is still underway and I’m curious to see which type garners the most interest. So far, outside is winning, even though come December we may need to bundle up.
As I watch our families go about their lives—constantly masked and intermittently quarantined—I’m so impressed with their adaptability and perseverance in the face of the parenting, logistical and personal challenges of the pandemic. It gives me faith. —Linda