We've been through one week of this "Continuous Learning" now (not counting the orientation week), so I'm curious how your classwork is going.  We teachers are trying to make it not be overwhelming, since we know a lot of you have to watch your siblings or whatever, but we also want some meaningful learning going on.  This isn't about keeping busy; it's about learning some stuff you'll need next year and beyond.

In your comments last week, some of you talked about time management, which is a VERY important part of stress management.  
I could write several pages on it, but I'll just write some short tips instead.  


No one technique works for everyone, but these are some ideas that work for most people.

1. Use a to-do list.  I recommend a free app called TickTick, but your list can be anywhere, electronic or old-school.  Just DON'T try to remember everything.  If you do a "brain-dump" by writing things down, you'll be able to get them done faster and with less stress.
2. Use separate lists within your to-do list, like one list for school stuff & one for home stuff or one list of tasks you can do before your little brother wakes up & one list of things you can do while you're watching him.  That way, you don't have to stress about everything at the same time.
3. Use a schedule.  Every weekday during this quarantine, I get up about 7a.m. and take a shower, eat breakfast & do a devotional.  Then I have Zoom meetings and/or work on school stuff.  At about 1p.m., I eat lunch and then work outside or around the house until it's time to go for a walk.  Following a routine reduces my stress level and allows me to do fun things later because I've already gotten my school stuff done.
4. Use a calendar.  I recommend Google Calendar, but there are 100s of other options.  You probably don't need a full-blown calendar during the quarantine, but this Fall, when you have clubs, activities, sports, church, work, etc., a calendar will help you stay organized and less stressed.
5. Take a 5-minute break every 20-30 minutes.  Don't ask why; just do it. 😁

I could go on and on, but you can search for other tips online, and maybe some of you have some more tips to put in the comments.

Wednesday's theme for the "Virtual Spirit Week" was to post a picture showing what you've been doing with your time off from school, so here's mine:

My wife saw a post saying that some kids will remember this pandemic as a great time in their childhood – a time when they...

• didn't have to get up so early
• didn't have as much pressure from schoolwork
• got to spend more time with their parents & siblings
• got to go to the park more often
• got to eat together as a family
• etc., etc., etc.

That might be true for some of you, while others might prefer to be at school with your friends.  Either way, I'm curious how you feel about it.  Your feelings might change over the next two months, but how are you feeling right now?

     You guys might not know this, but I deal with anxiety sometimes, like some of you do.  I usually do a pretty good job of handling and/or hiding it, and it's not a constant battle, but big things like this trigger it, understandably.  It helps to talk to someone, so I talked with my wife (of course) and my older brother, and that helped me process some of it.  I think I'll call my mom too.  Writing this blog post also helped.
     A hundred questions ran through my mind, and since I assume that's true for you also, I wanted to give you some initial thoughts of how we might handle it, but the school asked teachers not to give out any specifics yet.  Sorry. :-)
​     Anyway, staff are going in next week to discuss the plan, so we'll figure it out.  In fact, the administrators are already working on it, so it's going to be okay.  We're living in a time of terrific technological opportunities, and we've already come up with several cool ideas.