Confinement Day 15: Parents as Teachers

 Fortunately, French middle school was already generally equipped for e-learning in that that an online portal already exists, teachers, kids and parents already have access to it and know how to use it. It was less equipped on a server level, but they worked out the kinks in the first few days.

I say fortunately, because this is how conversations go when the boys want help with their homework.

Benjamin : What are the attributes of a subject?

Us : Go ask Google.
Benjamin : Didn't you go to school??? 

We're just here to make sure the homework gets done as close to on-time as possible.

Confinement: Day 14

Sometimes we play ping-pong, sometimes we play Molkky. And sometimes, P.E. classes are a lot more utilitarian, and we prepare the vegetable garden. 

And after all that work, some brain work with a puzzle.

Confinement Day 10: Haircuts

I always cut the boys' hair anyway, except when we have Peggy fix it up once a year at home. So haircuts in and of themselves aren't anything new related to confinement. However, Benjamin wanted a specific style this time, requiring the purchase of clippers - and it was my first time to use them.

I almost had a heart attack when I saw how much hair was coming off his head. But it's what he wanted, and he likes it, so I guess I did ok! 

I've always resisted cutting Frédéric's hair, though, and turns out I was right about that. At least he has a few more weeks at home before he has to go back to work!

Food During Confinement: Day 9

We have lots of time for family dinners, and family apéros, during confinement.

Our friends are fishmongers who sell at markets near Paris. The prime minister announced two days ago that markets would be closed, so our friends still had stock on hand. We took advantage of the opportunity to enjoy some fresh fish, delivered right to our door. Frédéric cooked it up for us in a curry sauce, and it was delicious!

Confinement: Day 8

We're starting week two of confinement, and we started week two of "distance learning" yesterday. At 9 a.m., Noah was still in bed - he told us the bright side of all this is he can get up when he wants in the morning. I can't disagree.

As I did all last week, I started today by walking to my office - several yards away, under the carport, in my camper. I have a heater, internet hookup, and electricity, not to mention peace and quiet for working. My work hasn't been very affected yet, but time will tell as the virus spreads through the U.S.

Frédéric is inside, in charge of making sure the boys stay on track with their schoolwork. He also cooks for us, but that is no different from normal times.

The prime minister, Edouard Philippe, spoke last night to clarify a few things: exercise near the home must be no more than once a day, no more than an hour, and within a kilometer of your home. Open air markets are closed now unless a mayor asks for an exception, and the departmental prefect grants it. The only authorized medical visits at the moment are urgent ones, or ongoing treatments (dialysis, cancer treatments). It's unlikely that the confinement will be over in one more week. 

So we'll keep on with our new normal for a while longer.

Life in Confinement

The bright side of confinement: our monthly gas budget is down by 75%.

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You might be in confinement if... you can convince your husband and sons to watch a Cary Grant movie with you. 

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J'ai suggéré à Frédéric qu'il apprenne un peu sur l'entretien de base des voitures aux garçons pendant le confinement. Vérifier, les niveaux, changer un pneu...
Benjamin dit, "Je sais changer un pneu."
"Ah bon?"
"Oui, d'abord tu prends le pont-levis..."

[I suggested to Frédéric that he teach the boys some basics of car maintenance during confinement. Checking fluid levels, changing a tire...
Benjamin says, "I know how to change a tire."
"You do?"
"Yes, first you take the drawbridge..."]


In his defense, a jack is a "cric" but in a garage, the lift is a "pont."

Confinement: Day 4

We are on day 4 of confinement at home, day 5 of "distance learning."

Frederic will need to decide at the end of next week whether to proceed as an "at-risk person" to stay off work, or take partial unemployment, which may mean working one or two days a week, from the office. Or maybe other updates will come out between now and then that would change things further.

Basically, we're taking it one day at a time until further notice. The boys have taken the homeschooling in stride, and now that they can connect to the online platform, it's going fairly smoothly. They get exercise by working in the yard (Noah) or doing an exercise routine in the house (Benjamin).

Benjamin made us a cheesecake yesterday, so confinement isn't all bad.

I forwarded Benjamin some homework his science teacher sent, but he emailed me back to let me know it was all under control:

Confinement

Last night, President Macron announced confinement measures, for 15 days (for now... we won't be surprised if it's extended). Since school and sports were already called off and Frédéric is at home, that doesn't change a lot for us.

All French cell phones got a text message from the government this morning telling us about the rules and where we could find more information, for anyone who might have missed the president's speech last night.

We have to show a pass any time we go out now, justifying our reasons for being out. Authorized reasons are limited to: going to work, if you can't work at home, grocery shopping, seeing a doctor (if unavoidable), helping family or picking up children, exercise / walking the dog.

The boys can't currently access the online learning portal for school - the servers aren't set up for this much traffic.

So today they worked some in the yard, had P.E. class. We're thankful for good weather this week!

Lockdown

Yesterday, Edouard Philippe, the prime minister, announced that as of last night at midnight, bars, restaurants, and any non-essential places of business that are open to the public have been closed by the government.

Businesses that aren't open to the public can remain open but the government strongly encourages remote work.

Parents who can't work remotely and who have children under 16 can submit a form to stay home with their kids and be on paid leave from work.

People still don't seem to be taking it seriously - tons of people were out enjoying the nice weather in Parisian parks today, for example - so we won't be surprised to see stronger lockdown measures come out soon.

Coronavirus affecting our lives

We had planned a family lunch with Frédéric's siblings and cousins, but as we heard more about Covid-19, we decided it would be best to stay put at home, and not put ourselves at risk, particularly since Frédéric has asthma. 

So we had our family lunch at home instead, and will see the family once things settle down. 

family lunch during covid-19

Schools Closed

We learned last night during President Macron's televised speech to the country that schools would be closed nationwide starting Monday, until further notice.

We're near a hot-spot for coronavirus, Crépy-en-Valois and Vaumoise in the Oise department, but up until now, they'd been handling limitations and closures on a departmental level.

Starting this past week, schools in Oise and Haut Rhin were closed for two weeks, and Corsica closed schools as well. Now the rest of the country will join them, and we'll all get to see how e-learning works.

At this point, there is no planned date for schools to re-open. 

Noah is 12!

We found out a few weeks ago that Noah qualified for regionals on two events: 400-meter medley and 1500-meter freestyle.

Unfortunately, the regional swim meet was set to be in the Oise department, which shut down all sporting events due to coronavirus.

We went to see our friends for the weekend anyway, and celebrated Noah's birthday with them.

Benjamin and Noah

Noah decorated his own cake, of course