The Quest for World Domination

I had a theory on Zoom.  A conspiracy theory, of course.  When I thought I had it well thought out, I told Bob.

“Isn’t it weird that the same time the coronavirus sends us to our homes, Zoom was created?  Isn’t it possible that Zoom caused the coronavirus so we would all use their product?  All the while, Zoom is hacking into our computers and stealing our personal information while we smile and wave at each other on a computer screen like dopes.  Zoom is trying to take over the world!”

Bob just shook his head. 

“Zoom was already created.  There are a lot of video conferencing apps out there.  You just didn’t need them before.”

I wasn’t going down quietly.

“Mark my words.  Zoom, coronavirus, conspiracy theory, world domination.  You heard it here, first.”

74 Zooms.

In the past 67 days, we have done 74 Zooms.

(I’ve got time. I counted).

The kids did Zooms for sports teams and birthdays.  I did Zooms for my gym class.  Declan, by far, had the busiest schedule with Zooms with his class, occupational therapy, speech therapy, and social skills instruction.  In short, we have had a daily Zoom schedule.  We have the Zoom app on our computers, and each one of us has it on our phone.  We can Zoom anywhere. 

Today, I did the final review of the kid’s online schooling.  I checked their schoolwork was completed.  There are no final grades this year.  A string of A’s and B’s turned into a string of P’s.  They passed their classes.

If I learned anything in the past weeks about my kids in the online learning world, it is this.  My kids are not good independent learners.  My kids ARE good at trying to figure every corner they can cut to check the “assignment completed” button.  I guess you could say my kids require a lot of adult supervision and redirection when it comes to online learning.

Of course, no one knows what is going to happen in the fall.  Will schools be open, or not?  Will all children be forced to attend, or will online learning be available for those who have been emotionally affected by the virus?  The ones who will have difficulty learning while overcoming their fears? 

I’ve wondered how they are going to start the next school year academically, regardless of where learning will take place.  Will each grade start where they usually do?  Or will they pick up where the previous year left off?  I’m sure a lot of learning was lost in these few months. 

If learning does continue at home, I heard it was going to be more intense.  There will be more expectations.  More actual learning, less ability to cut corners.  Which is great.  I am sure I am not the only person who has kids with this superpower.  Maybe they will start having actual classes via Zoom.  I am sure they could.  And really, how could Zoom achieve world domination without taking over the classroom too?  (I’m still on to you, Zoom).

In the meantime, the kids will settle into their summer routine, whatever that is going to look like.  I know the big kids have already adapted their sleeping schedule to summer hours.  They stay up all night and are in bed until two in the afternoon.  There is no reason to wake them.  Especially now that school is done.

Now we just sit back and relax on this crazy quarantine ride and see what happens next.  What will summer bring? 

Right now, summer has brought one song which is a great start:

Schoooooool’s out- for – summer!