A Pain in the Whatchamacallit
By Tiny Ruisch
With the COVID-19 pandemic in raging at full speed, there are a lot of changes in everyday activities. All of my computer clubs and submarine veterans meeting are being held on‑line. About the only time I ever leave my apartment is to dump the trash and check the mail. With almost every thing being done electronically, the mail usually increases the amount of trash. This is just another one of life’s little circles.
One of the biggest changes is in schooling. Livingston Parish, like many other school districts, has shifted to on‑line instruction. My youngest grandson is starting his Freshman year. He is one of the students. The school has issued him a thirteen inch Dell laptop. I would describe him has being almost home schooled.
His parents live in the country. Their internet service is via satellite. He’s convinced his parents that he should come to Grandpa’s to do his schooling. After all, he needs fast internet. That does make sense, doesn’t it?
It only took me a few hours to realize that there was a tiny amount of smoke being blown into the air in the direction of my rear end. It turns out that it is much more difficult to do farm chores when you aren’t at the farm.
I’ve written before about why he likes to visit. He doesn’t come to see me. He likes to play games and comes to visit my desktop computer. When he is here, I am usually relegated to using my laptop. It really isn’t a problem, except when I’m writing or coding. I mostly miss having a full size keyboard. The extra monitors are also nice.
So far, the typical Grandpa School Day starts with a student drop off around seven in the morning. This is dependent on whether Mom or Dad is driving the school bus. The classroom is in a bedroom. His desk is a fold‑able card table. His text books are stacked on the clothes dresser. So far, the school uniform has been t‑shirt and shorts.
Class starts at eight. So far, I don’t think there as been a lot of actual teacher to student instruction. Mostly it seems to be assigning worksheets. To be honest, I haven’t paid a lot of attention.
The first day, I told him that I was going open my router settings and block YouTube during school hours. That turned out not to be feasible. Blocking YouTube meant that I couldn’t watch Rawhide, Have Gun Will Travel, The Rifleman and many of my other favorite old time TV shows.
I’ve been attending a lot of Zoom meetings. This has caused an occasional conflict of interests. I won’t let him use the desktop. I’m not giving up my good camera and microphone. Student break to play a game or Grandpa club meetings. I’ll let you guess who wins in this situation.
So far, the best thing about home schooling at Grandpa’s house is that Grandpa got an idea for an article to write.
Thanks for reading.