University of East Saanich

The link for this week's worship service on youtube is https://youtu.be/OcyKECXrmp4

Thanks to Diane for this week's post.

 

Return to class 2020 is, as expected, most unusual!

We are now calling our home University of East Saanich! As I walk around there are students tucked away in all areas working diligently on their studies. It's not unusual to have Rebekah sitting on her bed, her window wide open, with a blanket on her legs listening to a lecture, a cat curled up by her side. Maximilian is often tucked into his desk corner with 2 screens going so that his course materials are on one screen and his assignment on another. Benjamin shares his time between the kitchen table, the couch and the church. He is pretty much working all the time. I believe that online learning is much harder than going to an in-person lecture. What they are not missing is the commute. What they are missing a lot is meeting fellow students and friends on campus and making the connections that are so important to establishing study groups and life-long friendships. 

Peter is our last student in high school. They have been issued masks and he reports that most of the students wear them all day. His year has been divided into 4 'quarters' instead of 2 semesters. He will do 2 courses each quarter which will last for 10 weeks. At the moment he has Block 1 every morning and Block 2 every second afternoon. After doing this for 5 weeks, he will switch to Block 1 every second morning and Block 2 every afternoon. Just when we think we are used to that, he will have completed those 2 courses and will move on to the next two!

I'm not sure I will really be able to keep track of it all! Fortunately, he is very good at tracking where and when he is doing things. One of the fun little extra projects we had at the beginning of the school year was making a "mask" for his French horn. We are very happy that he has some extra-curricular activities underway. He's doing a bit of baseball and soccer again. He loves the training. I am truly grateful for the efforts that have been made by the schools and the athletic organizations to keep the children safe but allow them to return to some sort of "normal".

The students

I am also trying to squeeze in another Camosun Course so it is not unusual to have 3 of us working on our laptops studying at the kitchen table. Even Irwin is often with us doing late night editing of the YouTube worship service content. All together doing our own thing!

on-line learning --it's tough