by Madelyn Leete, 05/01/2020, Traverse City, MI

Middle School 6-8 Category

It’s 8:00 am… on a school day… have I overslept?! Nope. Our world is on pause. A normal day in this new life starts with getting up around 8 or 9:00 am. I don’t have to wake up at 6:20 am, like I would if I was going to school, and it’s light outside! That’s never the case on a regular school day! I don’t have to worry about leaving for school at a certain time, and also don’t have to eat breakfast so early. That’s one thing that is nice about quarantine! Now, “school” is from 10:00 am to 12:00 pm, and then the rest of the day has no schedule.
School is all online. Online school is very different than going to a building because you can’t just walk up to your teacher to ask a question. You have to send an email and then wait for a response, or wait for their Google Meet office hours. It is all just so crazy! I have 8 different teachers, each with their own Google Classroom, and they all do thing a little differently. It is a lot to keep track of! I really wish we were in school right now so that I could see all of my teachers and friends five days a week.
The rest of the day gets filled with baking, art projects, lots of time outside and communicating with friends through texting or video chat. Since we can’t see anyone in person, that is the only way to talk. We manage though! I also think about things I typically wouldn’t. What if someone I know gets the virus? When will we be allowed to go places again? Is school going to start a month earlier than it would have? So many thoughts fill my head. There are things I worry about as well, like using too much toilet paper or hand soap. I have never, in my entire life, thought about the amount of toilet paper and hand soap I use, worrying we could eventually run out! I hope this all ends soon! But I know we will get through it! Teachers and students are going to get really good at online school, and maybe when this is over, everything will be cleaner! I wonder how much will be different when the world begins again…