Tales from the Pandemic 4

ZOOM

In this together.

Keeping you connected wherever you are.

A sign of the times is ZOOM.  As all of the activities were getting cancelled, teachers and instructors were quickly figuring out a way to get connected online and continue with the classes.  Without too much of a break, everything gravitated towards ZOOM and it became zoom, zoom, zoom 24/7.  Teachers were using it to teach classes.  Families were using it to check in with each other.  And friends were using it to have virtual happy hours.  Zoom became our new way of existing.

Ian and Sam was on Zoom each week for:

Ballet Class
Tap dance Class
Musical Theatre Class
Voice Lessons
Religious School

In addition, so many organizations were finding out a way to offer camps and lessons online to keep the kids engaged. It is simply awesome all the online virtual resources we have at our fingertips.

Ian was able to take a Storytelling Through Scenic Design.  This class meets every weekday for one hour and at the end of the session, the kids present their own scenic design they have created.   Ian's voice coach is offering an online musical theatre class twice a week.  During this time, the class will have watched a Broadway musical and come together online, thru Zoom, to discuss it and learn some of the music from it.  Another option Ian has it to take improv classes for teens online from Second City in Chicago.  How cool is this?

Schools are using a different method for distance learning using Blackboard. A schedule was developed the kids had to follow, starting on Tuesday, April 14th, the day after Spring Break ended. However, for the first 3 weeks (plus 2 days!) school for my kids did not exist.  Such a crazy thing to be stuck at home all this time and not have structure to our day and not have any idea what "school" will look like, when the teachers get distance learning figured out.

Sam will have 1 hour a day with her class, Monday thru Thursday.
Ian will have school two days each week: 5 hours one day and 4 hours another day.  Each of these two days includes a full hour for lunch.

So many things have been offered online.  Art lessons, musical performances, plays, virtual tours of cities, museums, zoos, and landmarks.  It is truly phenomenal how the world has stepped up and offered everything for free to try to help entertain and educate all of us who is stuck at home.

But at the end of the day, it is Zoom that has become big winner.  Zoom has reported more than 200 million daily video users during worldwide lockdowns.  *From US News and World Report.

Can you even imagine how different all this would be if the pandemic occurred 15 years ago?  None of this would've been possible.  Our online world was not nearly as advanced as it is now.  We would be stuck at home and feel so isolated.  Through the internet we've been able to be together, while staying apart.  It is truly a miraculous thing to have this in our lives.