Day 38

We have carried on with school like usual. The public school stopped classes the second week in March. This week the school started giving some online schooling options, however it is all optional. Jake is in an Animal Science class and Industrial tech class, both have a simple assignment or video for the week. I am having Jake continue with his assignments and adding a little more to it. The public schools are missing 3 months of school that won't be made up. There will definitely be a hole in education. I wonder how this will effect them long term. High schoolers going off to college will have gaps in there learning that will make it very challenging when jumping into a college course where they needed pre-requisites. Most colleges went to online classes right away, however they made them pass/fail. For someone like Jayden, who has been putting fothr the effort and getting good grades, those grades affect her overall GPA. For her, she could end her classes now and still pass. Fortunately she is not a slacker and will continue in her classes, however its really hard to be motivated when it does'nt matter your grade in the end. For those that were barely holding on in a class and about to fail, they are getting by too easy. It just doesn't seem right.  

Today, we took a "Snow day". We knew the high was 80 degrees, so I called it a skip day. Jake went right up to work a full day for Nate.

Sue Ann, Carolyn, and I met in Ames to go on a "social distance" walk. The recommended distance is 5 feet, we didn't really worry about it once we were together. We were on a wide walking path in a conservation area. I so enjoyed seeing the girls!! We walked the loop a couple times and got in our vehicles just before it rained. I had a chiropractor appointment before leaving town. Life is normal at his office, no masks. 

Mark started planting corn. He took out some fence rows in a couple fields and now has mile long rows. He told me he can plant 30 acres in one round! His planter is so high tech now. He allowed Mike and Mich to add whatever they wanted to the planter and they sure did. It has all the bells and whistles, more than I can explain. It has some type of air ride system that moves with the ground, so as to prevent soil compaction. Mark has been coming in for lunch and supper, running the late night shift. I really like that he can sit and eat with us instead of running meals to the field! It sure makes life easier. Mark doesn't like working the late night shift. He goes until the field is done or the corn runs out. Sometimes that can be 8 or 9 PM, last night it was 11 Luke was in the field with him too, so he was extra tired.