School Through Screens- The Daily Life of a Student in Virtual School

      Millions of people all over the world are now going through virtual classes. Some people like it more than others and some don't. It's hard to encompass everything we like and dislike about virtual learning in summary about the entire day. Going through a day step by step can help isolate and pinpoint which parts of virtual school are more successful or less and just what life is like during a global pandemic. Its been mentioned quite a bit that this will be a very interesting chapter in history books for people to read about and there have been a lot of discussions about how daily life will be described. The daily life of a student in virtual school is a great way to show one perspective of COVID-19 life. 

6:30 AM- My alarm goes off. It plays the same Rihanna song every morning. I have an older alarm clock and we have limited music CDs so as much as I love Rihanna if I had more selection this wouldn't have been my first choice. But even though it gets tedious after so long, I still start every morning with "Umbrella."

7:30 AM- By now I am eating breakfast and probably playing on my phone or watching tv, I am not a morning person and I tend to go through the morning very slowly. 

7:50 AM- I start getting ready for my first class and check my emails, parent portal, and get tea and water that Ill drink during my morning classes

8:00 AM- The first class starts and its either Russian or math class and I like both classes, mostly because of the teachers and I have always liked Russian class. 

10:15 AM- Once the second class of the day ends, we get about an hour-long lunch break and I usually spend the time on my phone or watching tv and eating my lunch. Sometimes we get lunch from school or my mom makes lunch for us because I don't like cooking at all. I also always make sure to leave the house during the lunch break and walk around outside for a bit so that I'm not in front of a screen for hours and hours straight. 

11:25 AM- School starts again and it is usually English or Science class and science class is usually pretty difficult so I always make sure to be very focused on what he is teaching and what the homework will be about. 

1:30 PM- School ends and I check the list I use to see what my homework is for the day. I usually postpone my homework from that day to the next day and do the homework from the previous day instead if its a quick assignment. When school ends and there's no really quick assignment that I can do or an assignment that needs to be done that night I'll go on my phone and play video games or read for a while. I usually have better homework habits during in-person school and do my work immediately after school ends, but now I spend a few hours relaxing after school. I'll sit with my dog while I read or Ill sit outside or fo for a run before I get any real school work done. But I haven't turned anything in late yet and it always gets done one way or another even with a few hours between school and work.

2:10 PM- If the Covid-19 outbreak hadn't gotten people at the school and the girls' soccer team, then I would be getting ready for soccer practice at thsi time. I found out that there were no cuts during the last few days of tryouts so now I'm on the team. 

2:30 PM- If it wasn't for the switch back to virtual sports then I would be arriving at soccer and starting to put on my cleats. 

2:40 PM- Soccer practice would actually start with a small run then stretching and warmups. 

5:00 PM- soccer practice ends and I get driven home then I would finish whatever homework I needed to do. Sometimes I make a blue apron box for dinner even though I don't like to but most of the time one of my parents makes food and we watch a movie or show together while we eat.

10:00 PM- This is around the time we start to get ready for bed on a school night and most of the time I am in bed by 11PM. 

11:00 PM- I read for about an hour in bed on my Kindle and though it isn't very good for my sleeping patterns, I always refuse to not read before bed and I consider it an important part of my daily routine. At some point, I fall asleep and wake up to "Umbrella" in the morning. 

This is a pretty basic day in my life and I think it is about average especially since now we are quarantining again and I can't really do too much at home. For me, it is more difficult to plan out my time and get motivated for work or school when it is just on a computer at my house. I always complain about how early school starts but I appreciate being able to go to a building specifically for learning. I don't hate virtual learning but it definitely leaves some things to be desired and it just isn't the same, my daily schedule during virtual is very different from the one I would normally have during a normal in-person school year and that is especially easier to see when it is laid out in time blocks.