E-learning/working has been interesting. Greta and Angela are working on collegiate courses, Michael and Josephine on high school courses, Veronica and Mary Frances on grade school courses. Sam takes calls all day long on a headset. He looks like a travel agent. That leaves Johnny.

The only phrase to describe Johnny these days is FREE-RANGE.

free-range/ˈˌfrē ˈˌrānj/adjective

1. (of livestock, especially poultry) kept in natural conditions, with freedom of movement.

Johnny floats between indoors and outdoors. Some days he wears his pajamas all day. Other days, he goes through 3 outfits. He golfs, shoots baskets, works on riding a bike with training wheels. He frequently attends Zoom classes, being particularly fond of Angela’s Physics class and Greta’s Chinese language seminar. When he attends, Greta’s professor pulls up his dog. Johnny is like a human pin ball striking targets all over the house.

I have incorporated some of the wonderful suggestions from his teacher but it has been hard. We do love the Boom flashcards. Johnny has trouble with this one. He is adamant the word is either “queso” or “salsa”. He may not identify word families, but the kid knows Tex-Mex.

Mrs. A. has been very understanding, encouraging us to play and read and have fun. But I suspect we have a special asterisk next to our name.

So today, I geared up. We were going to write his name 3 times. Identify some numbers. Read and illustrate a story. Maybe string some pasta. Before the sun went down. I told Johnny it was time to get to work. As he ran away upstairs, he shouted over his shoulder

“Can’t right now. Gotta do an upper body workout.”

I like his chances for a Physical Education award. Mrs. A., if that’s not a thing, please consider.