H1N1

Ah the swine and the Ukrainian Government have conspired to give us at least two weeks off of school. Because of confirmed cases of H1N1 in the west of Ukraine, the Prime Minister and President have ordered all schools, both private and public, closed for three weeks. Our school looked at the options and decided that having the secret police come into the school with riot gear to forcibly remove us was not a good option. Hence, we have been charged with creating online classes for all of our students. Cassie and I have been using a program similar to “Blackboard” (for those of you who have not taken online college courses, this is a program that most universities use to deliver distance learning instruction). Cassie has high school aged kids, so this works well. I have 9 year olds (4th grade in the States), this was a huge concern. However, thus far it has been very good.

It has taken us a week to get the information together and the sites are now working. The upshot is that while the students are dong distance learning, we are doing “distance teaching.” That’s right two extra weeks of paid vacation. You have got to love Ukraine!