The schools around us are closing. My daughter's school is trying to hold out until Friday. Some of their reasons are good. The schools are the primary meal service for many city children and arrangements must be made to feed them. Some of their reasons aren't as good. There's the idea that schooling has to continue. Let's face that schooling will be limited-to-nonexistent over the next month or two (or three). I say close the schools immediately, take aggressive action to flatten the curve, then address feeding the kids, but I'm not in charge of anyone but myself and my child, so there's that.

A couple schools are opening Monday so students can get homework and technology . I get that and kind of support it though I still think we need to be much more aggressive responding to this virus. I also have little faith in homework making much difference. Still, as a recovering English teacher, I have ideas about what I would assign.

1. Send them with a couple books. I'd grab a few class sets of books and give each kid a couple. While separated physically we might connect a little around the same text. I'm not stupid enough to think every kid would read these things and don't care about getting everyone. It might be a comfort and use for some of them and that's good enough.

    

2. More books. Raid the library for a couple hundred books and get kids to choose two. If they read them, great. If they think about reading them, okay. If they don't read them, that's fine too. The books would be there in case they tired of Instagram. (Yeah, right.) I'd send no assignment with the books other than to take them and maybe read for fun. Crazy thought, I know.

    

3. If I had them, I would send every kid home with a fresh notebook to write while we are out of school. A page a day, but don't get stuck on the numbers. Write when you see, read, hear, or say something interesting. Paste into it. Draw. Write what you think and feel. Write questions, answers, plans, fears, and dreams. Just write. Create a record of this time in your lives.

    

4. Do some kindness for someone. Stay eight feet away but make contact. Call, text, send video. Leave food outside someone's door. Do secret, anonymous good deeds. Write it all in your notebook.

    

5. Don't sweat school. You'll learn more during this experience than you'd ever could in my damn classroom. Be strong, be brave, be curious, and for God's sake wash your hands.

Then I'd tell them to get the hell out and go home. School closed, I'd pack my things, wash my hands, and return to my family to wait this thing out, write, read, and hope for the best.