When I told my friends I was going to be following Algonquin’s bell schedule for a week, their reactions verbatim were “why are u like this” and “CATHERINE LMAO WHY THE HELL DID YOU DO THAT.”

With the threat of COVID-19, Algonquin has been closed since Friday, March 13. While I wish we could go back to school so I could finish my senior year normally, I don’t miss waking up at 6 a.m. or the back-to-back hours of school work.

So why, for the week of March 23-27 did I attempt to follow my school schedule?

Well, I had struggled to find structure in my day and honestly, why not torture myself a little?

Day 1

I was 15 minutes late to “school” today. It turns out that even though I’m only commuting to my kitchen now, I can’t get up at 7:13 and take a shower and get all ready for school. Well, now I know.

I did one and a half math problems during my first period. Certainly not great but at least I did something. I’ll have to make the rest up for homework.

I scraped through my day until fifth period, Latin, where I started to lose it. I had a Zoom call for Environmental at 12, so I just wasted my time between 10:30ish and 12.

After the call, I decided to call it quits for the day since I was hungry, bored and tired.

Though I said I’d do my math work for homework, I did not. I didn’t do any school work for the rest of the day which was heavenly.

Grade for the day: B

Day 2

With my alarm blasting and my brother waking me up, you would think that I would have been able to get up. I did not.

What did I also not do? A single piece of work.

Grade for the day: F

Day 3

I struggled to get up and was half an hour late to “school,” but after my failure the day before, I knew I had to do it. 

On Day 1, I had followed the bell schedule to the minute until it all dissolved. Today, I got a bit looser with it. Not all of my classes took the full period’s time to get the work done, so I just moved on once the work was done.

I was doing well, but my goal for the day was to complete my Environmental work before our Zoom call at 12.

Against all odds, I actually did it! Of course once I got on the call it became clear that I didn’t need to do that work in preparation but hey, I did it.

After more than an hour of notes on Zoom, I finished my day around 1:20. Believe it or not, I actually went through all the classes I had assignments for and did it. Is this what being productive feels like?

Grade: A

Day 4

At the end of Day 3, it was announced that school would be closed until May 4 because of COVID-19. While this news did not shock me, it did somehow make me think that teachers wouldn’t assign work on Day 4 because they’d all be scrambling to figure out how to handle online classes for the next month.

I was wrong (obviously) so in terms of following my school schedule and getting classwork done, I did not do well.

I did however do some important Harbinger work and went on a long walk, so that was nice.

Pro tip: Tired of taking walks alone? Call your friends while you all walk around your own neighborhoods. It’s far less lonely than going by yourself while still maintaining social distancing.

Grade: D- (but still had a good day)

Day 5

Final day!!!!!!

While this challenge has kept me far more productive than I would’ve been otherwise, I can’t say that I’m sad it must come to an end.

I woke up at 7 a.m. feeling actually awake for the first time in forever. Again, this could have been a result of me being so excited the challenge was almost over.

First order of business was to anxiously wait to see if my laptop would work after I’d spilled what seemed like a gallon of water on it the night before. It did and still does as long as it’s plugged in!

I then did some optional DeltaMath flashcards for Calculus and got started on my other work.

I was interrupted in my school day as I had a Harbinger meeting at 10:30 and then an Environmental Zoom call at 12.

Despite not following my school schedule to a T, I was able to get most of my work done for the day.

Grade: A-

Lessons Learned

I do not advise other people to try this schedule.

Aiming to be up at 7 a.m. is cruel and unusual and even if you’re a morning person, you do not need until 1:50 to get all your work done during these at home learning times.

Starting Monday, April 6, we’ll be having online classes for two hours starting at noon. I think this will provide the structure I was looking for without the brutal nature of a typical school schedule.

In all, the schedule was torture, and I will not be attempting it ever again. If we do go back to school for the end of the year, at least my friends will be there too instead of just the birds and squirrels on my deck.