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Photos by Erin Nelson.
Chris and Sandy Mills stand behind their two children, Anna, 5, Dean, 6, and the family dog Bentley at the swing set in their backyard May 8.
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Photos by Erin Nelson.
Chris Mills, an assistant football coach at Mortimer Jordan High School, sits at the table with his son Dean, 6, as they begin working on a math lesson.
Dean Mills has a leg up on his sister Anna in at least one regard.
“I’m the only kid in the house that has lost at least one tooth,” he said proudly.
In fact, Dean has lost both of his front teeth. That’s not a surprise given that he’s the older brother. Dean, 6, is in kindergarten at Cahaba Elementary while Anna, 5, is at the 4K level at First Baptist Church Trussville’s WEE Center.
But in many senses, Dean and Anna have been in the same boat since mid-March.
With the COVID-19 pandemic sweeping the nation and causing education to be shifted to a virtual environment, Dean and Anna have shared the same learning space: home.
“It happened so fast,” said Chris Mills, Dean and Anna’s father and a teacher at Mortimer Jordan High School. “We left school that Friday, March 13, with the expectation that we’re going to have a few weeks of online learning and we’d be good to go.”
It became quickly apparent that things would not return to normal any time soon, so the Mills family, like so many others in the area and across the country, had to adjust on the fly.
Chris is a football coach, so he is accustomed to spending considerable amounts of time at the high school. Sandy Mills is a real estate agent with LIST Birmingham and typically operates on a much more flexible schedule, allowing her to send the kids off to school and be home when they return most days.
But with the pandemic closing school buildings, Chris now found himself as the parent with the flexible schedule. As a real estate agent, Sandy’s job doesn’t lend itself to simply taking an extended time off work.
“Role reversal,” Chris said. “She was the one leaving, going to work every day, doing stuff, and now I’m home.”
Dean and Anna now had online work to complete throughout the course of the spring to complete the school year, and Chris went searching for the most efficient way to make sure that was accomplished in his household.
Being a football coach, he did what he knows best.
“I went to the laptop and I made a practice schedule,” he said.
Football practice schedules are detailed, with each minute of each session accounted for and serving a purpose.
However, with Dean and Anna being so young, Chris quickly realized it would be a futile effort to try to keep them locked in for more than a few hours each day.
“He’s done a really good job,” Sandy said. “He’s probably more drill sergeant than I would have been, but he’s done a really good job of keeping them on track and up to date with their school work.”
Chris and Sandy made sure to mix up Dean and Anna’s activities as well through-out the days. As opposed to only doing class assignments, part of their structure included recreational activities (think running laps around the back yard) and household chores (like learning how to unload the dishwasher or make their bed).
Dean and Anna’s school days are a far cry from the eight-hour days that were part of their routine until March.
“We go upstairs, get dressed and brush our teeth, then we come back downstairs, go sit over there, and we do school,” Dean said. “Then I go play with my friends.”
The extended down time has also given the Mills family time to work on some home projects. Cabinet doors in the laundry room, bunk beds downstairs, a raised bed garden outside are just a few of the tasks that have been completed — or at least started — this season.
“We are not carpenters. We’re just kind of figuring it out as we go,” Chris said.
As for the future, Sandy is hopeful that the typical “spring high” in real estate will occur in the summer months once things progress toward normalcy again. Chris is awaiting word on what high school football teams will be allowed to do over the summer.
More than anything, this time has allowed the family to step back and count its blessings. The Mills live in the Calumet Downs neighborhood in Trussville, which is also home to many other families with similarly-aged children. They also both still have their jobs.
“We are blessed,” Chris said. “I hope the people that haven’t struggled know the blessing... Our complaints are really small. There’s a lot of people that are not only directly affected by the illness itself — a lot of families have lost people.”
Soon enough, Dean will be back in school, remembering fondly the days he got to go play in the neighborhood right after lunch.
