The first day of school arrived on September 8th. Instead of the typical farewells and good wishes conveyed while watching the kids climb onto their school buses, this year would look completely different. Due to COVID, our school district was offering families two options: one being part-time in person/part-time distance learning and the other being full-time distance learning. Not knowing how COVID would affect the kids, especially Aria, and trying to minimize exposure as much as possible, we choose the full-time distance learning option.
Owen started 7th grade at Chippewa, Cole 4th grade at Turtle Lake and Rose Kindergarten at Snail Lake - all virtually. While the boys seemed alright with the thought of doing their schooling from home, Rose was very disappointed. She had been looking forward all summer to starting Kindergarten and seeing her friends again.
My normally quiet time at home during the school year has been rather chaotic managing distance learning for three kids, plus parenting two toddlers, juggling doctor appointments and several weekly therapies and managing the household. I soon realized I needed an extra set of hands. After reaching out to nearly 100 different caregivers on care.com, we finally found the perfect fit. Having only used family and friends to help with the kids, it was a bit of an adjustment having a stranger in our home caring for the most precious little people in my life, but within a week, everyone (myself included) was grateful to have Stevie around to help with zoom calls, homework assignments, lunches, tiding up, and lots and lots of playing.
While the 2020-2021 school year is not at all what we had hoped for, as long as everyone stays healthy and passes to the next grade level, I'll consider it a success.
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