Back when we took Jack’s photo for the first day of second grade, we had no idea how crazy this year would end up being. Nobody had any idea. And nobody was ready to deal with states suddenly shutting down schools, workplaces sending their employees home, and being told to Stay at Home as much as possible.
In my great big bag of ‘things to worry about’, a pandemic never even crossed my mind.
But, here we are.
Jack’s elementary school closed on March 13, 2020 and we started online schooling soon after. Our teachers actually had some tasks up online as soon as the following week, with actual lessons to be completed online a week or so later.
Every single weekday, Jack and I have worked together for him to complete his Math, ELA, Content, Specials (Music, Media, Health, PE, Media) and more. Every single weekday for the last 13 weeks. I’ve also been working full-time from home for the last 12 weeks.
It’s been hard. Super dooper hard.
However, there have been some positives (when you block out the whining). Rather than coming home with blank worksheets and half-filled out pages of work because he ran out of time in class, Jack had plenty of time and one-on-one attention.
Rather than potentially being ignored in a big group, he was able to work with me on every assignment and I made sure he understood what and why he was doing something.
Rather than being left on his own to misunderstand the text on a quiz question or just give up and guess what they were asking for, he had me encouraging him to sound out each word and ask him whether his guess made sense or not.
While I’ve been worried about him falling behind by being at home, now I’m thinking that I may have actually given him a chance to catch up to his peers. Sure, he’s not reading any chapter books on his own quite yet. But I feel like he might actually have a stronger foothold on his lessons than I expected.
Over the summer, we typically do a bit of schoolwork here and there to keep his brain from fully turning to mush. And I plan to keep up with that this summer.
We have no idea what the fall will look like… whether he will be back at school online or if there will be some sort of hybrid in-person/online schooling plan.
However, we DO know that as of today Jack has completed 2nd grade and I think we both deserve some sort of award for that!
Congratulations!!!!! That’s a big accomplishment, for you both. I think an ice cream sundae is in order. On Sunday!! A hike in a park, then some fun movies. Maybe a Lego tournament with his folks. Or Jenga.
Whatever you do, have a great time. Enjoy your wonderful son.