School and the Pandemic (part 2)

Drawing by my daughter done during lockdown.

Please read Part 1 first.

When the new school year started in September 2021, the government announced that they would continue to do distance learning. Even though we expected this, we were disappointed. It was hard on everyone. Staring at a screen for hours was hard, especially when there were a lot of more fun options around you. My oldest had school in the morning (middle school) my younger three had school in the afternoon/ early evening (elementary) Which meant I had school all day. It was exhausting. The teachers were amazing. I don’t know how they did it. It was a lot of work for them, parents and for the students too.

I started going to the gym in the mornings, I’d go as soon as I made sure my oldest had breakfast and was in his class. The others would still be asleep. I’d go swim and come back. It was the one thing I did for myself and it was great!

I’m lucky my kids go to amazing schools. They did everything they could to make learning at a distance easier. When my daughter was having an especially difficult time, her school invited her and two of her classmates to attend class at school. They were still on line but together in the same classroom, spread across the room of course, wearing masks. Bur it made such a difference! That one day gave her the boost she needed. I took her younger brothers to the park across the street and we did on line school at the park. They had a blast and would run to swing or slide in between classes. We even had a small picnic. My boys go to a different school. They were also given a day to attend. They were over the moon that they would get to see their teachers and classmates. It always made me nervous sending them but I knew they needed it!

We managed to complete an entire school year on line. It was hard but we did it! We had a lot of difficult moments. My middle son (4th grade at the time) had a lot of breaking moments. It was too much for him. He would beg me to let him go to school. I’d let him call the school counselor. He was supportive and would let him call whenever he needed. It was actually his idea to speak to him when once my son had had enough and came crying to me. it was so hard seeing him like that. Not seeing your friends, not playing during recess, no team sports during P.E… It was too much.

The next year (2022) the government decided that middle school and high school would attend school. Elementary school would continue to distance learn. My middle boys were so disappointed. They had had enough of on-line school. They missed their friends, they needed human interaction. We trusted the government, it was for the best. The older students were required to get two vaccines in order to go to school. The government wanted the majority of the population to be vaccinated before they sent elementary students back to school. I had two kids vaccinated and attending school in the morning and two doing on line school in the afternoon. My youngest who was three at the time was confused, where were his siblings going in the morning? School was on their Ipads! He was too young to remember them attending school.

After the first week of the second term, elementary schools started attending schools again! It was such a relief for everyone. My kids were so happy to be going back! They even reopened kindergarten and preschool and we decided to enroll our youngest who was three at the time. He needed to see more kids his age. With this pandemic he wasn’t used to seeing a lot of people. He didn’t even know school was something you attended until his older siblings went back and it was strange for him. It took him a little longer than usual to adjust to going to school and I went with him for an entire week. Then when he realized how much fun school was he started hating weekends! Haha! He would try to convince me that teachers didn’t have days off.

We’ve come a long way, since the start of the pandemic over two years ago. I think if anything, it has taught us not take anything for granted. We would have never imagined that the whole world would go in lock down and every one wo have to stay home! It was as if the entire human population was grounded and couldn’t leave their houses. The simplest things like going grocery shopping or going to school were forbidden. Hugging and hand shaking became taboo. I think some of us still have issues with touching people. Its awkward now; do we shake hands? Do we hug? It’s crazy how so much has changed!

I think this experience also taught us how much our pollution has impacted the earth. The way the earth healed during the pandemic was amazing! What a difference it made, to the air, the seas and all wildlife. That is something we need to think about more.

As hard as the pandemic was and still is on the whole world. I’d like to think that some good did come out of it.