Back to School!

I can't believe that I'm sitting here on November 8th, talking about tomorrow being the "first day of school"! Tomorrow the boys start their hybrid learning. What does that mean? It means they'll go to school on Mondays and Tuesdays each week. The rest of the week will be remote learning as they have been doing since August.

They will only attend about 4 hours on those 2 days, but I am happy that they're finally going to get some in school structure and learning. I don't get a break. Tomorrow I'll be up earlier to get us out the door. I've got 2 drop offs at 2 schools. From there I go to work and once I'm done at work it's time to go pick up 2 kids at 2 schools. 

I've being hyping it up all weekend. Today we packed their backpacks, and everything is ready to go in the morning. Daniel is excited. James is excited but he told me he's a little bit nervous too. We talked about everything that will happen at drop off and that I can't go in with him. I am so thankful that he's been in North a million times, so he's comfortable with that. Here's hoping there aren't any tears. He told me, "I'll wave at you!" 

With the Covid cases skyrocketing in our area recently, I kept waiting for the district to drop the hammer again. There are many that don't agree with us going hybrid and others of us who are happy about it.

I have faith that all will be okay and that I've made the right decision for my kids. I have total respect for those who have decided to stay full remote because they are concerned. It's the ones who condemn those of us sending our kids that irritates me. I've had someone tell me to my face that I'm putting my kids lives and their teachers lives in danger.

Umm, hello! I've been back to teaching for 8 weeks. My kids are with me. I could potentially get it from my preschool kids. My own kids are around my preschoolers. We go to church. We go to parks. We go shopping. I'm honestly more worried about Daniel getting strep because every time he goes back to school he gets strep. (Maybe the masks will help)

The schools have plans and procedures in place. I fully understand that at any point one of them may be exposed and we will all have to quarantine. It's not ideal...and let's face it, if it happens before Thanksgiving and we don't get to go to Iowa, I will cry. But we'll make the best of it.

My prayers are with the teachers and kiddos as they return this week. March 13th is the last time these kids attended in person. Teachers will be juggling classes of kids and remote learning at the same time. There's going to be a learning curve, but so far communication has been great with both of the boys' schools. It's easy to reach their teachers, and get information. 

Tomorrow I will drop my kids off to start brand new adventures! And I'm sending in chocolate to their teachers, because every teacher needs a backup supply of chocolate!

Here's a few "back to school" pics I snapped tonight. I'll load the rest later when my computer decides to cooperate better.