The Start is Finally Here!
Sooo… I know not to start a sentence with so but I have learned it from my adult children that when they approach me with so… I’d better brace myself. It was mid-March and my husband and I were in Homer for our anniversary when I started receiving texts from parents asking if The Study was going to shut down due to mandates that were given to public schools. I really didn’t know what to do, all I could do was over think…was this real, was it political, should I follow suit?? Most of our school families wanted to resume however, some had circumstances (such as elderly parents or at-risk students) I respected and listened to our whole school family. The students at The Study got to stay in school for one more week until the Governor released another mandate stating that all private schools must close. As a school family, the kids managed to crank out their work, the teachers graded and then Face-Timed students to point out the great stuff and the maybe not so great stuff. I will never forget our first Zoom session…one by one I got to see their faces…you guys know me..yes, I lost it. Gradually, the kids got to come back and meet in small groups which thrilled them and us…..and needless to say parents. We also gave families the option to do one month for free of summer school with the loss of face to face contact which worked great. There, that is all the dry facts as far as how Covid went down with us. Now there were the funny stories of how parents handled having their kiddos at home. There was one story problem on a student’s third grade math paper that had to do with kids going to the grocery store and buying (for the sake of fun) watermelons….Suzie bought 24 watermelons, Johnny bought 30 watermelons and Sammy bought 42 watermelons…what is the total number of watermelons bought? What is 1/4 of the total watermelons? How many did Suzie and Sammy buy altogether? What was 1/4 of Suzie and Sammy’s watermelons. If necessary write the remainder as a fraction. As I graded the student’s paper I noticed a big “WTF (I think it means what the fart) Mrs. Nelson, we need to talk”….I was like, “Oh boy this homeschooling is really getting to people.” Then, there was trying to Face-Time Pre-School and Kindergarten and First Graders….Well, let’s just say technical difficulties and very little attention span. Ms. Nichole just started saying it was social hour with Archer, sharing time with Renee and Ian. Then there was Ms. Trish filtering all the “Covid Questions”… God Bless her!! So that is the story until now…we are back and teachers, students and especially parents are thrilled! Please pray for our school to be protected and for us to have a spectacular year!!