What Are We Going to Do About This School Year Disaster?

As difficult as the spring was, when our children were at home with us all day, and we ourselves tried to keep working, she really had a certain feeling. At best, this could continue until the end of the school year, which in my case was only three months. And while they did have online assignments and videoconferencing several times a week, we all knew that this was not at all what they usually learn in a day, week, or month. We weren’t really trying to teach them new things; we tried to keep them from rolling back, from losing what they had already gained. We tried to survive.

And now we are in Summer Limbo Hell, preparing for what autumn may bring. The fall feels different. Autumn is a new school year, not the end of an old one. Autumn means new teachers and new expectations. This is a more advanced curriculum. Autumn is not trying to adapt to life in a pandemic; In the fall, six months have passed since our children were in the same room with their friends.

They need to go to school, but it’s not safe.

They are not as severely affected by the virus as their teachers, canteen workers, service staff, and counselors. Their elderly relatives do just that. Their parents know.

They need to learn, they need to communicate, they need to get out of this damn house. Yet this pandemic is not going anywhere.

I was going to write a post about maybe it’s time to think about homeschooling, as some parents do now. But even choice is a privilege that most parents don’t have. Many of us could get by in the spring when their workload dropped, as did all expectations. We didn’t like it, but we were able to get through. But how can we homeschool all day when we are still working from home, returning to the office, or doing important work? We cannot, here is the answer.

But how else can we prepare for what lies ahead? How can we prepare our children for what the school year will bring when things are still so unclear? Many schools have not yet disclosed what face-to-face classes would look like, if any. New York recently announced that its public schools will not be fully reopened; instead, children will go to school 1-3 days a week.

On the one hand, it makes sense. Reduces density significantly; children may be more common and less likely to catch and spread the disease. On the other hand, how the hell does it work? On other days, do they study remotely? And if so, who teaches or contributes to this? What about childcare? We could send them to kindergarten, but then they could be in school. We could send them to their grandparents’ house, but we really don’t want to .

We could lobby the administration and the school board, but what are we asking? Where is the good solution in all of this? If sports and extracurricular activities resume, will we allow them to join? Do we let them snort and puff at band rehearsals, or play masked lacrosse while the crowd has a hard time distancing themselves on the sidelines?

I want to get ready; I want to help you get ready. I want to shower you with hacking tricks about returning to parenting school, but how do you hack school year shit like that? I don’t want to tell you about free online educational resources anymore! We are all tired of free online educational resources!

I’ll tell you what I’ve done so far, but it’s very simple; I bought another sheet mask for my nine-year-old child. He will probably have to wear them every day to school, at least at certain points, so I started piling up on them. Other than that, I’m waiting. I talk to him about what a school might look like. I hope August is clearer than July, but otherwise I’m not sure what to hope for.

Let us know in the comments: What are you doing to prepare for the disaster of the school year? Home schooling? Hire someone else for home schooling? Pray for a totally virtual return? Pray for personal return? Are you going to do what the school tells you because you have no other choice?