WAHOO!!!!
We survived the FIRST DAY BACK TO SCHOOL! Our district is requiring every student to do virtual learning the first three weeks and then after that period students can decide to go back to school or continue with virtual learning.
Knowing that, this teacher-turned mom-turned teacher again was up early with coffee in hand to kick off this school year!
My crew up and ready for the first day of virtual learning…
Bowen-2nd Grade
Ebby Lee-6th Grade
Nixon-5th Grade
Britt-headed to Pre-K {hopefully} in September
Bowen-2nd Grade
Ebby Lee-6th Grade
Nixon-5th Grade
Britt-headed to Pre-K {hopefully} in September
Ebby Lee was so excited to start middle school, meet new friends, and meet her new teachers. She had a GREAT day! And we are looking forward to the day she can walk the halls and make it feel more official as a new middle school student.
Nixon is now the big man on campus as a fifth grader. He enjoyed seeing lots of familiar faces in his class and can’t wait to see everyone in person!
Bowen decided to forgo shoes because VIRTUAL LEARNING! Bowen is all about his friends so virtual learning has to be the toughest on him. He’s personable, likes to chat with everyone, and is praying the most for a school return STAT!
This girly was such a trooper! I know this week will be so much smoother than last week but she hung in there and kept herself entertained as I helped the big kids settle into school at home.
Ebby Lee got up early and helped Bowen before her first class.
We set Nixon up in a little area in the living room.
After everyone was settled we breathed a sigh of relief and then, “MMMMOOOOOMMMMMM!!!!”.
The first day was lots of introductions but Bowen’s class managed to label items, separate things, and dive into their school supplies.
During one of Bowen’s breaks, he joined Britt and I for a little preschool. This lesson was from this curriculum. We read a book all about apples, sorted apples, and painted as well. She loved it! And really would have preferred it to last much longer. This week we’re working longer.
At 1:15 p.m., I sat down in the office alone {Tab was out of town for work} and felt exhausted! For the most part, the day was great! But we had some mishaps…our wi-fi wasn’t cooperating with all kids on Zoom calls so I frantically went around the house unplugging things and turning things off. My kids all have computers from the school which are MacBooks but I’ve used a PC all my life so there was a learning curve on simply the computer itself. And then my kids felt uncomfortable in the middle of the Zoom call asking for help with computer things so they’d shout at me and we’d frantically try to fix it. Again, the issues are just things they’ll get used to with more practice. Nothing major but they really kept me moving from kid to kid until the afternoon.
At one point I called Tab probably with a bit of a heated tone and he mentioned me needing to take a “basic computer class”. hahahaha! Clearly my entire family realizes it might have been a bit of user error when it comes to the issues.
And BIG THANKS to Shay who popped over in the middle of the day to help us out! A quick tutorial from Shay and my big kids were off!
Our day two was SO MUCH BETTER! The mom in me didn’t want the kids to be closed off in their rooms all day so for day one we’d set up areas elsewhere. But day two we moved everyone to their own rooms and it worked SO MUCH BETTER! I think they’d just see me walk by and ask me versus figure it out for themselves. I only had to help with one thing ALL DAY and it was something that was really messed up or Bowen could have figured it out alone.
WAHOOOOOO!!
I cannot even begin to imagine how hard teachers are working to make this virtual learning happen. I’m SO thankful for our teachers! They were SO sweet, full of grace, and really tried to make the classes feel as fun as possible. We cannot wait to see them in person! It’s gonna be a great year, friends!
XO
Whew!!! I'm so glad we now know what to expect. For my family, the not knowing was hard. Off to start a new week…friend! We've got this!!! (Sort of. Kind of. Maybe. Hopefully. 😉 )
Thanks for mentioning teachers. Believe me, virtual teaching involves 10x more work then in person and a lot of us also have kids at home. That said, knowing we are safe is a BIG plus. But in the beginning I was working late into the night prepping and planning.
Hang in there! My own kids are virtual until at least mid October, hoping for longer. If they go back to school, we no longer can see grandparents again.
I seriously cannot imagine managing 4 during the day, and you even whipped out a preschool lesson. GO MAMA!!!!! I'm seriously impressed.
So glad you made it through week one! Everyone looks great!! Good luck with week 2!!
http://www.elspethsdaybyday.com
You are awesome for being so candid about your day! That sounds exactly like us in the spring. We can do this! Tell Ebby Lee she looked beautiful on her first day of middle school. 6th grade is such an awesome year.
Wow!! You're an awesome Mama, and you're doing great! 🙂
Your school looks like they did a great job making the virtual option inviting! Any idea if kids choose to stay virtual if they have the same teacher? So curious what other schools are doing. Good luck to your fam!
I love your gold top! Would you be able to post a link?
Thank you for being so positive towards teachers! I teach elementary school and we’ve had a lot of negative comments from parents about the decision to start virtually. It’s tough for everyone, but I feel so much better starting the year knowing we’re doing what will keep everyone safe.