Back to (in-person) school (again)

Some kids and their parents ruminate on the impending return to in-person school as COVID-19 rages on

The 2020-2021 school year has been...challenging...for parents, teachers, and students. In our district, the kids were supposed to start the year in person. Then...they didn’t. 

So we unexpectedly had virtual school for a few months, and then they actually went back in-person (with a sort-of hybrid thing where for some reason they were home on Wednesdays) for a few weeks, and then the number of COVID-19 cases in the county got too high, so they went back to virtual schooling.

And then the holidays came and went. At the start of the new semester, school has been virtual for a couple of weeks, but now we’re going back to in-person school. Sort of. Again, it’s the weird Wednesday hybrid thing.

As anyone connected to schools in any way knows, this is incredibly disruptive to families, to learning, etc. I can’t imagine how difficult this has been for teachers who have to keep reinventing the wheel on the fly. (This year, alllll teachers get Teacher of the Year, amiright?)

But what’s especially odd about the kids going back—again!—to in-person school is that the number of COVID-19 cases in the county is higher now than it was when they reverted back to virtual school in the first place. Which doesn’t seem particularly safe?

The kids are dying to get back to school and see their teachers and friends, and we parents really want them out of the house. But...COVID-19, you know?

So...people are having many conflicted Thoughts and Feelings around all of this. To get more perspective, we talked to our kids about how they’re feeling and what they’re thinking about before they go back to school...in person...again.

Note: Essie created all of the music in that podcast episode. Seriously! Here she is concocting her creations.