It’s Official: Our Oldest Kiddo is Doing Virtual Learning for Kindergarten
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After months of discussing it and then working to get him a spot, our oldest kiddo is starting kindergarten next week on his iPad at home. And we couldn’t be more grateful.
If you’ve been following us on any of our social media channels, you know how serious we’ve been about social distancing this year. No parks, no stores, no trips to see family, no vacations. Our number one priority has been to protect the kiddos from COVID 19, and so home is where we’ve been for the last 6 months and home is where we plan to stay until something changes with the pandemic.
Which is why when we found out that virtual learning was an option for the coming school year (even for kindergarten!), we were so excited and grateful to get our oldest enrolled so he could still learn safely at home. As much as he loved school and getting to see his friends and his teacher, we’ve explained to him that learning at home is the best option for him right now, and thankfully, he understands that.
One of the biggest debates around the country right now is whether or not to open schools and let kids go back to in-person learning. It’s sadly become political, as so many things have the last few years. In our minds it doesn’t make sense that protecting children and prioritizing their safety should be political or even be a question, but that’s 2020, isn’t it? It also doesn’t make sense to us that if we pulled kids out of school at the beginning of the pandemic, why would we put them back in at the height of it?
Of course, we know that we have the privilege of working from home, so we’re in the position to do virtual learning for our oldest. So many people around the country don’t have that luxury and are faced with hard, unimaginable decisions about how to make a living while also giving their kid an education. Thomas was raised by a single mother who had 3 kids to take care of while usually working two jobs at a time. What would she do if this was happening 20 years ago? Some people have no choice. For many, schools must open so that parents can work in order to feed their families. It’s an impossible & unfair situation that so many are being put in right now. Our hearts ache for those struggling with the effects of the pandemic that extend beyond the illness.
When the kiddos first came to live with us last summer, they were developmentally delayed quite a bit, so we’ve spent the last year working with them and teaching them in order to get caught up. They’re all pretty much where they need to be now, but only because we didn’t take a break this summer. PJ has been working with them M-F to get them ready for the school year and it’s paid off. When we first got them, little brother couldn’t talk and older brother couldn’t count to 5. They didn’t know their ABC’s or what a letter even was. Now both of them can count to 50, know all their ABC’s, and are starting to spell words and read complete sentences. The joy we feel seeing them learn and seeing the light bulb go off in their heads when something clicks is indescribable. As for little sis, she’s getting there. She has the privilege and the burden of having two older siblings who do a lot of the talking for her, but, like everything else with her, she’ll get there when she wants to :).
It was a complicated road getting him enrolled in virtual schooling, with a ton of phone calls and texts and emails to so many people we’ve lost count, but finally, we got the call the other day that he was approved and will start school next week. We are eternally grateful for everyone that helped make this happen for him and can’t say thank you enough. We know that if he wasn’t enrolled, the last 6 months of social distancing as seriously as we’ve been (did we mention no vacations? haha) would have been for nothing, and that him returning to school could potentially put his younger siblings at risk. We’ve seen how school openings in Georgia have gone and even here at some of the other schools in town, and it hasn’t been pretty.
At the end of the day, you have to do what you feel is best for your family, and you can only do what you can do. This is an unprecedented and hard time for everyone, and we believe we’re all just doing the best we can to make it through. We sincerely hope you’re okay and continue to stay as safe as you can.
As for us, for now, we have his iPad, his apps downloaded, his online accounts created, and his school supplies at home. Look out kindergarten: older brother, our 5 year old, is ready for you. Here he comes.
