Back to School Tips: Transitioning Back to In Person Learning

 

It’s that time of year again when parents prepare to send their babies back to school. Yes, I said babies, because it doesn’t matter if they are 5 years old or 20 and going to college, us parents will always look at them as our babies. Let’s face it, the last couple of years have not aided in easing our worries as parents, especially when it comes to schooling and the uncertainty of what the new school year will bring.

Instead of dwelling on the negatives, I’ve decided to focus on the positives and what we can control, the little things that can make all of the difference in our kiddos mindset and outlook on a fresh new year.

*FYI, this post also addresses concerns of returning to in school learning during the latest variant of covid, and hopefully, those areas of this post will be a thing of the past very soon!

Returning to in person classes after a solid year of virtual schooling has weighed heavily on my mind. In all honesty, virtual schooling was a disaster for us. Our school district did the best they could with the resources available, but I know that our children suffered by not being in a classroom setting. In hindsight, had we all had more time to prepare and additional resources, it may have worked better than it did. Either way, there is a bit of relief that in person schooling is even an option this year. After we found out that regular school was a go, I shifted my focus into preparing to make this a great year for our kiddos no matter what!

Here are a few things to hopefully make the adjustment easier for all of us (parents too!):

 

1.     First things first, have a back-to-school discussion with the kids leading the conversation. We normally have a pow-wow style meeting in the living room a few weeks before school starts anyways. We discuss everything from school supplies, new gear and clothing needs, schedules, and expectations as far as bedtimes and school guidelines. This year we started our meeting off by letting them know schools would be back in regular session and then we asked them what they thought. We didn’t try to steer the conversation with prompts like “Are you excited?” or “Are you worried about returning to school?” instead, we just wanted to know what they were thinking after such a long hiatus. We learned a lot! Our youngest was nervous about his friends not remembering him and how much homework they would have in fourth grade. Our two high schoolers shared their thoughts on everything from wearing masks to navigating the school after classrooms had been moved around. Our college student was very concerned about having to switch between virtual learning and in person classes with little to no warning and she had heard very little from campus or her professors. After everyone had their chance to talk about whatever they needed to, my husband and I tried to address their concerns, answer, or find out who could answer their questions, and we wrote down the things that we needed to wait on talking about until we had more information. At the end, the kids seemed excited and relieved.

2.     Two weeks before school starts, we work on enforcing morning & bedtime routines. Coming off summer break is tough during a normal year, but this was like coming off an extended summer break! Our youngest has proved to be the toughest to readjust. To help them get back in the swing of earlier bedtimes, I have a strict no electronics after 7p.m. rule. This is harder with the older kiddos having cell phones, but I found that having a charging station in the kitchen helps. Everyone plugs in their phones at night and our Alexa devices are set for morning alarms. Since we live in a rural area, this means earlier wake up times for lengthy bus rides and there is nothing crabbier than a teenager being forced out of bed at 5:30 in the morning. By eight o’clock, bedtime routines begin with the youngest getting his shower first, clean pajamas, and bedtime stories. He’s in bed by eight thirty and the teenagers have until ten but are usually passed out by nine. We also make sure that clothes are laid out the night before and bookbags are checked and hanging by the door. This saves so much time in the mornings! Morning routines: I have a wake-up announcement play on the Alexa devices and go room by room to make sure they are rising from their peaceful slumbers. They go through getting dressed and ready just like they would for school, eat breakfast at the kitchen island, make sure morning chores are done (making beds, feeding animals) and then we start our day. By the time that school starts, they are back on schedule.

3.     Back to school shopping: let them have a say. Usually, it’s a task I tackle alone. I go armed with the school supply list during tax-free weekend and try to get in and out as quickly as possible. Now, I know some kiddos are adamant on going shopping for their own supplies anyways, but not mine. This year, I wanted to get them involved and pumped up for a fresh school year. Not surprisingly, they had no interest in going shopping for school supplies and said, “Just get whatever’s on the list mom.”. They are well past the stage of cool folders and scented pencils. So, I had to improvise. I let each of them pick out one new “cool” school supply and was pleasantly surprised. The teenagers wanted Trapper Keepers (ahhh! memories!) which I had to order because no Walmart within a two-hour radius of us had them in stock. The fourth grader wanted dinosaur tee shirts that had funny sayings on them. That was it! Nothing extravagant or expensive and I was able to order it all online, BONUS! The look on their faces when their supplies all did arrive gave me hope too, they really were excited about the prospect of returning to school.

4.     Talk about safety. To address the elephant in the room aka the covid-19 pandemic and all it’s mutations, our community has been as divided as the rest of the world. Our school district has tried to evolve with the changing recommendations, and we’ve relied heavily on our doctor’s advice, especially with my husband’s medical conditions that have him in a higher risk category than others. As of now, we currently have no mask mandates at our schools. However, our kiddos have been stellar at doing whatever they can to protect themselves and their dad from possible exposure, so they are opting to wear mask. Since they aren’t required, there is that concern that they will be teased or made fun of, but our schools have been highly supportive in students and families choosing to do what they think is best for their families. I ordered a couple new cloth mask, and we still have plenty of disposable masks too. All the kids have personal hand sanitizer for their bookbags and Lysol wipes for cleaning their desk in between class changes. We also talked about the school’s policy on what will happen in the event of exposure to the virus, quarantine policies, and the possibility that hybrid schedules could happen again if cases in our community increase drastically with the kids. We wanted them to have a clear idea of what would happen and how we navigate whatever the situation should be. I’m proud of how thoughtful and caring our kids are and the choices they’ve had to make that we could’ve never imagined. In addition to health safety, we always talk about the other concerns with returning to school and riding the bus. Things like bullying, inappropriate behavior, how to communicate with their teachers and administrators if they notice things that need to be reported, and what to do if they start feeling angry or sad or overwhelmed too. It’s crazy to think we have to have these type of talks at all, but it’s better to have them and be proactive than not and be reactive.

5.     Meal planning lunches, after school snacks, and easy dinners is a must to help keep my own sanity during those first few weeks back. Our kids are all wonderfully unique and of course that means so are their tastebuds. Somedays they all want packed lunches and other days they want school lunches. I’ve learned to hang a copy of the school’s menu on the fridge so I can ask the night before, then I can pack whatever lunches I need to ahead of time. After school snacks are kept easy: fresh fruit, peanut butter crackers, popcorn, and trail mix. Dinners on the other hand, that can get tricky because of after school schedules. We have one kiddo working part-time in the evenings, fall baseball, and other commitments during the evening hours that can add to last-minute take-out orders. One way I curb this bad habit is by using my trusty crockpot. Freezer meals are life savers too! I plan all my meals weekly, prep on Sundays by filling up gallon freezer bags with crockpot meals, aluminum pans with casseroles and meat loafs, and then leave the weekends for cooking more time-consuming meals. The key; keep it simple. Planning elaborate meals that require lots of prep time during the week just overwhelms me. I’ve learned easy doesn’t have to mean unhealthy, if I invest in my Sunday planning sessions, those freezer meals are way better than drive-thru orders.

6.     Homework was a worry of our youngest kiddo. He was spoiled during virtual learning with almost no homework and even our older kiddos only had a few assignments or projects that required “after school” effort. In the past, I let the kids have an hour after school to play or unwind before we dove into homework. After our family meeting, we all agreed it would be best to tackle homework as soon as they get home. I decided to designate the dining room table as they’re after schoolwork space and have a homework box with extra supplies they might need ready to go. Once homework is done, the box can be put away and bookbags checked and hung before they have a chance to misplace anything. This also allows me to be working in the kitchen but available as they need help as opposed to them working in their bedrooms at opposites ends of the house.

7.     Getting in exercise through active play every day. One thing I admittedly was terrible at during this past year of virtual school was getting the kids outside or moving around every day. I struggled so much with juggling three different grade levels, tech issues, and communication problems, my poor brain was usually mush by the end of the day. The plan this school season is to make an hour a day involve some type of physical activity. Ideas are a plenty, but I kept thinking back to when I was younger, and my favorite part of the day was recess. We played basketball, jumped rope, hopscotch, and tag. In other words, it doesn’t need to be overly creative, it just needs to be a fun activity and sometimes, the classics are the best. Sure, they will hopefully have gym classes and recesses during the school day, but I still think that extra hour a day will make a big difference for all of them.

8.     DON’T STRESS! There is plenty of reasons our anxieties about the new school year are valid but stressing about the unknowns will only do more harm than good. Instead, focus on the things you can do to make this year as smooth as possible for your kiddos and yourself. Keep the lines of communication open with your kids and their teachers. Don’t fret over what they missed during the past year or so, the schools know there is some ground to make up, but the teachers have been preparing all summer to help close any gaps of learning loss.

 

All in all, my best advice is this; we are all trying to do the best that we can, and our best can be at different levels on any given day, so focus on the trying part! As long as we are trying, that’s all that really matters! The kids will be fine, as long as they have a loving home to come back to at the end of every school day, they will do just fine and hopefully, we will be too!