Dear friends,

Jennie here: as some of our kids begin the process of trickling back to in-person learning, I need to remind you what you already know about Stamina at the beginning of the school year. When I was a classroom teacher (and before I had kids), I would come home and immediately go to sleep after teaching all day. As the teacher, I was exhausted. It took me a good 3 to 4 weeks at the beginning of each school year, to build-up the stamina I needed to teach all day long and actually function as a human being when I got home.

Now, let’s think about our kiddos.

They have not been at school since MARCH.

That was 30 WEEKS ago (yes, I counted).

As difficult as the home-learning environment was for some, it offered a great deal of flexibility in learning for some of our kids. Some of my favorite things that I heard from kids in my office about the perks of remote learning are as follows:

They could get a snack when they needed.

They could go to the bathroom when they needed.

They could move when they needed.

They could stand and work. They could sit upside-down and work.

They could snuggle with the family dog during the day.

They could see their parents/siblings at breaks during the day.

They could go to school in their pjs.

They could sit in their comfiest chair.

They could even sit with a pot of tea on their desk to drink during class.

 

The decision to send kids back to school or not is personal for each family. And as some of our kids get ready to head back into the classroom, I want to remind you of some of the things they may have forgotten being home for the last 7 months:

They have forgotten how to get up early.

They have forgotten how sit in desks in the classroom.

They have forgotten how to change classes.

They have forgotten how to juggle multiple sets of expectations from teachers.

They have forgotten how to do classwork in a classroom.

They have forgotten to ask to go to the bathroom.

They have forgotten how to pack a backpack.

They have forgotten how to pack a lunch.

 

If your kids are already back at school, you have probably noticed that they are as tired as I was coming home from school each day. AND then you add to the mix that school looks very different from what they are used to.

So, for the first few weeks as they build up their Stamina being back at school: don’t plan too much. Don’t plan anything afterschool except low key activities, lots of outside time and early bedtimes.

The pace of life has slowed down in such a way that we don’t need to race back into our “old lives” with the start of school.

Keep doing your walks around the neighborhood.

Keep feeding the neighborhood chickens.

Keep doing your family bike rides.

Keep doing bedtime stories around the firepit.

Let’s keep some of the wonderful things we discovered during this period of slow-down.

 

Happy New School Year to you and your family and I wish you health and happiness.

Please keep thanking our teachers for all their hard work and let us know if we can support you going forward!