The Monday after Easter, Brett returned to in-person learning after five months of distance learning. When the school year started, his school offered a hybrid learning plan where students were divided in half and each group attended two half-days a week. This time around, the restrictions have lessened. Everyone who wants to attend in-person has a full Monday-Thursday schedule. Fridays are independent learning, allowing teachers more time for lesson preparations and connecting with students who have elected to remain distance learners. He is so happy to be back in-person!
I continue to homeschool Brett in the subjects of math and language arts. If he was at a traditional middle school, there would be remedial offerings in these subjects. But because his school is very small, they don't have such offerings. The teachers and case manager are willing to make accommodations for Brett, but won't offer him different curriculum. He has made friends, fits in, and likes it there, so we are staying put for now! In our new schedule, we do homeschool as soon as Reggie goes to school in the morning. We have a little over an hour and then he goes to the charter school for about 4 hours. Then on Fridays we have more time to finish up what needs to be done for the week.
Lydia's school also returned to in-person learning this spring. At first it was two groups each going two days a week, and now everyone who wants to can attend four days a week. Lydia wanted to stay in distance learning and you can't argue with a kid who's getting straight A's. School keeps her engaged 7:45-11:45 and then we have time for other stuff. I'm enjoying the time I have with her!
For the last year, Bryan and I have talked a lot about our "risk budget". We think about the amount of risk we are willing to take as a family related to Covid exposure as a certain total amount. Some things take precedence, like Bryan going to work. The size of our budget is dependent upon how much Covid is currently spreading in our area. And the cost of a particular activity will depend on risk factors such as indoor vs. outdoor, size of gathering, etc. We are willing to spend more on certain things even if it takes a lot from our budget, for example, having Reggie play some sports. Other things are simply too costly, like the potential for unintentionally exposing our parents. I am very happy that Bryan and I have basically been in agreement!
The risk budget constantly has new or changing variables. One positive change is that now we have easy access to Covid testing. While it was hard to get a test in the fall, now we can walk in without an appointment, do a spit test, get results within 24 hours, and at no cost to us. So that has become a part of our regular routine. Secondly, Bryan and I have both started the vaccine process. We haven't quite figured out how this will change what we do, since we will still have three unvaccinated kids in our household. Pretty much all of our activities revolve around them! I hope Lydia and Brett will be able to get vaccinated early in the summer, but expect Reggie won't be through the vaccine process until fall (because he turns twelve in August).
Speaking of vaccines, I will never look at a Target dressing room in the same way again. That's where I got vaccinated! Bryan got vaccinated at a large event center where we have done things like go to hockey games.
But the news hasn't all been good. Cases in our area took an upturn in March, with a lot of UK variant transmission. Soon, we were getting notices from our schools and hearing from friends who had gotten sick. At least 29 cases have been linked to a youth wrestling tournament that we would normally attend. We didn't go this year because they moved it across the state border to avoid Covid restrictions.
A couple weeks ago, Bryan's friend from work notified him he tested positive. There had been a couple other recent cases in his office. So when word came that his friend was in the hospital, the office sent everyone home for at least two weeks. At the time of this writing, Bryan's coworker is on a ventilator.
Spring sports are in the works. It looks like Reggie will have one more season in Little League and practices started last week. Brett and Lydia were really hoping to do track through Special Olympics but ultimately the season got cancelled due to being unable to comply with all the safety requirements set in place this year. Instead, they will try a nearby city's track team. The program was really short on coaches, so Bryan volunteered. It appears as though, if things go according to plan, May-July are booked with sports.
Back to life as we knew it?
I hope that Bryan's coworker takes a turn for the better ASAP. I haven't used the phrase "risk budget", but I have definitely talked about what was worth the risk and what wasn't with the kids. The two things I missed the most during the lockdown were church and the library and those seemed like a low risk to me with a high benefit so I was willing to do that. Other things we took a break from even after they reopened because the risk seemed to be greater than the potential benefit of the activity. I'm glad that Lydia has had such a great year and that you have had more time with her than you would have normally. Although we all wish that COVID-19 had never existed, there have been some positive things that have come out of it.
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