I Sent My Daughter Back to Face to Face Classes

My husband and I cautiously made the decision to send our daughter back to face to face classes this January after a few false starts last year. Eventually, hubby and I assessed the situation on an environmental level, on a personal level as individual parents and as a unit, and then incorporated the school’s protocols to find our level of comfort.

The school did a remote option, but there was no way we were going to do that on an extended basis. That option involved the teachers doing the lesson planning and sending the week’s lessons home. The lesson would be taught and the work submitted at the end of the week.

As you can see, that meant homeschooling and tuition was due only 20% less. Simply put, I couldn’t afford to pay that much and still teach her myself. Time is money, and in our home last year, that trade wasn’t feasible for us. But we knew, she needed to go back as soon as we felt comfortable enough, she’d only been in school for two months when everything fell apart.

Why Send Her to Face to Face Classes?

There a few reasons, which I know more than enough parents understand. The hard truth is that Covid is not what we thought it was initially, and it is going nowhere fast. So we must learn to live with it (while taking precautions of course). Apart from the fact that I am not able to teach her full time because I need to work and so does my husband, as a four-year-old with no relatives or friends around in her age groups, I’ve definitely noticed the effect on her.

Starting school had been a big change for her, and when it flipped again just a few weeks later when she had finally been settling into the routine, she had been hit hard. For the ten months she was out of school, she asked constantly when she could go back. There is very little social activity to include her in as well, and locking her in an apartment everyday, That affects me, so imagine a child.

My Fears

Germs and Covid

We’d met with the school sometime last year regarding their new operations. Among my list of concerns were whether it was safe, of course. Her age group may be resilient, but children are little germ hosts, even without a pandemic thrown into the mix. Back in January when she first started school (her first time in care outside our home, two days in the sniffles and colds started. That continued for the entire time she was in school and I’d been braced to expect it for about six months. I wondered about that when she re-entered the system and whether she would restart that process. I expected (and still do) it. So I am conscious of that.

Face-to-face Mix and Mingle

With small children, there is just no way to avoid the mixing really. Children (Mostly babies) will mix and mingle with each other. Then keeping a mask on all day? That just isn’t going to happen, and I knew social distancing them all isn’t realistic either.

How it’s Going So Far

What has helped, is that the school population (her school had a small population to begin with) is lower as some students remain at home, and the school keeps the children in their class groups. So rather than use the lunch room as before, they’ll eat at their desks and learn and play in the same group.

After doing the remote option the first week and sending her back to face-to-face school the second, I haven’t heard a sniffle thus far and I’m a bit more optimistic. All the hyper awareness of sanitation, frequent cleaning and the strict rules against children with any illnesses, whatever the cause have helped in that regard. Fingers crossed this continues to go well.

The school sanitizes bags upon arrival and shoe soles upon entry. They temp check three times a day for staff and students, and we are aware, that should someone turn up ill, the school will call for pickup and close for two weeks as the situation is monitored. They have a few other measures as well. These are just a few.

This definitely helps with our comfort level.

I thinks that’s the best that can be done given the circumstances. We’ll just have to stay on top of things and re-assess as we go.

Xo, Shandean

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