Back-to-School 2020: A New Way to Prep for Education

Going back to school this year won’t be like anything we’ve ever experienced before.

Coronavirus (COVID-19) changed everything. From the way we work and socialize, to the way we shop and work out. Not to mention, our children’s education did not escape the rampant changes of the pandemic. In fact, in many ways, schools were perhaps the hardest hit.

Our kids were sent home suddenly and unexpectedly — many went home for spring break and never returned. Teachers scrambled to figure out how to continue teaching in a matter of days, and students and parents scrambled to figure out how to work and school from home, many times without all the supplies they needed.

School districts have been trying to figure out how to reopen for months and some are coming up with solutions. They’re not perfect solutions, to be sure, and many parents and teachers are feeling stressed and frustrated with the options, or lack of options.

School is a necessity. Parents bringing home an income is a necessity. They need to work and while school shouldn’t be a babysitter, for many parents, it is useful to be able to send their kids to school while they are at work. Without school, those parents might have to decide between paying for childcare or paying other critical bills — or trying to survive financially without working.

Preparing for heading back to school this year won’t look like what you’ve done before, and neither will the in person classrooms. There is extraordinarily very little about this year that will look and feel like any school year you’ve done before. If this is your child’s first time in school, you and your children will be having a vastly different experience than many other parents and children have had ever before.

But even though it will be different, it doesn’t mean you can’t prepare. There’s actually a lot you can — and should — do to get your kids and yourself ready for heading back to school.

Own your decision

Most school districts in our areas from Green Bay to Oshkosh are offering at least two choices for how to return to school. If that’s the case where you are, you might be struggling with your decision. You might want to send your kids back in person, but feel like that’s putting them at risk for many different factors; physical health, social emotional or mental health reasons. You might want to do virtual learning, but fear they can’t handle it or will miss being with their friends. It can feel like any decision you make might be the wrong one.

If you feel that way, try this: if you feel like no matter what you do, it will be wrong, then it doesn’t matter what choice you make, does it? So pick the one that feels most right to you, even if you think it will still be wrong.

Whatever you decide, own it. There will be plenty of people who want to make you feel bad, no matter what choice you make. Don’t let them. You are your child’s parent. What works for one, doesn’t equate to working for all.

You have to make the decision you feel is best for your children, and you don’t have to justify it to anyone. Period. Ever. If you think it’s right, it’s right.

Tour or attend orientation for your school option if it’s available

Many districts are offering a few options. Based on what I’ve seen myself and heard from other parents, in most places it looks like choosing between returning to a brick-and-mortar school with the knowledge that school may be closed from time to time, attending school online through one or more virtual school choices, or a hybrid of the two. Traditional homeschooling, where you as the parent take over your child’s education, has always been an option, and more parents are considering it than ever before.

Whatever choice you make, it will be a new experience for you and your kids. Even if you choose the brick-and-mortar option and your kids have gone to school before, it won’t be the same.

So check into whether there are any tours or orientations available to help you and your kids become more familiar with what will be happening this year. Of course, there are still so many unknowns that a tour or orientation still may not prepare you for everything that might happen.

But it can at least help you know what some of the new rules might be, some of the new experiences your child (and you) might need to expect, or prompt questions about gaps in information that you can see.

Get back on your school year sleep schedule

For most of us, summer comes with more relaxed bedtimes and wake times. This summer has definitely not been any kind of exception. In fact, I’d venture to say that many parents who switched to working from home while kids were home completing the school year virtually adjusted bedtimes many months ago.

With everything that will be so new and different about this year, the comfortable familiarity of the school year sleep schedule will offer some extra stability your kids might desperately need and even crave.

It’s always a good idea to start getting back to your usual schedule at least a week or two before school starts. But this year, it might be a good idea to start even earlier. When we are sleep deprived, we can easily overreact to small things and have a harder time dealing with bigger problems than we might if we were well-rested.

Given all the unknowns and the real potential for disruptions and changes, making sure your kiddos are well-rested is perhaps one of the best ways to help them deal with what’s to come.

Go over the new rules and experiences they may have

If this were a typical school year, I’d suggest that you might want to help little ones who’ve never gone before by making sure they can open everything in their lunch and know about rules like raising their hand to speak or asking permission to go to the bathroom. And while those will still be good things to do, especially since teachers may not be able to help your child open a food in their lunch, there’s much more to cover.

This year kids of all ages, regardless of how many times they’ve gone to school, will have new rules and experiences to know about.

Masks may be required, so teaching little ones how to wear it properly and reminding older kids to keep a spare in their backpack will be useful. But you also may need to talk to kids about cleaning desks, not swapping foods from their lunches, or work with little ones to ensure they have solid hand-washing skills. (Here’s a tip: Sing the ABC song or Twinkle-Twinkle Little Star while soaping up before rinsing.) Older kids may also need reminders on other changes happening for them, too.  

You might also need to teach younger ones that it’s okay to let a school official do a temperature check and show them what it will look like.

Again, there are so many unknowns that you can’t cover it all. But you can cover the things you do know and prep them for the things you suspect might happen.

Make sure you have the needed supplies purchased and prepped

Pencils, crayons, paper, notebooks, folders, backpacks — traditional school supplies take on an almost nostalgic feel this year as we add new items to the lists. Masks, hand sanitizer and cleansing wipes are new basics.

If you’re choosing traditional or virtual homeschool, that allows your kid to learn online, you may also need to purchase or at least access necessary software, such as Microsoft Office.

Whether you need to buy or merely sign up, making sure you have everything before the first day of school will make for a better start to the year. It can also cut down on the chances of a delay because something is out of stock, or so many people are trying to sign up that a website is slow or crashes.

This can also give your student time to become familiar with anything that might be new, like new software or a new laptop. The last thing you’d want is for your student to feel additional stress because they couldn’t figure out how to get into their classroom’s video call.

Make a backup plan

If you’re sending your children back to a brick-and-mortar school, and it closes, what will you do? If you signed up for online learning and discover it doesn’t work for your student, what will you do? We all hope for the best when we make these decisions, but sometimes the worst is what happens. So it’s always good to have a backup plan ready to go.

If you’ll need childcare if the schools close, get that lined up early. If you’ll switch to homeschooling if your first choice doesn’t work, go ahead and research what curriculum, or program, you might want to use so that if you should need to make that switch, you’ll be able to pivot smoothly rather than scrambling at the last second.

As you’re making a backup plan, consider this too; No option is going to be perfect during these times. Each option available to you, including homeschooling, will have its drawbacks. So in the event that your backup plan also feels like it’s not working, think about which of the options, despite its imperfections and perhaps even being a complete disaster, will offer your child the most? 

Even if the year turns out to be less productive, less educational, less everything than you expect or hope for, which option will give your child the best education under the circumstances? (This can also be helpful if you’re struggling to choose between your options initially.)

Remember: You are a family first

It’s going to be a rough year. I think we can all agree that’s a given. School days might be longer. Homework might take longer. You may be more involved than you’d like — or less. Communication with the teacher might be haphazard. Your student might not be learning as much or as quickly as you want.

In the end, remember you’re a family first. When it’s getting really tough and it feels like you’re all falling apart, put school aside and come together as a family. Play some games, watch some movies, or just talk to each other about anything other than school.

It’s going to be a hard year with plenty of stress. But you can choose to take control and set aside all that stress, even if it’s just for an hour or two. 

Remember these are your children, and regardless of how it might feel, the school district is not in charge. You are. If you decide your child needs a break, to let the homework go and take a nap, or do something else not school-related, you get to do that.

It’s time for school

You might still be feeling totally unprepared. That’s okay. Lots of us are, including the teachers. Everyone is doing the best they can with what they’re being handed by those in authority.

Don’t let feeling unprepared overwhelm you. Don’t let fear of what might happen hold you back from making what you consider to be the best decision for your kids, whether that’s in-person school attendance, schooling virtually or homeschooling.

Everyone of us is going to be learning this year. Everyone is going to be doing new things. Parents, students, and teachers are all trying to navigate this new situation together. So know you’re not alone. Talk to other parents, to teachers and encourage your kids to talk to other students.

You might have to have these talks six feet apart, but you can still find camaraderie in these strange times. We will get through this together!