It’s here – the dreaded and much anticipated first day of school! Lauren is starting 6th grade this year at Bala Cynwyd Middle School and Sophie is starting 9th grade at AIM Academy.

Well, it finally arrived. The dreaded first day of school. And the year that both girls are in middle school!! Gray hairs to arrive shortly. We’re a few weeks into it as I write this and so far, so good. Both girls are doing sports this year, which is new for us. Lauren is trying cross country and Sophie made the volleyball team. Lauren also decided to be on the theater crew team for BC Applause. We’re excited to get them out there and involved with more activities.

It’s finally back to school time! This summer felt like a long one – and it was. School didn’t start until September 9th.

Sophie officially started middle school and so far so good. She’s in a program called Evolve, which is a more hands-on, experiential experience. She seems to really enjoy it so far. The school is big (1200 kids) and she said she’s gotten lost a few times, but didn’t seem to phased by it.

Lauren started 3rd grade and has Ms. D’Orazio, whom she loves (Dave and I do too). She also has gotten off to a great start and seems to really love school. She also made a new friend, Harper Peters, who sits next to her in the classroom.

Middle school starts an hour before elementary, so Sophie leaves the house at 7:40 and then we walk with Lauren at 8:40. Sophie gets out of school at 3 and then picks up Lauren at 3:30, which is super convenient.

Because the positivity rate of COVID cases around us has gone down, the public schools have started opening on a hybrid schedule. At the elementary school they’ve divided classes in half and half of the students go for three hours in the AM and half of the students go in the PM. The girls are both in the PM cohort, so they’re there from 1-4PM. Lauren started the week of October 6th and Sophie started the week of October 12th. Even though it’s only 3 hours, it’s made such a huge difference for them – especially Lauren, who just can’t work that independently yet.

It’s the first time they’ve gotten to meet their teachers in person and one of the few times they’re interacting with other kids. Half of the desks have been removed from the classrooms and there’s no moving around the classroom – all work has to be done at their desk – and masks have to be worn the whole time. They also have lunch at home so that no kids are eating at the school.

We’ll see how long this lasts, but I’m hoping that we’ll make it at least a few weeks (months?) before cases get bad again, which is what’s predicted. And the best part is Dave and I have three glorious, uninterrupted hours a day, which hasn’t happened in 7 months!

The start of school this year was a little (okay, a lot) different that the last few years. School is starting totally virtually this year, so while the girls got dressed in their first day of school best, they settled down at their computers in our house to log in an meet their teacher and classmates – Sophie 5th grade with Mr. Keeler and Lauren 2nd grade with Mrs. Sam-Dorley.

The first day was a little bumpy – some technology issues – a lot of frustration with sitting in front of a computer for six hours – but we made it through.

We’ve got Lauren set up in the living room and Sophie in the dining room. What we learned from home school in the spring is that they need a dedicated “learning place” in the house – rather than just doing work wherever. The school also provided both kids with laptops, and all of their books – which we didn’t have in the spring.

We’re now in week two and things are going a little more smoothly. Neither of the girls love it (in fact, Sophie actively hates it), but they’re both staying as focused as they can. Dave and I are still both working from home and one of us works from the dining room to help with tech issues or answer questions.