Dear Addie,
“Addie, tell mom I’m a 5th grader now!” Those were the words your teacher spoke as you walked your way out on the last day of school.
And just like that, it was over. Slowest, yet quickest year ever, and your 4th grade year was somehow in the books. Seriously the weirdest school year in not only your lifetime but mine too, and it was over.
No more navigating computers, zoom calls, or hybrid schedules. No more masks, temp checks, social distancing or mommy as the education middle man, it was over and you know what Ad, you did it! With a lot of hard work, love and dedication by a legit dream team of people, you did it.
Not gonna lie Ad, schooling during a global pandemic at first seemed confusing and challenging to say the least. There was no rule book on how to manage the abrupt change, and some schools effortlessly transitioned while others floundered. Some students did really well, while others were really challenged.
Some families were able to make it work and others felt stressed beyond measure.
It was a lot of trial and error and finding the best (and safest for that matter) fit to get everyone’s educational needs met. The irony was not lost on me to how similar this all was to the journey we live every single day. Autism is without question a spectrum disorder and what works for some may not work for others and surprise – there’s no rule book. The thing we can consistently count on is that everyone has an opinion they think is right and everything is predictably unpredictable. I guess you could say we were maybe more prepared for this than most because of our lifestyle. Imagine that we finally had the upper hand in something. Weird flex, but ok…
Did we have our days of you resembling a jumping bean in your chair? Yes. Did you abandon tasks, running into a few of daddy’s work zoom meetings? Absolutely. Was there a fair share of redirection? You betcha. Did I have confidence this was all gonna work and you were going to actually continue learning something, I mean anything this way? I had my doubts. Did I stress eat my way through it? The scale says that’s an accurate statement.
Addie we had our challenges and had to start from scratch creating a new educational structure but we did it and your teachers & therapist were 100 % there for us every step of the way. AND, while we’re on that - your teachers and therapist deserve WAY more money for what they do. 4th grade is harder than I remembered – just saying. While nothing can take the place of real-life socialization that is critical to your development, we all did the absolute best we could when virtual schooling was necessary.
The online 1:1 speech session’s, occupational videos specialized just for you to ensure I was assisting you correctly in things like holding the pencil properly, social stories – so many stories, the art, music, and gym video assignments, the live not only 1:1 teaching but group sessions as well, so you could see and interact with your peers (and mommy even added a new job to her resume as at-home TA… although they say to dress for the job you’d like to have, so it would seem that I was seeking a professional napping position in life with my PJ uniform during this time😉).
All this was crucial to keeping you on track for when you eventually adjusted to (and seamlessly might I add) yet another educational structure of returning to a classroom with new safety measures. And hey if there’s a silver lining anywhere and if luck is a thing, we found it with you willingly wearing a mask, thank goodness, so you could return to school safely. Now if we could only channel that luck into keeping things like socks, shoes, hats, mitten, or clothes for that matter on we’d be golden!
It’s funny how it all kinda seems like a blur when you look back on the events of this year.
Addie life isn’t always going to go the way we planned, and if a global pandemic doesn’t prove that then I don’t know what does, but just remember… “There’s no lemon so sour that you can’t make something resembling lemonade.” ~This Is Us. (mommys favorite show 😉)
4th grade during a global pandemic – Mic drop! Now bring on summer camp!
Enjoy your lemonade baby! You made it and now 5th grade awaits!
Love,
Mom
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