Hello and happy Thursday!
I hope you are having a great week. Today, I’m sharing a Thursday Thoughts post.
On the WordPress app, they usually post a daily prompt and this one struck a chord with me the second I saw it:
Describe a phase in life that was difficult to say goodbye to.
I immediately thought of the kids’ elementary years. Starting in kindergarten, I knew from the start to treasure that phase of life for them. While I know I’m blessed with two kids, having two at once just makes it feel like time moves that much quicker. And…I feel like I don’t get to experience certain phases of life and milestones again since we don’t have a third. There was one first day of kindergarten. There was one 3rd grade zoo field trip. There was one Dr. Seuss “Cat in the Hat” performance. So, I always made it a priority to help with the class parties, take a personal day to go on the field trip, buy them too many books at the book fair and more.
After elementary school, the “magic” of school and learning seems to slip away a little bit more every year. Also, there just aren’t field trips, field day, chorus concerts, class parties and all the other special events that elementary school provides.
The kids made so many memories during those years, formed friendships, learned so much and had so much fun. So many of their core values and experiences that shaped them as learners and little humans happened in the classrooms in that building.
Covid put an end to that. They went home on Friday, March 13, 2020, finished their 4th grade year on Zoom/Google Classroom, spent most of 5th grade doing work at home or at the neighborhood “pod” of classmates. They went back to school wearing masks on March 3, 2021 but with plexi-glass around their desks as an attempt to minimize germs. Their 5th grade graduation was held in the gym, but no family could attend. Instead, we watched at home via the live stream.
I’m so thankful the kids were celebrated and were together with their classes, but it would have been nice to have the option of an outdoor ceremony or even a limit of two family members per student.
I know the administrators were making the best decision at the time, and I’m grateful for technology to still “be there” for the special milestone.
Registering for Kindergarten:
First day of K:
Last day of 5th grade:
{I must admit that I did love being at home with them during the online school days. I’m blessed that I could be home with them thanks to my job as a teacher too. I was never a stay at home mom (besides in the summer), and (mostly) loved helping them with their school work and having some extra free time with them…but I do think we were out of school for entirely too long! We all should have headed back to the classroom sooner.}
I will always look back fondly on their elementary school years.
We owe a lot to those teachers and that school. It’s bittersweet that we didn’t have the proper goodbye.
Excuse me while I go grab a tissue! haha
showmeandsweettea.com 
Aw, what a sweet look back!
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Thanks!
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It’s still so sad and I remember your pod and you talking about how you handled it. I think you did a great job. Still so surreal that we all went through that, no?
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Soooo crazy that it was five years ago.
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The elementary years were my favorite! It just seemed FUN, with lots of school activities and sweet friendships. It makes me so sad to think of the “covid years” and I remember feeling so frustrated that the rules were all over the place depending on where you lived. My high school son was back in school (wearing a mask but no other restrictions) in August 2020, while my college daughter at Emory in Atlanta was virtual for the entire 2020-21 year and even into fall 2021 for some classes. I’m glad she got through it all ok – moving away from home, weekly testing, dorm room by yourself, and no meals in the cafeteria – not ideal!! Loved your look back today.
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What a crazy start to college experience for her! You’re right – we had school districts doing different things as far as returning to school and it was frustrating. The elementary years really were the sweetest.
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Ahh! The school days with my girls was the best. It is the same over here in the UK, the older the kids get the less fun there is in school with less trips, parties and events. I was not a fan of the home learning during Covid lockdowns, neither were my girls. Eek!
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Hayden loved school at home and Hadley missed the social aspect of school. It was fine but they were more than ready to return to in person learning.
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This was a great prompt and good post. I never really thought about a phase of life difficult to say goodbye to because I’m always looking forward to the next :). I think, though, in hindsight, if I got to REDO (as in, I can live it again exactly the same way) I would say the years I was a SAHM. I treasure those days and memories we made. C*VID ruined my daughter’s HS graduation, made college graduation for our oldest challenging, and ruined my son’s senior year of HS. BUT, here we are on the other side, and life is still moving forward :). And you have this great blog of recorded memories – yay!!
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Oh …those are big milestones for all your kids. Yes – I was just getting started blogging around that time, so I have the blog to look back on for sure.
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I love those writing prompts on WordPress! This was a good one. My daughter is in 4th grade, and I feel like she is already a teenager by how much older she looks from years back. I know I’m going to miss these days so much, so I try to take in as much as I can, with lot of patience!
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Elementary years are the best. 🙂
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