What Makes This School Year Unlike Any Other?

For those of us not actually going back to school, but going back to remote learning, the trend was to take first day of school pictures in pajamas. Or at least pajama bottoms with a cute top. The girls have really missed dressing up so they didn't mind going a bit fancier for their photos. No Meet the Teacher this year, just a drive up to grab supplies.

Love that little tongue sticking out.

I have to admit I've always grumbled about the high taxes in this area. One thing the school district insists on is that every child have a Chrome book. When lockdown happened and everything went remote, I suddenly had a great appreciation for that education tool. We would have been sunk if we had to provide computers for all four girls on our own. Sydney received the newest model Chrome book which also has a touch screen- much to the envy of her sisters.

Brigitta picked this dress out long before school started.

Brigitta and Ireland don't have dedicated desks so Brigitta had to make do with a small play table. Thank goodness she's tiny enough to fit!

I love that Irelands got a little sass in her First Day of School photos. She's definitely a tween!

Ireland really drew the short straw when it comes to study spaces. She ended up on the table in the family room. It's by the kitchen which is noisy and both rooms are super prone to getting messy because they are used so much. Ireland is making the best of it though.

I think you can tell by Liesel's tight smiles that she was probably having the hardest time with another round of remote learning ahead of her. She's a social girl at a socially significant age and she was really getting sick of time with her sisters. Our hardline approach to smartphones isn't exactly helping and she's feeling pretty isolated from other kids her age.

I hope for everyone's sake we can safely get the kids back into their classrooms soon! I know the teachers and administrators and (heaven bless them) kids are doing their best. I'm sure if they can dedicate themselves to remote learning, they will pick up skills that will benefit them for the rest of their life. But it's not the same. At the end of the day, a knock off is still a knock off and trying to say it's as good as the original just doesn't hold water. If it were as good as the original, it would BE the original. Remote learning is a knock off. 

We are all definitely more appreciative of what we had before the pandemic hit.