During the past two weeks, students have started the new school year. For most students, parents and teachers, the beginning of the 2020 school year is one of adjustments and decisions having to be made during the pandemic. Some are jumping right into the routine of going back to classes with some precautions taken, and some have made the choice to remain at home and do the “online” schooling for the time being. We have two granddaughters attending colleges who have chosen to return to classes on campus, but with some of those classes taught online. Another granddaughter will start her senior year of high school and not wanting to miss out on her final year of high school activities and personal teacher-student contact, she chose to return to classes at school. Parents of two other younger granddaughters who attend larger schools decided to continue the online schooling for a semester and reevaluate when the time comes. Hard decisions to make.
First day of school this year I’m sure has been challenging as changes have been made in room class numbers, wearing masks, extending class time, no locker usage and keeping social distancing. Much different than the normal past year’s first day of school. It sure makes one appreciate how “normal” things were before the COVID virus arrived.
Thinking back to the special first day of school memories as a child, I remember how Mother would arrange for me to take a “first day of school” present for the new teacher. Sometimes it was the usual fresh apple, but for a couple of years it was a bouquet of fresh wildflowers that included the yellow goldenrod. As I think of that, I hoped that those two teachers didn’t suffer from allergies or hay fever, but if they did they sure didn’t show it as they smiled taking the flowers from me, thanking me and placing them in a vase upon their desk. If they had sneezed a lot during that first school day because of the wildflowers, I didn’t notice it.
My hardest first day of school was my eighth grade year when my parents made the decision for my sisters and I to switch attendance from a small country school to a larger school in my hometown. I was so frightened at first knowing I was going from a class size of one to a larger class size of 23. The school building was large and it was challenging learning everyone’s name and how things were done but it didn’t take long for the adjustment to be made. It was the first time for me having a male teacher but he was such a wonderful, understanding teacher, Mr. Hafner. You see, back then eighth graders only had one teacher, except for P.E. and music. There were many other activities and sports to participate in and of course I loved the music class.
The most memorable first day of school was, of course, my senior year. We were all happy to be back to school together. We were looking forward to a new school year as seniors. We were now the top dogs. The boys in our class who were out for football and the others on the team for the previous two years had won first place in the league and were undefeated both years. It looked like the next season’s football record would continue to be a winning one. At the end of the school’s football season 1964, the team was undefeated once again with a total of 297 points to opponents’ total 27 and of course earned league honors. Basketball season followed as our team was once again the league champs. In music it was an honor to be with some other girls in earning a trip to state competition. Another honor came when I got to take part in the homecoming ceremony as a candidate. What a year that was.
As a young mother, I can remember sending my oldest son off to his first day of school in kindergarten and though he was happy and looking forward to it, I tried to hide my misgivings and mixed feelings as I walked with him up the streets to the school building. We had visited the school earlier. He knew right where to go and as he turned to walk into the building, we waved at each other. He didn’t want his mother to go into the school with him. I quickly turned to hide my tears and slowly walked back home. It was more challenging sending my youngest son off to his first day of school as he really didn’t want to go. We had moved out into the country by that time. He had to ride the bus to school but when the bus arrived, he refused to go. I ended up driving him into school and walking with him into the classroom. That routine continued for the next week. Thankfully he found getting onto the bus with his big brother wasn’t so bad after all. Attending school became easier for him. That was a hard first week of school for him and his mother.
I hope everyone has some special memories of their first day of school. I’m sure all mothers have and have had those hard adjustments to make sending their children off to their first day of school.
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