My daughter’s school year was cancelled yesterday. That’s it, no more second grade. Friday the 13th of March was the last day she had recess, walked single file down the hall, and sat on the rug for morning meeting. We celebrate a snow day, but not the absence of school for five months.

We both cried at the announcement. She misses her friends terribly. She loves her teacher. She even likes the learning part. I cried for her. Second grade was one of my favorite years. I also loved my teacher, Mrs. Warner. I miss the simplicity of those times. When my daughter goes back to school, she’ll be a third grader, and along with that comes state testing. She’ll still have a fun year, I’m sure, but it’s like her life will be getting serious already.

I’m her teacher now. We have assignments for remote learning, but I think I’ll try to use this time to teach her what I loved so much about second grade. I’ll have to time travel a bit. I do remember we had an incubator to hatch baby chicks in our second grade classroom, but the power went out over the weekend, so we never made it to the hatching part. I don’t think I’ll try that lesson at home. I do remember we read a lot of Shel Silverstein. I’ll start there and see where it takes us.

What was your favorite lesson from elementary school? If you could repeat a school year, which one would it be, and why?

Good luck to all of the new homeschoolers out there!