“New Rules for our School” – Randi

We are very fortunate in our state to have scholarships for children who qualify for an IEP but don’t attend public schools. This helps with funds for a visiting Intervention Specialist (special ed teacher) as well as home-based therapies. Sonnet’s health crisis has resolved greatly since she was diagnosed and began treatment for GAMT. However, her neurologist and I vividly remember when she was dealing with fifty-plus seizures a day. It isn’t certain if a serious illness could cause another downward spiral, so our family has chosen to largely quarantine during flu season. This was extended and amplified during the pandemic.

In my last blog post, I talked about skill gains that were achieved through online therapies while our state was on lockdown. Now that things are opening up again, I’ve had to think long and hard about who to allow back into our home this fall. We miss our people! But hosting a steady stream in and out of our house just doesn’t seem prudent. I’ve had to evaluate who to invite back into our homeschool this fall on a risk/benefit basis. Like public schools, we’ve enacted new rules. We’ve had this sign on our front door for quite some time, along with a bottle of hand sanitizer to the side.

And I’ve added another sign for the new school year along with providing shoe covers and masks right at the door.

I also emailed this document to our teacher and therapists, as well as posted copies around the house.

And so, I’ve set out to communicate our needs to the helpers this fall. Hopefully, our new rules will provide the middle ground between living in fear and just throwing caution to the wind. Every family is unique, and I don’t expect our school rules to exactly fit your situation. But I do hope it might spark some ideas for you to think about and make back to school a bit easier, regardless of your situation.

Sonnet prefers a shield instead of a mask. She still messes with it, but instead of contamination, she just gets a squished nose!!