Back to the brick & mortar school

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic the kids' elementary school shifted to "tele-school" back in March, and that's how they finished the school year.

We bought another computer for about $300 so both kids could "go" to school at the same time, but it was not an easy transition. It was hard for the kids to keep track of their homework, and there was no easy way for me to track the different assignments from the different teachers. We could go a few weeks before finding out someone hadn't turned in anything for several weeks in a row. C had a rougher time of it than P.

Over the summer, the school set up a new system. Of course, "in-person" school was available. But if a parent didn't want their kid(s) to attend school in person, they had the option for "remote learning" again.

But then Zama shifted to "Health Protection Condition C," which meant that in-person school was no longer an option. As a result, there were two types of students: the "remote-learning" kids, and the "tele-school" kids that would eventually attend school in-person at some point. It became strangely complicated.

The first day of school came, and just like last year the kids were back to logging in for school. P was unhappy about that. Now that he was in middle school (again), it became difficult for him to keep track of all his teachers' assignments. Even as a parent, I came late to the "Gradespeed" portal that kept track of his assignments.

It took a period of adjustment, we finally got it figured out. Then -- being on the back end of Japan's Phase 2 -- the Health Protection Condition changed back to "B" and the schools had to retool in the middle of the quarter for in-person school. It's been a roller coaster ride.

Compared with the United States, though, I feel much more comfortable with the kids going to the DODEA school here in Japan. The infection rates are low, and the wider community here in Japan is far more receptive to the kind of social considerations required to mitigate the pandemic.