School started on time and in person for our kids (although it took me a month to upload the pictures to my computer). The main differences will be wearing masks in school and not being able to mix with other grades. Their small class sizes have helped keep things fairly relaxed though. Several students at the school had to miss the first two weeks. There was an outbreak at a wedding the weekend before school started and quite a few families had to quarantine.
The public school ended up delaying their start a week and then distance learning at the high school level for the first 2 weeks back. We are back in class now, but we have had to sacrifice several vacation days during the year as a result. This means I will have very few of those coveted 3-day weekends come January and February, and I will also have a shorter Xmas break :(
Even with students having to be gone frequently for any little symptom (Elena had to stay home the last 2 days waiting out a sore throat), it's less chaotic that last spring for sure. In hindsight it's kind of ironic that we were all stuck in our homes when there were hardly any cases in the county and now that coronavirus is actually spreading in our community, we are back in school. The masking/distancing/closely tracking symptoms seems to be keeping things under control, though. Now we have pretty much gotten used to this new, strange normal for the long haul.
Frankie has loved preschool and was beyond excited for his first day! He gets pretty bored once he comes home at noon so we might have to extend his days.
Olivia loves to help give (and receive) blessings before the kids go. We always lay a hand on the kids' heads while saying a blessing, and about 2 days in Olivia was coming up to us at the time with a hand on her head asking for her own blessing. She also likes to lay her hand on everyone else's heads.
Livi does not, however, like being the one left behind after everyone goes to school. 
