• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
Catholic Review

Catholic Review

Inspiring the Archdiocese of Baltimore

Menu
  • Home
  • News
        • Local News
        • World News
        • Vatican News
        • Obituaries
        • Featured Video
        • En Español
        • Sports News
        • Official Clergy Assignments
        • Schools News
  • Commentary
        • Contributors
          • Question Corner
          • George Weigel
          • Elizabeth Scalia
          • Michael R. Heinlein
          • Effie Caldarola
          • Guest Commentary
        • CR Columnists
          • Archbishop William E. Lori
          • Rita Buettner
          • Christopher Gunty
          • George Matysek Jr.
          • Mark Viviano
          • Father Joseph Breighner
          • Father Collin Poston
          • Robyn Barberry
          • Hanael Bianchi
          • Amen Columns
  • Entertainment
        • Events
        • Movie & Television Reviews
        • Arts & Culture
        • Books
        • Recipes
  • About Us
        • Contact Us
        • Our History
        • Meet Our Staff
        • Photos to own
        • Books/CDs/Prayer Cards
        • CR Media platforms
        • Electronic Edition
  • Advertising
  • Shop
        • Purchase Photos
        • Books/CDs/Prayer Cards
        • Magazine Subscriptions
        • Archdiocesan Directory
  • CR Radio
        • CR Radio
        • Protagonistas de Fe
  • News Tips
  • Subscribe

Lessons from an unusual school year

June 17, 2020
By Rita Buettner
Filed Under: Blog, Commentary, Open Window

Share
Share on Facebook
Share
Share this
Pin
Pin this
Share
Share on LinkedIn

We’ve made it. I mean, we’ve almost made it.

Technically we have school all week. But I think we can all see the flag of surrender. It’s been waving for weeks, but now that flag is battered and torn and gray and lying in the street next to the log-in instructions for yet another week of remote learning.

This school year? The one that started all shiny and full of promise back in August? It’s tired. It’s finished. It’s over.

What a year.

When I look back on the past three months, I realize how much I’ve learned.

  1. I don’t need to plan dinner ahead of time, but if I don’t think about lunch before the day starts, it will be 4 p.m. and we’ll all be grumpy because we’re starving.
  2. Alexa was designed to remind children to get on their classes. But if you don’t tell Alexa what time class is, no one will remember to get online.
  3. You can log a child on for an online class, but you can’t force him to pay attention or participate.
  4. The teachers have superpowers.
  5. Do you know how many quarts are in a liter? Or liters in a quart? Me neither. I really should repeat fourth grade.
  6. No one wants the school year to end as much as Mom does.

Then I think about how much our children have learned.

  1. If you turn off your camera and microphone, you can do anything you want during class and no one will ever know.
  2. If Mom is in a meeting, you can eat buckets of Skittles, and she’ll never notice.
  3. If Mom is in a meeting, you can play video games without asking.
  4. If Mom is in a meeting, you can basically do whatever you want.
  5. If your parents say no the first time you ask for a pet bird, just keep asking. They’ll weaken over time.

This week I went to the boys’ schools to pick up their belongings. It was a mad scramble to get out the door to go—sort of like a regular school day, only it was just Mom trying to scribble names and grades on pieces of paper to put in the front window.

I came home from one school with a bag of goodies and school supplies. I came home from the other with a certificate and a lock.

There is something sad about the way this year ended. The children missed out on time with friends and much richer academic learning experiences than we were able to offer at home.

But they’ve had fun together. We’ve spent more time together as a family than we usually would. And I’m sure they’ve reached level bazillion in their video games.

I’m grateful it’s over. Bring on summer vacation. Bring on time outside and reading and all the joys of warmer weather. And bring on the pet birds.

Gulp.

Print Print

Share
Share on Facebook
Share
Share this
Pin
Pin this
Share
Share on LinkedIn

Primary Sidebar

Rita Buettner

View all posts from this author

| Recent Commentary |

Our faith is not afraid of questions

Artificial Intelligence, wholeism and prayer

Question Corner: Does reception of the Eucharist replace confession?

A butterfly lands on a flowering bush with purple blossoms

A Miracle for a Baby in Rhode Island (and for all of us)

Kids need lots of people who love them

| Recent Local News |

Archdiocese of Baltimore offers resources for parishes to assist migrants

Third annual gun buyback scheduled for Aug. 9

Driver arrested after crashing into entrance of Esperanza Center

Construction underway on new north addition to St. Joseph’s Nursing Home 

Prince of Peace merges with St. Francis de Sales in Harford County

| Catholic Review Radio |

CatholicReview · Catholic Review Radio

Footer

Our Vision

Real Life. Real Faith. 

Catholic Review Media communicates the Gospel and its impact on people’s lives in the Archdiocese of Baltimore and beyond.

Our Mission

Catholic Review Media provides intergenerational communications that inform, teach, inspire and engage Catholics and all of good will in the mission of Christ through diverse forms of media.

Contact

Catholic Review
320 Cathedral Street
Baltimore, MD 21201
443-524-3150
mail@CatholicReview.org

 

Social Media

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Recent

  • Jubilee of Youth chance to celebrate hope, fraternity in world at war, panel says
  • New York archdiocese sees hundreds of responses to ‘Called By Name’ program
  • Can’t afford a Catholic college? Think again. Many offer full tuition options
  • Detroit archbishop fires theologians Ralph Martin, Eduardo Echeverría from seminary
  • LA archbishop, joined by business leaders, starts fund to help families affected by ICE raids
  • FBI surveilled SSPX priest amid probe of suspected neo-Nazi’s plans for violence
  • Poland’s ‘living memorial’ to St. John Paul II marks 25 years of transforming lives
  • Our faith is not afraid of questions
  • Catholic ‘American Ninja Warrior’ fights world hunger, one obstacle at a time

Search

Membership

Catholic Media Assocation

Maryland-Delaware-DC Press Association

The Associated Church Press

© 2025 CATHOLIC REVIEW MEDIA, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

en Englishes Spanish
en en