First day of 6th grade (Sept. 5)
Lucas had his first day of middle school on Friday. Seattle public schools will be all virtual this fall so the start of day 1 consisted to logging on to Schoology (the online portal), checking into “homeroom”, and clicking on the link for a Microsoft Teams meeting. 
Everything was going well until the wireless appeared to stop working, which probably had to do with the fact that 60,000 kids were logging on through the SPS virtual private network (VPN) at the same time. Eventually we decided to plug Lucas’s tablet directly into the modem via an ethernet cable (old school!) and that somehow worked. But since the cable was only 6 feet long he spent the first hour of his first day of school stuck in the closet.
Sure, there have lots of challenges with the roll-out of online school in Seattle (just as in many other cities) but we’re actually excited about his new middle school, Aki Kurose, even though it will be a while until he and other kids see the inside of the building. The teachers and principal have done a lot to include Lucas as part of the community and we really appreciate everyone who is part of Lucas’s team for making it a relatively smooth start for him. Here’s what Lucas had to say about it:
I like virtual school because…
I get more help when my computer has anything wrong.
I like technology and computers.
It’s harder, but not impossible to do schoolwork.
I get to hang out with my awesome parents more.
I still get lots of help from my nurses and Tania, my aid.
Kindergarten doesn’t start until next week but maybe Lucas will tell the story of Ida’s first day when the time comes…
