On March 12, 2020, our girls all went to school like any normal Thursday (with the addition of several reminders from Mom and Dad to wash their hands well and not touch their faces). However, throughout the day, we started to receive information through the grapevine that something life-changing was about to happen. By that evening, we were instructed not to bring our children to school the next day. It just so happened that the following week was our scheduled Spring Break, which gave the teachers and administrators a little bit of time to figure out a plan. It was soon announced that all schooling would be moving to an online formate for at least 2-3 weeks. Little did we know that it would be extended until the end of the school year!
Moving to online learning was no easy feat for Latvian schools which had never before done anything like that. It was quite a learning curve for all involved (teachers, students, and parents!), but by the end of the year, our girls were experts at navigating online educational platforms, participating in Zoom calls, checking emails, completing and photographing their assignments, uploading and attaching pictures to emails, and corresponding with their teachers. Here are a few pictures of their days in online school (which also included special projects for subjects like science and PE!).
PE class 
Making an obstacle course for PE 
Growing onions 
Science Project 
Language arts project 
Nature Scavenger hunt 
Zoom class time!
Not only did the general schools move to online learning, but so did the girls’ fine arts schools. Caroline had weekly dance videos to follow along with, as well as creative dance assignments that she had to create and video and send back. These were all part of a competition that lasted the entire quarantine…and Caroline won the first prize in the entire dance school!
Weekly dance routines 
Online ballet final exam 
Online ballet final exam 
Receiving a socially distanced thumbs-up from her teachers when we went to pick up her first-place award 
Anna Kate studies in the visual arts division of the Fine Arts School in our town. All of her assignments went online as well. She spent many many hours each week on her art projects, sending in-process pictures back and forth with her teacher all week and receiving feedback before sending in the final product each Friday afternoon.
And of course, we had to celebrate the successful completion of such a challenging year! Celebrations around here always include ice cream, but the we also went with some friends to a tree canopy adventure park not too far away. The girls loved it!
