As I sit and write this, my 14-year-old son is furiously pressing the buttons of his xbox controller and my 10-year-old daughter, still in her penguin pajamas at 1:35pm, is snuggling our large and in charge orange tabby for the 10th time today. Our three-year-old, who is normally peacefully snoozing at daycare on an afternoon like this, is singing loudly and methodically removing and tossing every book in our family library during what is comedically referred to as her “rest time.” Who puts a bookcase in a toddler’s room anyway? I digress…. the sun is shining and my husband is plugging away at a video project in his office formerly known as our closet. How is this a Monday in April in the year 2020? And did we just hear from Gov. Inslee that this is what the rest of our Mondays (and Tuesday through Fridays too!) will look like this school year? As this pandemic unfolds, I vacillate between relative calm and contentment to tense muscles, as an unfamiliar anxiety sneaks into my chest. The entertaining memes and texts and spontaneity of our days helps us get through each hour. It’s a teeter-totter time right now. We never know which end of the toy we will end up on. Some days creep and others fly by, wondering how we possibly got to Friday so quickly.
This is uncharted territory that us GenXers haven’t ever experienced. For many of us, disasters such as the Challenger explosion, Ruby Ridge, the Nisqually earthquake, the WTO riots and 9/11 rattled us, but they did not alter our day to day. They did not remove, as though a toothpick tower, each floor of our tower until we were reduced to the bareness of what we’re experiencing now. No routine. Our homes, our place of refuge, to eat, sleep, work and play together.
Today, there aren’t kids in our yard wrestling for the football. They are keeping their social distance. When we go to the grocery store, we are reminded of this crisis when we see clerks wiping down carts and people gathering veggies donned in masks. We are constantly reminded we are living amid COVID-19. The thread of most communities – schools – are also finding themselves on a new playing field-overcoming new hurdles and discovering new ways to serve students.
Schools have taken all different perspectives and routes, while innovating, adapting and learning as teachers and administrators all along the way.
As an independent school, Bellevue Christian was positioned in a unique way to address the possibility of online learning. We have a Director of Curriculum and Innovation, we have a Tech Coach for teachers, a Tech Dept and many others, who were poised, and by the grace and blessing of God, we were able to pivot and provide training for Online Teaching within 2-3 days.
One of our biggest wins has been through our synchronous (real-time) learning model in Junior High and High School. It has kept students (teenagers – who as a parent I can attest, kids who truly need their people!) in contact with their friends and teachers, which has strengthened the strong sense of community that provides the foundation for Christian discipleship. Our elementary teachers are using live video sessions to chat and connect with students and supplement the excellent lessons they were already providing. Teachers are praying with students, sharing devotions and encouraging them in their faith. It has been a privilege to see how BCS has developed and is continuing to implement new learning and discipleship opportunities through podcasts focused on spiritual formation, semi-daily scripture reflections from faculty, and weekly devotional guides for families. The commitment and excellence of Bellevue Christian faculty have shown brightly through this emergency. Our students are learning new technology skills, what resilience looks like, and how to be resourceful in turning in assignments and working in groups. Bellevue Christian is far from alone. Many other schools have rebounded quickly. They’ve gotten their legs under them, executing plans to get great content to students. Some have paused and restarted online learning; some, like our family’s public-school district, are just now mandating some work be done, and assignments turned in during this crisis. Perhaps more than ever before, we are in this together. As families and community members.
How long with this last? We don’t know. What I do know – is family dinners, movies and board games are back on the unofficial calendar and soccer practices, baseball games and swim lessons are off. I pray that as families and schools prioritize, plan and learn new routines, we find ourselves in a better position to prayerfully consider what we invite back “in,’ once we are allowed to go back out into our communities to experience our new normal, once the COVID-19 crisis has passed.
-by Amy Bruce, Communications & Alumni Manager, Bellevue Christian School
We invite you to call the Admissions Office today at (425) 460-3300, apply online at bellevuechristian.org or email BCS at admissions@bellevuechristian.org. We are happy to setup a tour or tell you more about our special programs, Athletics, Arts and Academics. Bellevue Christian is excited to work alongside you to prepare your child to live faithfully for God.
