Some thoughts about the 2020-2021 school year

A few summers ago, one of the beehives I was working with went ‘off script’. Instead of building regular, symmetrical trays of honeycomb as they normally do, this particular hive started building an otherworldly honeycomb creation! Their design made it much more difficult to do our usual hive maintenance, and we had no idea how we were going to collect the honey.

However, as the summer wore on we became less worried and more enamored with the unique structure of this hive. Sure, it was unusual, but it was also strangely beautiful and the hive was healthy. In the end we used an old-fashioned method to collect the honey, and though it was not as efficient, we came away with several sweet pints of golden honey.

Why am I telling you this story? Because we are about to embark on a very similar, ‘off script’ type of school year. The new school structures we are building might not be described as 'otherworldly', but they are certainly far from normal. And yet, so much of our essential school elements remain the same. We will still read (lots of choice books!). We will still practice our writing. And we will still practice our communication skills through the exploration of ideas about our identities, our connections, our histories, our cultures and our values. I can’t wait to get started.