Even if you don’t have children or your kids are ‘grown and flown’, I’m sure you have been hearing talk about schooling this fall. Should public schools meet in person? Hybrid model? Virtual? Will homeschool co-ops meet? What will dorm life look like at the college level? So many questions! And since this pandemic is something that none of us have dealt with in our lifetimes, so few concrete answers. Everyone is just doing their best to make good plans for their families. We have been praying for those of you who are currently making those decisions. We also thought you might like an update on how things are playing out here in the Riedy house.
Amanda, our homeschooling senior in high school, will be taking two online college classes from Southern Arkansas University this semester. We hope this will give her a jump start on her semester so that if we move to Florida in the spring, she will have a lighter caseload during the transition. Her speech and debate season is totally up-in-the-air, no one is exactly sure what a tournament could look like right now. She is also taking a Core Construction Class via Zoom. This should end with an in-person certification that she hopes will help her get a construction job in Florida during her gap year (maybe Disney?!?).
Brenna is getting a chance to practice her pandemic pivot, too! Due to Covid concerns, the upcoming Florida move, and many other factors, she will not be returning to College of the Ozarks this fall. She has decided that an online degree is a better fit for her, and has registered for John Brown University’s liberal arts major with a minor in communications. It is a similar degree as what she has been working on, but will give her the freedom to stay home, move to Florida, and/or travel while still moving forward with her education. The eventual goal is still a Masters in Library Science and a job at a public library.
The verse that keeps coming to mind regarding these schooling issues, and all the other difficulties with planning nowadays, is Proverbs 16:9. “The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps”. It is good for us to plan, think ahead, consider and dream but we need to remember that it is the Lord that truly ‘establishes’ (def. to put beyond doubt, to set on a firm basis, to bring into existence) our steps.