Hearth & Home- Cross Country COVID Move

Our sons, Jackson and Graham had been at boarding school in Utah when Jackson was diagnosed with a learning disability.   He was accepted at a new school that was 45-90 minutes away depending on traffic.  But, he never stepped foot at school.  Along with all the other schools in California, it shut down – they didn’t even do hybrid.  His school could have gone in person due to size (8 kids per class) but LA county wouldn’t allow it.   They could even have had classes outside!   Jackson went from 100% in person to 100% online – studying from his dark bedroom all alone – he never got to meet any of his classmates.  He was incredibly isolated and it impacted his emotional state.  Being 100% online is really hard for those with learning disabilities, since you really need hands on help.   We had no confidence that they would reopen at any point.

The boys needed a routine, and needed an in person environment.  They were going into their sophomore year, and we knew that we had to move them now or it wouldn’t work.  We wanted them to have as normal a high school experience as they could. We also lived in an affluent neighborhood, where alcohol and drug use were high, and getting worse with the isolation. They knew a few kids that committed suicide – the isolation made it so much, and it went from cannabis to hard drugs. 

It was a major, life changing situation for us. Doug and I had never really lived anywhere but California since college.  It was a huge move because our whole family is in California.

Why Colorado?  We liked the way they were handling the Covid situation – it was thoughtful and safe, but not knee jerk.   Doug’s business is 100% in Colorado, so it seemed like a good fit. We looked at Texas and Hawaii, but thought Colorado was a better fit.

In California, the shut down really became political and became tied up with the election. They were treating people’s lives and livelihoods as a political chip.

We came out here twice and bought a house – we only had a week or so to buy a house.  We knew Jackson was going to Denver Academy – one of the best schools for learning differences, so we had an area to look at for a house.   

I knew we had to be within 30 minutes of DA.  We had missed the application deadline for the private schools for Graham, so knew we also wanted an area that had great public schools.  We actually bought the house before Jackson was accepted, so it was a bit of a gamble!  I’m not sure what we would have done if he hadn’t been accepted!  But it all worked out.    Our decision was driven by the social and educational experience for both boys.

We are really close to our families, so leaving California was a tough choice – our parents each lived 20 minutes from our California house.

Our daughter graduated high school in the midst of 2020.  For graduation, we all drove in a big line in our cars and the graduate would be in the car in the cap and gown.  We would drive up, the graduate would walk on a little carpet, and the principal gave them their diplomas and you could take a picture from the car.   

The kids decided and organized a walk on the pier.  They started at the Hermosa Beach Pier and walked to the Manhatten Beach Pier.  We all showed up, but then there was a number of people that shunned us because the HS kids walked. Lots of people were upset, but it was organized by the kids and was really cool.

She didn’t want to start college in the midst of covid, so she started community college online.  But that was a terrible experience for her, and took a lot of her confidence. When we moved here, rather than applying to college, she started to go into the workforce. Had none of that happened, she probably would be in a four year college right now.  That’s not good or bad – but the pandemic changed her life trajectory.   

Our other daughter was in her junior year in college and they went online for the last few months.  She didn’t want to have her senior year in an art school online, so she took a year off and spent the year with us.   She had a few businesses with her art and selling it. It was to have that experience before she went back for her senior year.  The school was great – let her take a year off and keep her scholarship even. She’s finishing up this year.

You always have to look on the bright side, and things happened for a reason, but we are really happy with how things worked out and how our kids came through it.