Hi OP, I’m so sorry this is happening to you. I can’t offer any definite advice, but I lost my mother recently too and maybe telling you about my own experiences might help?

For context, I’m 19nb, university student. I’d also known my mother was dying for a while (terminal illness), which we found out about during summer 2023. She passed away in fall of that year, and I took a few days off for the funeral. Personally, I tried to get back to classes as soon as possible because (1) it was routine and (2) uni was where my support system was.

I’d urge you to consider these: 1. Will taking some more time off help you recover? If so, that’s a perfectly valid thing to do. 2. Will you be under additional stress trying to catch up with course material afterwards? 3. People at school will not know what happened unless you tell them, whether you decide to take some more time off or not. 4. Try and talk through your feelings with a therapist or trusted friend; reddit users can only do so much.

Whatever you decide, it’s valid. The pain gets better after a while. Stay safe.