I’m not homeschooling my children during the coronavirus pandemic. There, I’ve said it. And I know some of you are going to call me a bad mom. But before you do, you might want to know what I am doing and why I’m not homeschooling in the most traditional sense.
My children are off like so many others right now. At the same time, I’m trying to work from home and look after them on my own. My husband is considered an essential worker right now so is out of the house Monday to Friday. So, I’m trying to run the house, run the business, and look after the children at the same time.
You know what; I’m stressed! I’m not ashamed to say that.
Last week, I had no idea what day of the week it was. My children had to remind me. They were the ones that would tell me when I was close enough to the weekend to take a bit of a breather. They were helping me keep track of the TV schedule for work. So, homeschooling is the last thing on my mind and here’s why.
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They’re young enough to get away with it
Let me start by telling you that my children are seven and four years old. So, there’s not much schooling that they need right now. One is in Pre-K, while the other is in Gr. 2.
When I looked into things, I found out that they’d need one to two hours of school. And that was mostly for the one in school right now. The younger one learns through play.
On top of that, they don’t have exams this year and they have some time to catch up on their learning. I’m not that worried about not doing particular lessons.
We’re not not doing anything!
While I’m not sitting down and doing planned out lessons, they are still learning. As I said, the younger one learns through playing. My elder daughter is also learning that way.
Despite not homeschooling, there are still two hours where they can do some school work. I’m not sitting with them, but these are the hours where they are allowed to us the educational apps on the tablet or where they will do some of their workbooks that I’ve picked up.
My elder daughter likes school. She wants to learn and always asks if she can go on the tablet to do her math work. I don’t discourage her from not doing it, but I don’t expect her to be on it all day.
During other blocks in the day, they’re not just watching TV. I have them do some quiet reading, they play board games, and they are allowed to play with their LEGO or do “craft” hours. In other words, I’m encouraging them to play on their keyboards, draw pictures, and write stories. I want them to be creative and learn through playing, as well as learning through the structural methods.
And you know what? I ran the schedule by me eldest daughter’s teacher. She’s happy with what I’m doing.
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I don’t know the first place to start
I’m not a homeschooling mom. It’s never been something that I’ve wanted to do. I have the utmost respect for the moms that do it, but it’s just not me.
So, when it came to them suddenly being home and having to do online learning, I scratched my head for a bit. I panicked at the thought of it. Because I just had no idea where to start.
But I don’t need to know where to start. There are now things in place to help with learning and we have a schedule that is working for us.
All I do is let them know we’re into the next hour and they figure out what to do. If they need help answering a question I help them work it out. But I encourage them to work out disagreements together and figure things out for themselves as much as possible.
I’m trying to work while I do this. My clients can’t always wait for me to figure things out.
Of course, there are hours I spend with them too. I’m working a little less than I normally would do during the school hours, but that doesn’t mean I’m homeschooling during this coronavirus pandemic.
They happy and that’s what matters to me
The most important thing for me right now is knowing that my children are happy and healthy. I want to make sure they don’t see the panic throughout all this. They need to see that mommy and daddy are calm and ready.
Being thrown in the deep end of homeschooling is stressful in the best of situations. I’ve done a couple of days when our schools were on strike. Trying to figure out homeschooling while also trying to work from home and manage the stress of the pandemic would mean less patience than I already have.
The kids don’t need me shouting at them all the time. They are happiest when I’m happy. And they try hard to be good. So, I’m trying hard not to lose patience when they’ve asked for lunch for the 20th time 10 minutes after breakfast.
Kids aren’t going to remember homeschooling. They’re not going to remember why they were off school. All they’ll remember is what their home life was like. So let’s make it good for them.
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So no, I’m not homeschooling my children during this coronavirus pandemic. I’m choosing to help them learn through play and gain other skills. It doesn’t mean I’m doing no school work with them at all, but it’s not a structured day of learning and I think it’s best for my children this way.
Have you decided to try homeschooling during the pandemic? Have you decided to focus on play? Share your thoughts in the comments below.