As a stay home mom of 3 boys, an 18 year old, 11 years old and 7 years old during quarantine is hard. I can’t imagine working parents having to deal with the kids and working home at the same time. So this is my story which I know most people can relate to or not.
The first week of stay home order felt more like an extended second winter break. There was really no structured learning that was given by the school district right away so I have to be resourceful and be inventive on how to educate my boys. I am not equipped to teach my own kids. Well, I guess I am but I can’t be a teacher. And also it was very challenging for me to use a calm voice to teach. My kids claim that I talk in a high pitch voice most of the time which classifies as yelling but I’m not yelling. I just can’t express myself in a lower tone voice. It’s a work in progress but I am really trying though.
The second week of stay home order was a blur. It was chaotic and messy. The boys woke up late everyday and I am just doing free style teaching. I found some workbooks they can use and I guess it was acceptable in my standards 😉. My 6th grader and second grader were okay with it initially but complained few days after and said that, it’s too much paper tests. Duh!!! That is why, it’s called a workbook. So we shifted to Khan academy videos for math learning. Of course, they complained… again. But right now, that is the best I can do until I figure out what will work best for them . We probably got our in home school learning rhythm in order by Friday but then again, Saturday comes in and we will be back to square one comes Monday. Just typing this out felt like it was forever. Second week was a work in progress.
The third week was a real challenge. I thought I have everything figured out last week, but I dont. My college student son is driving me crazy about his freshman college life being over. And if I say, “some other people got it worse than you,” then we go into a big argument about every person’s emotional state varies based on different factors. Whatever. Arguing with an 18 year old hormonal teenager is useless at this point. I’m never going to win. Then here comes my 8 year old, who whines and cries for every little thing just because he can. At this point all I can think of is, spring break. A spring break quarantined at home. I’ll take it anyway because, the two weeks were brutal. There was no direction in my style of teaching. My boys future at this point looks a little questionnable.
Our school district decided after 3 longest week of remote learning to have something in place after the spring break. A big sigh and relief. I just can’t believe it took them that long to have something in place for the kids. I’ll take it anyway, every little help counts right now.
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