Ok, before you get all who does she think she is writing about homeschooling during a pandemic; let me give you a little background to quantify my qualifications. Thank you.
I am currently homeschooling my 12 year old, 7th grader. And again, before you roll your eyes, with the it’s only one kid; let me just say: if I had a classroom full of Jack’s (my son), I would have had to check into the Betty Ford Clinic, long ago. Who knows at the end of this, that might still be a real possibility. 😉 I have two older children, aged 26 & 23 and during all their years of schooling have not had to once check if they had gotten their work done. With Jack, since pre-school, it could be another full-time job. Don’t get me wrong, my 3rd child is so much more than book learning and is actually quite smart, he is just the type that can’t be swayed by praise or public opinion so his motivational skills in the schooling industry aren’t very prevalent. Couple my child’s demeanor, for the last 8 years and that I was a substitute teacher for 2 years and my incredible organizational skills; I thought I got this! I am qualified.
Flash forward to a pandemic! The first two weeks of distance learning, I was still working my full-time job from home. For some reason, or maybe I was just overwhelmed, who knows; I forgot that my son wasn’t very organized and thought he had this whole distance learning thing on lock. UNTIL, here come the emails. Truth be told, I don’t even remember how many assignments he was missing but it was a lot. Couple that with the fact that I was asking him every single day, “did you turn in all of your assignments” and the answer was always yes. I don’t even really blame the lies and realizing how overwhelmed he really was, I let them slide and we started anew.
Flash forward, now I am laid off due to the pandemic and it really is a blessing in disguise. Sure, there is the uncertainty of future employment but my child comes first and foremost and that is where my concentrations had to lie. Now came the plan!
The Plan—
- Get him out of his room and into a centrally monitored area. Set him up with the necessary tools for success: binders; computer; sharpened pencils, etc.
The Dining Room Table - Get back to basics. On-line resources for tracking work are nice, but sometimes you just need the tried and true write it down method. I not only had him write down his weekly assignments but what was due daily as well. I believe it is motivational to tick those assignments off as you complete them. I believe the physical visuals have been paramount to keeping my boy on track.
Write it Down - Break up the day with exercise! As unhealthy as it is for adults to sit at a desk all day, it is as detrimental to my little student as well. Did somebody say, Gym Class! So many ways to mix this up, let them get involved and they won’t even think of it as exercise.
Walk the Dog - Monitor progress daily, weekly or whatever is comfortable with your schedule. I personally have never lived through a pandemic, neither has my child. We are both learning to navigate the current element as well as what the future may hold for all of us or the—new normal if you will. Kids are resilient and though I wouldn’t want to relive these current times, this time has brought my son and I to a new level of understanding and his organizational skills have never been better. 😀
He is my Boy
Peace & Love to all the Homeschooling Parents around the globe!
Kimberly
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