When the COVID-19 pandemic hit in March 2020 and remote learning was implemented, our jobs as mothers reached new heights. Teaching is incredibly challenging! At my house, remote learning with a 6-year-old tested our patience in ways I didn’t think possible. Trying to maintain a structured schedule while convincing my first born to get on Zoom calls and then do his homework was practically impossible. (I was fortunate to have the help of my nanny the last three weeks of the 2019-2020 school year. Roman responded to our nanny’s instruction much better than mine or my husband’s.) But with and without our nanny’s assistance, the end of school was still not an easy feat! To top it off, how do we as moms do it all? It’s hard enough to mother with our kids at school and still get everything done that is needed. Especially if you’re like me holding a newborn most of the day.
Though I was hopeful remote learning was a temporary thing and schools in Michigan would resume in the Fall, the likelihood of that seems less and less as COVID-19 continues to rampage through the US. And so I want to discuss my thoughts on remote learning versus homeschooling during the Covid lockdown. For so many of us, we’re a mixed bag of emotions; we both want our children to be safe but also not miss out on all the invaluable learning and socializing experiences in-classroom education offers. These are our kids’ formative years when they learn to have the confidence they are capable of anything, so we do not want to take away from their development. So yes, I will be disappointed if my kids do not return to the classroom, but of course, their safety and the safety of the rest of the community is the most important. It’s on us parents, no matter what the new guidelines are–whether that be returning to in-classroom or remote learning/homeschooling–to create a sense of normalcy. How can we offer the same level of educational experience through remote learning or homeschooling?
A few uncertainties with which I’m currently grappling:
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Will the pandemic have long-term negative effects on children’s development?
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Will they learn what they really should be learning?
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And, if they attend private school, is it worth it for remote learning when parents have to do most of the work ourselves and possibly also hire a tutor?
The “how to approach this school year conundrum” has my husband Barton and I riddled. Do we move our kids to public school? Do we stick to their private school and work with them ourselves? Do we hire a tutor 15 hours a week to ensure they are learning how they should be? Do we switch from remote learning to full-time homeschooling?
I don’t want to make it about numbers but it’s hard not to consider the cost of it all. The costs of private tutors and private schools can add up.
If we do not return to in-classroom learning, as parents we have two options:
Homeschooling
Homeschooling allows you as parents to fully control your agenda. You are not on anyone’s timeline. If you want to do a math lesson on a Tuesday night, you can. You choose your curriculum, as long as you are fulfilling your particular grade’s requirements and milestones, like basic math and reading. While it seems appealing to me because I would have more freedom with our family’s time, I recognize it’d all be on me and my husband. Is it more realistic to homeschool and hire a tutor to supplement the learning process? Or, again, is it better to keep my kids enrolled in private school? There are a lot of unknowns. For our family, it’s uncharted territory. For yours, it may be the best option.
Remote Learning
Remote learning may offer a bit more structure, enabling professional teachers to organize the curriculum and engage your children via video chat. The downside is that it could be very difficult for children, especially young kids like my son Roman, to focus on Zoom calls for longer than 30 minutes. Also, the reality is that parents work and have other responsibilities, so remote learning should, in theory, free up some of the time homeschooling would take away. (Though that wasn’t the case in Spring 2020.)
About a month away from the start of school, I’m writing this blog post to open a conversation I believe most parents want to have. Although the Michigan Governor has not yet announced remote learning, I anticipate she will soon follow in line with so many other states.
While homeschooling or remote learning is not what most of us want to be doing, it may be our reality this coming Fall, so let’s accept the season we’re in and give our kids the greatest sense of normalcy possible. Keep riding it out and being flexible instead of fighting it. We can do it!
What are your plans for this coming school year?