My friends and I sarcastically joke about having to be homeschool teachers now and I also know parents who are taking it a bit more seriously. The truth is, we parents are not homeschooling. Our children's teachers are still very much involved; creating a curriculum and putting assignments together just as they had before. This new way of life is quite an adjustment and isn't easy for them and they deserve to be given the same amount of credit that they have received when in the classroom, maybe even more praise than ever. My job as a parent is to make sure my kids log onto their Zoom meetings on time and complete the assignments given to them. I help with questions as much as I can (and I can't tell you how many times in the last several years that I've heard the kids say "that's not how my teacher does it.") Well, kids, this mama doesn't do common core math nor will she ever!
I'm not an educator and I will not pretend to be. I did think and research my choices before sending Matthew to kindergarten and the idea of homeschooling was heavy on my mind, but we decided to send them to public school and I don't regret that decision.
I always felt that parents and teachers need to be a team, and we need to be that now more than ever! I believe whatever I can do as a parent to make their job as a teacher easier I'm going to do that, or at least I try.
Online learning is a new challenge for teachers, students and parents. We're adapting the best we can throughout this time of uncertainty. When they left school we were told this would only take two weeks and it didn't seem like a big deal. Now it's going to be over a month and, quite possibly, there won't be a return at all this year. This has quickly become our new normal.
My kids would rather be in school.
