I love living in the Deer Creek area. I love our neighborhood and the schools our kids go to. But I can tell you that the covid situation has made it very difficult on our family in regards to the kids’ education.
Let me explain that our schools are wonderful. I don’t want this to turn into teacher or school-bashing because that’s not what this post is about. Instead, I just need to get some things off my chest that have been so frustrating.
Now, my husband and I are both lucky to be able to work from home during this pandemic, full time. This is such a godsend in order to keep our income and maintain our jobs. We know that not everyone has this ability. But it doesn’t make our particular situation any less frustrating. Having the kids here 3 days a week has been so tremendously difficult while also trying to work.
Braden is younger and still needs constant supervision when it comes to work. There’s not much he can’t do on his own yet and it takes one of us, usually Mike, to be sure to keep him on track. If you tell him what needs to be done, he’ll either say he doesn’t know how to do, he can’t do it or he ends up playing around without even an attempt. We’ve tried to be very patient but it’s not always easy when also dealing with family and work-related issues.
Devin is older and thankfully, can do a lot on his own. But he also tends to work slow or not give his best if he isn’t pushed. He tends to turn things in late, forget assignments, turn in incomplete work or not follow the complete instructions which results in incomplete assignments.
Yes, I know he needs to learn to do things on his own. Both of them do. Independent learning is best when learned at an early age. And I don’t want to be one of those parents who does the work for them. They don’t complehend anything that way. But with these learning conditions, I’m afraid they aren’t getting the most out of the material. Are they learning the concepts they need for their development and age groups? Is this putting them behind in school, the state, the country, the world? Will this affect them for years to come with regards to understanding the concepts they should be learning in an in-person environment?
And then I have questions about how we’re handling things. Are we doing what’s best for them? Is the environment we have at home helping or hindering their comprehension? Is there more we could/should be doing? How can we accomplish this while still working?
I want the kids in school. Not because I want them sick or in an environment where they can get sick. But because it’s what’s best for them. They need in-person instruction. They need to be writing and reading, not looking at computers all day. They need to get out of this house and away from each other. Away from us. They need to be independent and socialize with their friends.
I’m hoping that things will change for next semester but I’m not holding my breath for that. I just hope that we’re doing all we can to help them on their educational journey. And I hope they learn how to work on their own, learn to comprehend this material virtually and still maintain friendships. And I do hope we can go back to normal soon. We all need that.