Frustrated parents quarantine homeschooling

Quarantine Homeschooling 101

This post is dedicated to all the parents and teachers out there trying to deal with the effects of Covid – 19.   Let’s face it,  2020 has been a complete sh!tshow of a year.   I am brutally honest here and most of you will agree.   However, this isn’t a blog about Covid-19.  Quite frankly, as a health care provider in the thick of it, I am so over it!   This blog is aimed at two very strong groups of individuals out there.   Parents and teachers.   To the parents who have become educators in addition to their full time jobs, YOU ARE AMAZING!  Let me repeat, YOU ARE AMAZING.   To the teachers out there who have been basically doing double the work both virtual and in person curriculums, YOU ARE AMAZING.

Covid-19 has put the world into a state most of us have never witnessed.   The children you are all educating will be reading about this pandemic in their children’s history and science books.  We are creating history in 2020.  Let that sink in.   Pandemic education has taken it’s toll on so many individuals.  Mentally, you’re tired.   If I am being honest here, I am grateful that my children are grown.   I couldn’t imagine.   I see  it from both sides and perspectives.

Many of my friends and family members are very good, kind educators.  I hear you.  I see your faces.  You wonder if your students are being taken care of at home.  Not everyone’s homes are safe.   You wonder if your students are eating.  Some parents haven’t  worked for months and struggle to make ends meet.  I love and applaud my home town that did meals for kids all summer long.   This pandemic has taken our situations to very different levels.   For the parents who were and maybe are still working from home, you have the added responsibility of educating your children.  In between zoom meetings for your full time jobs, you are now teaching Math, English, History and Reading.   Good lord, have you seen some of the Math these kids are learning.    As the plans for fall were mapped out, I heard many teachers say, “we are not babysitters.”  YOU are right.   You are educators that are now faced with very challenging positions in your field of expertise,  teaching.    I have heard many parents say, “I don’t even understand my kids homework. I am not a teacher.”   YOU are right.  Parent’s are facing challenging times.  I still chuckle at my girlfriend’s story about homeschooling her kids this pass spring.   I asked how she was going to handle school in the fall.  She told me her kids begged to go back.  They told her she sucked as a teacher.   She just laughed.  She is an amazing mom and women.  That felt and was right for their situation.  It’s personal.

Teaching is hard.  Parenting is hard.   You are both right.   The focus in all of this isn’t who is right or wrong, it’s the little eyes that are watching and taking it all in.  The children!  Halloween party homeschoolChildren follow our leads.  They are watching to see how we as adults respond.   As educators and parents there needs to be a  joined front to give these children their best shot in present times.   I am not a teacher.   I am an RN.   I say, god bless all you educators.  I know many very good teachers.   I am a parent with grown children and I deeply feel empathy for both sides.

I want to give a shout out to a family of three in California. They have been homeschooling their son since March. Out in Cali, they are still virtual.  My nephew is handling home school like a champ.   They have turned their dining area into a classroom.   They do recess, take fieldtrips and have scheduled breaks.   They both work too.   Jon was in the middle of launching The Last of Us 2 when Covid struck.  I can’t imagine launching a multimillion dollar video game during a pandemic.   Do meltdowns happen?

family quarantine home school

Yep, on both sides.  But I couldn’t be more proud of Sara and Jon with the job they have done.  Ben has followed a lead.  It’s hard.  Parents, kids and teachers around the world are tired and frustrated.   If we as adults feel like this in our 20’s, 30’s and 40’s, imagine how hard it is at 5 to sit in zoom class or just understand why they can’t go to school or play with their friends.   We must learn to understand each others perspectives and give grace in today’s world.   Give grace to yourself, grace to our educators,  and finally grace to our  parents acting as educators.  Remember, we are all struggling, just in different ways.  This isn’t over.  I hope that as humans you are doing ok.   If not, get help.  We don’t have to be strong all the time.   OH and just in case no one has told you today, YOU ARE AMAZING!  Keep freaking going!

Until the next time,

Jen

#nursenerdfitness

#Mentalhealthawareness

#givegrace

#bekind

#perspectives

#quarantine homeschooling