My family charged into a new COVID routine more than two months ago. We’ve reached the conclusion of our home crisis schooling, taken some time to reflect.
Here are our winners and losers.
Winners
Technology
The Microsoft Teams application worked great for my first through eighth graders. The content was well organized and, once my kids got the hang of it, easy to navigate.
The only technological snafu were videos that were often too heavy for the bandwidth needed to quickly transmit the lessons.
Printing and uploading files was a bit of a pain, but manageable for us.
While I did not have any experiences with the Google platforms, I have heard parents with similarly, favorable reviews.
Non-Screen Activity
The COVID-19 pandemic turned back the clocks for my kids – to the forgotten days finding things to do around the house, with siblings or, at proper distance (most of the time), with neighborhood friends. I loved watching my kids at play, at home, just like I used to.
During quarantine, my kids road bikes, held relay races, completed short jogs and kicked a soccer around the front yard more than they had in the months before.
Pre-pandemic, we’d filled our calendars with practices, commutes and endless traveling to and from fields of play. On off days, we’d hit up an amusement park, pool or a local beach. The last two months, we’ve done none of that.
During COVID we couldn’t plan anything.
I’ll miss that when normalcy is restored.
Losers
Daily Schedules
Like many parents, the first thing we did when faced with the prospect of teaching our kids was to create a meticulous, hourly schedule for each. We scheduled school work, breaks, exercise – everything.
Those schedules held for about two weeks.
As I type there is nothing left of the calendar. Time, in fact, has rendered itself irrelevant completely.
My kids still complete daily assignments and remedial house chores, but in whatever time that suits them. I lost this battle and have retreated with my alarm clock for now.
School Content
Teachers threw an e-learning curriculum together in a week and, for that, I commend their efforts. But, if we’re honest, online school was basically the ultra light beer of education. My kids were not grinding on academics all day long.
During it’s heaviest of workload weeks, my kids would do one to three hours of school. That’s only an average of about twenty minutes per class.
I’m generally okay with my kids lackadaisical attitude toward the last quarter of the school year. They’re young, there is plenty of time for deep study of concepts that I want to stick with them. My 8th grader-turned new high schooler, though, should have been doing more.
Based on the work I’ve seen my kids perform, I worry about the gaps that will exist for kids that will (hopefully) enter a new school in the fall. The academic adjust back to normalcy will be steep.
Socializing
The ineptitude of my kids to stay connected to friends and classmates while apart reached epic levels during the COVID-19 quarantine. Kids, at least mine, don’t reach out to each other – ever. Not to check in, not to ask how today is going, not to schedule a meet up or bike ride.
Kids simply don’t communicate.
The lasting impression I get from my kids’ socialization during COVID is this: if parents provide the push, kids will socialize. If parents do not, they’d rather play video games or watch a phone alone. You cannot convince me that trash talking during a Fortnite game is the new form of friendship communications.
Screen Time
I’m not ashamed to admit that my kids’ time in front of a non-homeworking screen has expanded exponentially – at least four times. I quit beating myself up over that fact nearly three weeks ago. This defeat occurred via three steps:
The first step in my screen time demise was placing a television in my kids’ shared bedroom.
The next step was purchasing X-Box Live.
Lastly, I’ve developed a rotation that allows all kids to play without constant fighting and accusation of the relative time each has spent sniping their friends.
Graduation
From what I can gather, schools are generally hosting a watered down graduation ceremony – either virtually or in the form of individual ceremonies that adhere to social distancing standards.
My son’s middle school, however, has decided to do nothing.
No message to exiting students to wish them well.
No drive through line where teachers can wave, cry and blow kisses.
No creative ideas to recognize students in person while keeping distance.
I hope our middle school is in the minority that have absolutely dropped the ball in sending kids onward during COVID-19.
TBD
Re-Booting Normalcy
The prospect of returning to work and the busyness of raising kids has me conflicted.
I want my kids to get away. I am sick of being their teacher.
I don’t, though, want to go back to missing family meals as I truck the kids to endless soccer practices and dance rehearsals.
I miss my coworkers, but dread having to miss the lunch hours with my children or watching my 4-year-old learn to swim and ride a bike.
We’re taking the return to normalcy slowly and doing our best armed with the assumption that we will never know if we doing right by this awful illness. Inching back to our pre-COVID lives is bittersweet, filled with as many failures as successes during our quarantine.
If staying healthy and together is a win, we’re victorious.
If keeping our kids on-task, off electronics and ready to tackle their next grade level at a new school, we may be taking a big “L.”
As with most parenting endeavors, time will tell.
