This is hard. Virtual school. Homeschool. Hybrid school. Face to face school. It’s all hard and has challenges. Every choice is right because it is your choice. These decisions are wrought with controversy and conflicting information but no one should be judged for their comfort level and choices. It is their choice. We still live in a free country.
Virtual school is our path for now. We’re making the best of it. We’re balancing 3 kids in 3 schools with 3 schedules alongside work, distanced socializing, the house, the dog, cooking and cleaning. The usual drill for many people. Been there, done that despite it never ending. Most can relate.
Just do it all. You’ve got this. Give yourself grace. You’ve heard all of these phrases.
So you make a plan to tackle the day and repeat your mantra. I can do this. We have to. There isn’t another way right now. You settle in. You work the schedule. You feel a sense of success.
And then it happens.
Your children revolt and you can’t help but marvel at their creativity. Booby traps to enter a room. Computer cameras covered. Muting zoom calls. Reading a book for another class when your camera is off because the current subject is ‘boring’. Slowing recorded videos down or speeding them up so they sound like Andre the giant or a chipmunk, respectively. Turning their space into a parkour course. Quietly sneaking away into another room to binge on video games. Getting their 100 lb puppy to join the zoom and laughing as he explores and tries to steal and chew everything. Demanding time allotted to dress up like a pirate or princess before joining a zoom. Laying on the floor or couch with the computer turned away during a visual lesson while claiming learning is somehow occurring. Shooting buzz lightyear ray guns at the computer. Just one more piece of candy before I start. Pillow fights. Poker. Yes, poker. Claiming victory amongst behavior failures by filling up their reward jar claiming it’s now time to go to Paris as promised because the jar is full. It’s a big jar with tiny beads. It was supposed to take a really long time.
And then there’s the basic stuff. Crying. Screaming. Running away. Eating. Drinking. Laughing. Hiding. Going outside. Rolling on the floor. Jumping up and down. Wasting time and just complete refusal to participate in synchronous or asynchronous learning followed by the often heard phrase of, “I promise to do it later.”
The plan doesn’t work without buy-in. Kids are imaginative, creative, and enjoy a giggle. They’ll push you to the limit, go beyond it and then do it again. So keep at it and wait them out. Don’t hate me for saying this, but you’ve got this!
