Coping with this new home schooling world

Whether you took your children out of school a few weeks ago or waited for the official government announcement, for most Western Australian parents this is our official first week of home schooling. Welcome to the new normal.

Are you nervous? Scared? Worried how it will all come together? Good. Me too. I have kids in Years 6, 5 and 3. I admit that I am apprehensive about what lies ahead.

But as you read this, I wonder just how many West Australian parents will admit that they are already exasperated, stressed out and worried about how they will manage to cope in the weeks and months ahead?

Around 450,000 school children are now going to be learning from home – at the same time that many adults will be trying to working from home for the first time too.

For the majority of us, the times we are living through will be amongst the most challenging times we will face with our kids.

It doesn’t matter whether your child is at a private or state school, as parents we all want this to work.

So, let’s be frank. This new Covid-19 imposed era of home schooling will not be a bed of roses.

Most parents have never even contemplated having to do anything like this before.

One of the factors driving parental fear is that there is no set end date to this new way of learning. We do not know when the kids will be returning to their classrooms.

The sooner we acknowledge that it is ‘ok’ to feel irritated by your children, that you might have more arguments with them and/or your partner and there will be times that you really won’t know what is going on, the sooner you will find a way through.

Well-meaning experts who say, ‘this way of online learning will be an adventure for your children and your family’, are not living in the real world.

In the real world, so many parents have already admitted on social media groups that this is ‘bloody’ stressful and feeling anxious about not being able to do the right thing is normal!

Some parents have already shared on social media groups that never before have we actually realised just what an amazing job our teachers do for our children.

It has dawned on other parents with children in the younger school age groups0 that there will be no respite for them during the day at all.

It’s not as if you can hire a babysitter to be able to get out and do some exercise for yourself. Or catch up for a coffee. It is all in, 24 hours a day, every day.

Many people are living in smaller homes as it is. Some have grandparents living with them with all the self-isolation challenges that involves. For a family to literally be 24/7 on top of each other will be challenging.

I have one colleague who is home schooling both her children while she and her husband try to work from home. Both kids’ schools have a full day of learning, requiring kids to log into ‘live’ lessons, have music lessons and all manner of things.

As my colleague puts it, no one is acknowledging that one of her kids is only in Year 1 so pretty much needs her hand held through all of this brave new world of schooling. She says she is about to go mad as she juggles clients’ needs and childrens’ needs, forgetting any of her own. Let alone worrying about the lunches and the dinners.

We also know that not every household has access to a computer or can easily access online lessons. How are those parents feeling?

Parents are trying to see the funny side with every expert asking them to regularly check, “how is the child feeling?”.

Many are thinking, “Hang on a minute. I’m going from one child to another jumping from Maths to Music, Science to Social Studies, French to Chinese. How am I supposed to do all this? Ask me how I’m feeling, not the student!”

Perhaps ‘post-Corona’, the irritating chasms that everyone knows exist in education and drives them mad will be addressed once and for all. Hopefully, the school curriculum can get back to basics.

Long gone are the days when any of us now in our 40s and 50s could genuinely help kids with some of their homework.

One stark example is how we have been sidelined by the completely different way that maths is now taught.

It is apparent to any parent who tries to help their child in Year 1 that it is a completely different landscape. I still haven’t heard a logical reason why maths teaching has been so radically changed in the past few decades, but that’s a debate for another day.

Being able to read is one of the greatest gifts in the world. Thankfully reading is one thing that hasn’t been changed!

Parents have always been asked to read to their children since birth. Life often gets in the way and sometimes good intentions fall by the wayside.

But this is the time when everyone can really help accelerate their children’s skills by actually reading to them and getting them to read to you.

If you aren’t a strong reader, don’t worry, just try and do some with your child each day. It doesn’t matter when, where or what time you do this. The more practice you can do with them, the better they will become.

Come what may, there are some positives to keep in mind once we all get through this.

Teachers will never be taken for granted again.

We will get to know our children a lot better. We will realise and learn things we had never even considered.

But in the meantime, if the online learning platforms break down or you have simply just had enough one day, don’t beat yourself up about it.

A cardboard box and your child’s imagination will show you that you really are doing the best job you can as a parent in these strange times.