Dang! This past school year was rough, rough like I wanted to jump ship on multiple occasions and I know the kids would have gladly joined me. But then what? It was one of those situations where I knew the current situation was NOT ideal and tough to navigate, on the time schedule that the kids were on. It was my prime business hours but what was the alternative? Home-schooling? Sure we could have a more flexible schedule and I could have more control over how the hours of our day were being used. But I could barely handle the assistant teacher role I was forced into, how was I going to be the teacher and manage two sets of lessons plans. Oh and not to mention, once I pulled the kids out of the school district, how do I re-enroll them once this was all over. I honestly felt I was stuck between a rock and a hard place with my hands tied behind my back and not knowing which end was up. So we went with the lesser of both evils and chose to keep the kids in full-time distance learning, At least the kids were familiar with their new teachers. Hahaha- Rian's teacher ended up being the teacher she had in kindergarten. And her wonderful teacher is truly heaven-sent. Rory's teacher was also a notch above the rest. She was so understanding and flexible as we all tried to balance the poop-fest we all were in. But, yes there's a but... hear me out. There were a handful of lessons that we could have only learned because this monster of a pandemic refused to leave the party. So here we go...
Lesson 1: I learned that with a creative design, I can indeed fit 5 desks in my house. Prior to quarantine, my desk was in our loft area. I moved it downstairs once I started working remotely full-time thinking that I would feel isolated upstairs. Originally, the double desk I made (yes, you read that right... made because I could not find a desk in stock long enough to fit both kids) was for Rory and Rian. That never happened, as Rian and I became desk mates. I did manage to find desks that would fit in each of the kids's rooms. I'm no designer, but having to put together so many workable spaces was a challenge. Especially the loft area, I wanted it to feel like a designated school space, but still coordinate with the rest of the upstairs since it was open. I definitely look at space differently.
Lesson 2: School lessons at home can be fun. You need to be active for PE? No problem, throw some construction paper down on the floor and see if you can get through the pathway without touching it.
Science experiments were Rian's favorite.
Lesson 3: Some times things just aren't working and you need your space and that's ok. Trying to work next to a 7 year old doesn't always end well... "Oh sorry mom!" In one swoop of her arm, Rian managed to make weeks-worth of work notes completely disappear within seconds. Didn't know that Sharpie pen ink turned invisible when met with water.
We legit had to put a divider between us multiple times. We equally know how to push each other's buttons and let me tell you that by math zoom lesson after lunch, we both had enough on severallllll occasions.
OK, funny story:
For those who don't know, I'm an insurance advisor and when quoting property insurance, I will pull public information, including listing photos. So one afternoon when we were both riding each other's last nerve, Rian looks over at my computer and says in her snarky, attitude filled voice "Aren't you supposed to be working? All you've done all day is look at other people's houses online." Oh I snapped back with, "Looking at other people's houses is part of my job! And aren't you supposed to be in math class right now? Apparently all you've done all day is be nosy, so mind your business." You know I moved that file organizer right smack down the middle of the desk after that.
Rory had a tough time with distance learning. He just could get the hang of it during the first semester. And some times I needed away from my desk and a change of scenery when we would have late night sessions catching up on missing assignments.
Lesson 4: Every kid is different and handles life's obstacles in their own way. Although the burden of the sudden life-changes that the pandemic caused were any less for Rian, she faced them head on. Nothing seemed to stop her. She figured out how to navigate zoom lessons and independent study time seamlessly. It was as if she had not known anything different. And I took that as if all kids transitioned to distance learning with little interruption. Oh man was I wrong and I mean really wrong. Rory had been silently spirally downward and begin failing all but 2 of his classes within weeks of the new school year. And the 2 classes that he wasn't failing were in serious jeopardy. He slipped deep in a massive hole of missing assignments and spent months trying to resurrect his grades. We struggled as a household how to grasp this monster that he was battling. He was repeatedly lying to cover up the fact that he just wasn't dealing well with the isolation and having to independently manage his school load. By winter break I was exhausted with trying to juggle a demanding full time job with the seemingly never-ending doctor appointments (that were cutting into my work day) with being assistant teacher/math tutor with trying to stay on top of Rory's current assignments while trying to make up month's of missing work. I was at a lost. Then I had this idea: As Rory's new assignments came through, we were going to look at the due dates and segment the assignment out. I ordered both kids planners and with what seemed like a flip of a switch, Rory was not only managing his assignments but he was turning in quality work. One of the biggest lessons I learned was what type of student Rory is. He gets overwhelmed with school and I now know that. I didn't really understand that part of him because prior to quarantine, I never witnessed the "student" side of Rory. This was huge, like mind-blowing huge! He has asked if I could get him a planner every school year. Boom! Thanks quarantine.
Rory's teacher even sent me a message that she had noticed an improvement in his work! Whoo Hoo Rory!
Lesson 5: As hard as distant learning was, I knew I was gonna miss these kiddos once they went to in person learning. When am I ever going to be a part of their school life again? This pandemic took so much from us but it gifted me this time with them. I got to witness firsthand their school life, who their friends are, how their classmates interact with them.
Rory had a tough time with distance learning. He just could get the hang of it during the first semester. And some times I needed away from my desk and a change of scenery when we would have late night sessions catching up on missing assignments.
Lesson 4: Every kid is different and handles life's obstacles in their own way. Although the burden of the sudden life-changes that the pandemic caused were any less for Rian, she faced them head on. Nothing seemed to stop her. She figured out how to navigate zoom lessons and independent study time seamlessly. It was as if she had not known anything different. And I took that as if all kids transitioned to distance learning with little interruption. Oh man was I wrong and I mean really wrong. Rory had been silently spirally downward and begin failing all but 2 of his classes within weeks of the new school year. And the 2 classes that he wasn't failing were in serious jeopardy. He slipped deep in a massive hole of missing assignments and spent months trying to resurrect his grades. We struggled as a household how to grasp this monster that he was battling. He was repeatedly lying to cover up the fact that he just wasn't dealing well with the isolation and having to independently manage his school load. By winter break I was exhausted with trying to juggle a demanding full time job with the seemingly never-ending doctor appointments (that were cutting into my work day) with being assistant teacher/math tutor with trying to stay on top of Rory's current assignments while trying to make up month's of missing work. I was at a lost. Then I had this idea: As Rory's new assignments came through, we were going to look at the due dates and segment the assignment out. I ordered both kids planners and with what seemed like a flip of a switch, Rory was not only managing his assignments but he was turning in quality work. One of the biggest lessons I learned was what type of student Rory is. He gets overwhelmed with school and I now know that. I didn't really understand that part of him because prior to quarantine, I never witnessed the "student" side of Rory. This was huge, like mind-blowing huge! He has asked if I could get him a planner every school year. Boom! Thanks quarantine.
Rory's teacher even sent me a message that she had noticed an improvement in his work! Whoo Hoo Rory!
Lesson 5: As hard as distant learning was, I knew I was gonna miss these kiddos once they went to in person learning. When am I ever going to be a part of their school life again? This pandemic took so much from us but it gifted me this time with them. I got to witness firsthand their school life, who their friends are, how their classmates interact with them.
And to top off this 2020-21 school year, both Rian and Rory earned A-B Honor Roll. I'm so incredibly proud of them. I would have been proud regardless, but they both took a horrible situation and faced it with all their might and conquered it!
We sure did make one massive batch of lemonade with the lemons that the pandemic handed us. Oh and a bonus is that now I can spell pandemic and quarantine without stopping and thinking about it first. So thanks for that, life!
We sure did make one massive batch of lemonade with the lemons that the pandemic handed us. Oh and a bonus is that now I can spell pandemic and quarantine without stopping and thinking about it first. So thanks for that, life!
Hahaha... thanks for stopping by. I hope you also had some silver linings during this past year.
-aMie
No comments:
Post a Comment