When Covid swept away all our spring dreams, many homeschoolers, perhaps for the first time, felt united with parents across the globe.
We, too, were scrambling to adjust our lives and trying to figure out what, if any, of our normal homeschool classes and meetups could get transferred to Zoom. We, too, wondered what semblance of “normal” we would be able to hold onto as we rode the rollercoaster of fear, sadness and stress while hoping to find the strength to help our kids deal with their own anxiety and loss.
As a homeschooler, I am used to feeling on the fringe of the parenting norm, and for a while, I felt more unified with the parenting world at large.
This shifted quickly.
My homeschooling friends were mostly happy. “I feel like I’ve been preparing for this my whole life.” “This has felt like an amazing break from all our busy-ness.” But from the school set, after a brief honeymoon period, almost all news I read sounded like the parents and their kids were miserable. Besides the stress around balancing work and navigating distance learning, there was the added anxiety about their children falling behind academically.
We have been grappling with that work/homeschool balance for years and have spent a long time reframing what learning looks like. We have been finding peace with alternative models of education, seeking the most inspiring online classes, and collecting Ted Talks, books and articles that help us feel genuinely good about our choice.
The shift has been easier for us because, for a long time, we have been building the myriad skills, both emotional and practical, that are necessary for this alternative schooling.
During one of our parent check-ins via Zoom a few weeks ago, a friend said, “I don’t understand why schools and parents aren’t reaching out to homeschoolers for help right now,” and that stuck with me. I think we could be a great resource for, at the very least, helping lower anxiety levels around fears that the children will not be as competitive academically.
Our homeschooling group moved some of our plans online, and we quickly recognized that we needed a big part of these online “classes” to include parent check-ins. Some of those check-ins lasted longer that the kids’ class time. Because we are not beholden to things like grades, it felt natural and right for me that our focus would shift toward supporting our emotional and social growth during this time. While we did continue to do some academics, the impetus behind the Zoom classes was more about maintaining our connection to one another.
As homeschoolers, we have an appreciation for how helpful consistent rhythms and routines are for our children, and our online meetings provided much needed pillars for our crumbled infrastructure. It felt nourishing and grounding to have those precious moments together to vent or muse, to share disappointments and small wins, and to realize that we were not in this alone. I learned how others were coping, weighed how much time my different friends were spending on news, and learned how they were talking to their children about the virus.
Academics was the last thing on our mind.
Even though the Covid-era has been a less shocking transition for many homeschoolers, there is nothing normal or fun about what is happening in the world right now. This has not been the happiest period of my kids’ lives, but we are hanging in there, and I know a handful of brilliant and creative homeschooling parents whom I can, and do, go to when I’m trying to troubleshoot the logistics of balancing this new reality. I assume most parents don’t have that luxury.
Heather, Amy, and I have started openmindedlearning.com as a place for homeschooling and Covid-schooling parents who need support.
We plan to blog here regularly and share our own learning journeys with the hope that it will support families with both the emotional and practical aspects of homeschooling. We will also be sharing favorite resources and tips about the kinds of things that drive us and make our lives as homeschoolers feel joyful, sane, and doable.
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