When the seriousness of the spread of COVID-19 began to fill the media and started to be felt by leaders in our community, we didn’t feel the dramatic change initially. My kids kept doing their schoolwork each day and my other work responsibilities didn’t immediately take notice. We went to our weekly co-op, had lessons and sports practices, went for our normal library run and played with friends. Then, suddenly, it changed.
Co-Op leaders, sports coaches, and others in similar leadership positions started taking extra precautions with deeper sanitizing procedures and reminding kids to wash their hands more often one week. Then, by the following week, everything was shut down in my area. While our schoolwork didn’t change, everything else around us did. Groups that could meet online took time to set up accounts and strategize how to best offer learning or interaction for children. Other activities, like sports and the library, were cancelled. Everyone became proficient in downloading e-books and attending online events.
Quickly, our low-key device family seem to need a screen for each person. Zoom meetings became so frequent and I struggled to keep up with who needed which device during various hours of the day. Eventually, I created a Zooming device sign-up sheet and taped it to the refrigerator to keep it all straight. I also took advantage of all the safe friends and family who were not going into their normal workday and invited them to video chat with my extroverted child, providing me a few previous minutes of quiet. This provided an unexpected benefit to the family member on the other end of the call because they were bored, too.
After a few weeks into the quarantine, we still miss our outings and desperately need to resupply our library bag, but we are slowly settling into a new normal. The kids miss their friends. Our gas consumption as decreased, our food consumption has increased, but our schooling hasn’t had much of a change.
How has your homeschool changed since the quarantine? Have you felt a significant change to your students’ learning? What is still the same?
Global Student Network has been a leader in providing homeschool and school at home online distance learning since 2004. Learn more about online learning options at www.Global Student Network.
Lindsay Banton is a caffeinated mother to three great kids. She never expected to homeschool, but has found that it is a wonderful addition to their lifestyle and wouldn’t change it for the world. In addition to homeschooling, Lindsay works alongside her husband in campus ministry at a large university in Connecticut. She grew up in Virginia but has settled into life in New England, learning to love the long winters, cool springs, green summers and gorgeous autumns- and has built a boot collection to meet all the demands. She is currently blogging at www.lindsaybanton.com.