The time I had to homeschool my kids….
I am a teacher by trade. I’ve spent several years honing my craft, acquiring resources, and perfecting my approach. None of that prepared me for the time I had to homeschool my kids.
In our house, London’s lock-down began with the thud of the kids backpacks dropped at the door. With cheerful faces, they told me what I already knew, the schools were closing. A few hours later I received emails that outlined my homeschooling responsibility. I was ready, I was willing, I was a professional after all. I was a fool.
l realized quickly I was ill equipped to be mom, teacher, lunch lady, playground supervisor, and entertainment director. I also realized exactly why I never wanted to homeschool my children.
After floundering for a week, I signed the kids up for Khan Academy. Then I set up an account on Elephant Learning for my youngest, she struggles with math. I purchased a six month subscription for Kiwi Learning’s Tinker Box - an engineering based activity box, and a subscription to MEL Chemistry - a science based subscription box. I purchased activity books, notebooks, and some file folders to keep it all in.
I’d try to keep things interesting, once I handed my 13 year old son a box of brownie mix to make and told him it was a test if he could follow directions. Another time I had my daughter calculate the surface area of the windows before she washed them.
We’ve had good days, like when my son and I learned how to correctly use the Pythagorean theorem and simplify square roots, or the time my daughter and I learned we do not communicate the same way. And bad days, like the day I wanted to cry because both kids needed my help at the exact same time. Regardless of the kind of day we had, it always ended with me mentally exhausted.
I’ve learned so much, like my son has a wicked sense of humor and my daughter is incredibly independent. My son loves origami and taught us how to make frogs, turtles, and dragons. My daughter loves watching life hacks on youtube and taught us how to chop an onion, separate and egg, and peel garlic. They both taught me how quickly they’ve grown, how resilient they really are and how pretzels can be for lunch if you pair it was hummus and sliced apples.
Eventually, things will return to normal and they will go back to school. I hope they will forget how I was a crap homeschool teacher and remember I tried my best.
Wish you were here,
xoxo