It has been a month now that school has been back in session. Sort of. To say it has been "back in session" is putting a positive spin on it. Brandt and Blythe are currently going to school two days a week, Mondays and Wednesdays. The other days, they are trying to do school online, using Canvas. It hasn't gone well. Blythe has ten classes (TEN!) and Brandt has eight. Their time in each class each week is limited to 50 minutes and I feel like the school district is expecting these untrained, somewhat undisciplined people to navigate 8-10 independent study courses. College students don't do that, much less middle school students. My frustration levels are high. I'm still working at the office every day, and Kent is doing enumeration out and about, so neither of us is home to oversee assignments and keep people on track. While I try in the evenings, tensions are running high and school is creating significant contention in our home. It's exhausting. Kent seems apathetic, I seem like an evil dictator, and nothing is getting done. It is AWFUL!
Our neighbor, Elizabeth Elder, asked moms to write a couple of sentences about how online, hybrid school is going, and she asked at this moment in time when I have been freaking out about school. I wrote more than a couple of sentences. For the historical purposes, I am including the email here because it very accurately expresses how things are really going with school in the time of Covid.
My children, a freshman boy who is 14, and a seventh grade girl who is 12, have loved school in previous years. While we had typical homework struggles, they were engaged in what they were learning, loved their teachers, thrived on interactions with their peers, and never complained about going to school. Never. I have felt they were able to get help in subjects where they struggled and that their teachers knew them and liked them. They had reasonable amounts of homework that helped solidify instruction they received at school, and they were never overwhelmed with what needed to be done of an evening before they returned the next day. School was positive.
Prior to January 2020, I was a stay-at-home-mom. At the end of January I began working full-time. When school shut down in the spring due to the coronavirus, I was also on furlough and was able to help my kids navigate online school. Because we only have two children, the hassle was bearable, and while we struggled staying motivated, we managed to muddle along. I was able to keep the children on track until school ended, though the last two weeks was a rush to complete all assignments. We breathed a sigh of relief that the year was over and hoped things would be different in the fall.
School this year has been less than ideal. With two working parents, our children are spending a lot of time at home without adult supervision, trying to manage their schoolwork on their own. On Thursday (9/10), I made a list of assignments my children were supposed to have completed by the next day. My son had 30 outstanding assignments; my daughter had 28. Four weeks into school they were three weeks behind. I have consistently asked how school was going, were they getting things done, were they understanding what they had to do. It was only on Thursday that I was able to get onto Canvas as an observer, but I have been checking Power School regularly. My kids don't always have a clear idea what they are supposed to do from one class to the next (a week away) and are not receiving real instruction or teaching about some of their subjects. They haven't waded into their new high school and middle school experiences, but been thrown into water way over their heads. Trying to work through the mountain of assignments has left me teetering between feeling like I'm going to throw up and crying (which I've done a couple of times), and they aren't even my assignments! I'm just trying to support, encourage, and help without sounding like a harpy when they aren't working fast enough to get caught up. My daughter doesn't remember several teacher's names because she's only been in class twice, and I'm fairly confident the teachers have no idea who she is either.
I understand a need to be cautious. I understand the potential for the spread of contagion. I also understand that little "education" is happening and a lot of frustration seems to be taking its place. If students and teachers are expected to wear masks, can't we expect more actual school to take place?
Katherine Barrus, overwhelmed parent of overwhelmed children
Reading this again, I really am surprised at how restrained I was able to make this email because I was over-the-top anxious and angry. I hope it gets better.
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