As school districts began to announce plans for virtual learning for the 2020–2021 school year, my phone began to blow up with comments, conversations, posts, and many calls from fellow moms discussing what that would look like for their families. I have friends with kids from high schoolers to first-time kindergartners who are stay-at-home moms and working moms. Some friends have children on IEPs or are receiving services from the schools that their children attend, each uniquely facing challenges with this new proposed plan.
As a family with two working parents and two children who have been attending public school, it became clear that the school plan being laid out in front of us with specific live learning blocks, Zoom meetings, and other various time-specific learning needs would require full-time parental support. After many of the challenges we faced in the spring doing virtual learning at home, I began researching our options. We have two children who were entering 1st and 4th grade and there had to be a more manageable and healthier alternative for our family.
Ultimately, homeschooling became the most logical and clear answer for our family
We didn't make this decision without many conversations weighing the pros and cons, a lot of research, and time spent going back and forth on the decision. Even after making our final official decision a week before school was supposed to start, when class assignments came out, I again second-guessed myself.
Now that we are a month into officially being a homeschool family, we're certain it is the right choice for us in light of the year's challenges I'm hearing about from fellow parents navigating the current virtual schooling option with their families. Homeschooling has been a successful option for families for many years, with well-established and widely used curriculum, parental support groups, and resources available – and this year, it's a good fit for us too.
Choosing homeschool for our family is allowing us to be flexible with the when and the where we do school. We've just woven it into our daily family routines wherever we can. We can be creative with our learning times throughout the day or week, and base it on our needs that week. Family book club is read and discussed during our lunch breaks, over audio books on road trips, or at bedtime storytime. Dad is able to tackle history, or do fun science experiments or crafts in the evening or on weekends when he's home with our kids and I'm off to work.
This has, hands-down, been the biggest blessing
With two work schedules, I honestly don't know how we would've made the Zoom attendance requirements at our public school.
As homeschoolers, we've designed a schedule that allows us to devote less time per day/week to our learning while specializing it to their needs in a way that allows us to learn and accomplish as much or more than if we were part of a full online school day. I can focus my time and energy with them fostering their interests and tailoring their learning to their individual strengths and weaknesses.
When my daughter’s kindergarten year ended abruptly, she lost traction in her reading progress during virtual learning in the spring. Now that I'm both teacher and mom, I can devote all the time we need to practice and grow her love and skills in that department. I've chosen curriculum both ahead and behind their current grade levels in certain subjects to allow us to fill gaps and excel where they uniquely need.
I'm loving the family-style science curriculum we chose, as it's bonding our family in our learning together and maximizes our time and efforts as an added bonus. There's just nothing like diving into our Mammals unit as a family and bringing real-life hands-on learning into the mix with day trips to a zoo or an aquarium. We're even planning a family trip to Yellowstone next spring as a way to tie in many of the science and geography studies we will have learned about together throughout the year.
I've seen our children and our family flourish in this new experience
I won’t begin to say that every day is easy, and it definitely isn't an ideal situation for every family. But I'm thankful that families have options in this unique time our world is experiencing. Every parent I know is being faced with such a vast variety of needs, from working from home, job loss, kids at home full-time, new kindergartners, remote college, or whatever the 2020 winds have blown into your world. My hope is that all parents know they have options and that sometimes thinking outside the box can provide a better option for your family. It sure did for us — and for that, I'm grateful.
