Teaching & Learning in a Pandemic: Spring 2021

Parent Struggles Supporting Students Learning Virtually

By: Alyssa Bowie

Learning Targets

By the end of this lesson, reader will be able to:

Explain the struggles parents are facing while their children are virtually learning from home.

1.1 Charlene had to figure out how to best separate her kids during their class times.

1.2 Charlene had to be able to run a business from home and do all of the things that happen behind closed doors of a business.

1.3 Charlene had to figure out how to eliminate distractions if she could.

Successfully navigate through virtual learning at home during a pandemic

Some struggles researchers have found about virtual learning during the pandemic.

Gina Adams (2020) states “parents with school-age children who need to find work after becoming unemployed during the pandemic” (p.4). Basically Adams is saying that the parents are needing to focus on other problems now that their kids are learning from home such as financial problems, health and safety of their kids, and making sure the kids still get the schooling they need to succeed. All of these problems either become easier for parents over time or harder if they become unemployed.

In Corinn Cross’s view, “Keep a Routine” is a big part of what will help your children stay on top of their work at home as if they were in school so they do not start to lose track of what they are learning. Always remember that staying at home is hard for both your kids and yourself whether it is working from home or helping your kids in class from home.

My Interviewee

My interviewee is Charlene and she is a mother of two who also runs a pest control business from home with her husband Patrick. She does all of the behind the scenes stuff, such as the accounting, scheduling, filing, making phone calls and etc. She has children and they are in school K-12 and butt heads a lot. She has had to take a lot of her time away from her work to stop the boys from fighting during class and to make sure that they are in class on time in their room.

Three learning takeaways

1.1 How to best separate kids during class time at home.

With Charlene having two boys so close in age all they did was fight, yell, and disturb each other during their class time when virtual learning started during the pandemic. Charlene tried to send her kids outside as much as possible since they could not go anywhere and tried to do that as much as possible so they wouldn't bug one another during class. She also tried putting them in separate rooms of the house one upstairs and one downstairs, but that only worked so much since when one was on lunch and the other was still in class the one on lunch would bug the one in class. They used to share a room till she decided it would be best to separate them with a desk in each room so they would work and she could work more quietly.

1.2 How to run a business from home while your children are in school in the next room.

Charlene took care of anything and everything you would like of that happens behind closed doors of a business to help keep it running. When the pandemic first hit and the kids were sent home to start virtual learning they lost a few customers, because other families were dealing with the same thing she was and wanted to eliminate as many distractions as possible with people walking in the house. When she would take calls she would have to yell at the kids to be quiet because she was on the phone sometimes they listened other times they did not. Other days she would have to focus more on helping the kid then being able to work, which would start to put her behind in scheduling services. She would have to help the kids with math, she hates how they teach math now and had to either YouTube or just google anything related to what her kids needed help with.

1.3 How to eliminate distraction while working and learning from home.

There were distractions for her working and there were distractions for her kids trying to do school work at home. Some days it was the internet not working, their chrome book froze, or their charger broke for their chrome book and had to share a charger with each other. There were loud noises, video games, Charlene talking on the phone in the background of them trying to work. The kids would have to mute their mics a lot so nobody would hear what was going on. Also according to Charlene one of her kids did not like doing his work downstairs because people kept walking, dancing or making funny faces behind him while he was in class. Due to all of these distractions that is what led to Charlene putting the kids in separate bedrooms with a desk in each and Xbox to keep them busy when they were not in class instead of bothering one another.

Conclusion

These are pictures from Charlene these are her two boys that are only a grade apart from one another.

Going to school in 2019

Vs.

Going to school in 2021

In conclusion when the pandemic hit and every child that was in public K-12 school was sent home to start virtual learning, that is when all of the distractions, problems, and frustration hit homes. Charlene says “I love my kids, but virtual learning and Covid-19 will really test your patience while you work from home.” This being said I hope that this lesson brought to light the struggles of working from home and helping children with virtual learning, whether it is running your own business from home or just being sent to work from home from now on. It takes patience, a schedule to work through everything, and lots and lots of YouTube videos to understand what your kids are learning. Parents supporting their kids by working from home during this pandemic is what is holding the teachers and students together, by keeping them focused on their work, helping them when they need it, and just trying to understand what it is that their kids are learning all while doing their normal work day on a laptop at home. We are all the backbone of one another and this is when we realize how much we need one another and every little bit that one parent does helps their child succeed during this time.

Questions

According to Corinn Cross’s view, what is the best way for kids to stay on top of their work?

A. Jump up and down while doing your work

B. Set a reminder

C. Keep a journal

D. Keep a routine

What was the first thing Charlene tried to separate her two boys during their class time?

A. Sent them to separate rooms

B. Sent one of them outside so they would not bug each other during class.

C. Had one of them sit in her office with her

D. Told one of them to take the dogs for a walk while the other was in class

Answers

References

Adams, G. (2020). Meeting the school-age childcare needs of the working parents facing Covid-19 distance learning. Urban Institute, 1-36.

Dr. Cross. (2020). Working and learning from home during the Covid-19 outbreak. American Academy of Pediatrics, 1.

I did get permission from Charlene to use the photos that she sent me.

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