Leave Mom alone.
Every morning Bob leaves a note for the kids before he heads off to work (in the basement).
When I first saw the directive he gave the kids for the day, I thought about telling him it was okay to choose something else. Then I shrugged.
“Let’s see what happens,” I thought, “I could use a bit of a break.”
At this point, I feel like I am spending the majority of my days in the online learning world with my kids. From Zoom meetings to programs, to projects. It’s non-stop!
For a couple of weeks, I only worked with Declan getting him through his schoolwork.
After receiving countless emails from her teachers, I learned that “I tried to turn that in” was as sufficient to Catelyn as “I actually turned that in.”
For Bobby, one of his friends told him that school was now either pass or fail. There were no more grades.
To Bobby that meant he needed to just enough work to stay at a D. So when I asked him if he completed his homework for the day and he said ‘yes’ what he really meant was ‘just enough.’
It was when I had this revelation (after I got an email from his vice-principal letting me know of Bobby’s lack of schoolwork), that I demanded all usernames and passwords for online schooling to be turned over to me. All kids were going to have to sit with me, go through each class, and determine what work needed to be completed.
Anyone that is going to make Catelyn sit in a chair and go through schoolwork needs to have a high tolerance for someone who is completely annoyed. And I mean COMPLETELY annoyed. One does not tell Catelyn things. One does not really ask Catelyn things. Yet, in my situation, I need to. Therefore, we work in spurts. Just enough before we are both ready to rip each other’s heads off. Then we take a break and try again.
Bobby is very easy going when it comes to my involvement with his schoolwork. Unfortunately for me, he is at the peak of the “that’s what she said” jokes. It is like living with Michael Scott from The Office. Even if I can get a “DON’T!” out there before he can say the line, the smile on his face lets me know he already succeeded, even if he didn’t say a word.
Even if the kids are on their best behavior, there is always a malfunction of some kind. An app that doesn’t work. The site kicks us off. An iPad that dies the second it is turned on after charging all night. I’ve even had to use my PHONE to download some apps so that an assignment could adequately get turned in. After three school iPads, my laptop – I had to use my PHONE!
It’s enough to drive anyone crazy.
Even with me following along with the kid’s assignments, we are still somehow missing some. Every day, I go to the school’s online grading system with one question in my mind.
“What class is my child failing now?”
Because THEN I know which class or assignment we somehow overlooked.
The online schooling world is our new normal, or new school routine. We’re surviving the online learning world. But like any school week, I sure am happy it is Friday!
(And thanks to one simple directive, Leave Mom alone, I was able to write this post. 😊 )
Wowza! Mama, you are doing a brilliant job, there! Caitlyn sure sounds like a handful. I think it’s probably good there’s a lot of water between us, because she’d probably get along well with my fiery little diva.. Ha! I hope there’s a glass of wine and some chillout time ahead for you now.
Thank you! Ha! That is funny 🙂 I hope so – I need a break!
That’s a good directive. I do moan at our school but they have made a good fist of this. If a kid does not submit work or the work is not sufficient, then the parent gets an email the same day. The hardest part is trying to work out what some of the teachers want. It’s not always entirely clear. Hope you get some time to yourself this weekend.
Oh, I agree! Bobby and I just dealt with a complicated directive/easy assignment (if he did it right). And every teacher sets their page up differently. I feel like we are missing a lot of assignments because we’re not finding them. It’s a challenge, for sure. Thank you! You too!
Hugs to you! I can’t even imagine what it is like for you. Hang in there…you are doing a fantastic job!
Thank you so much!
I love your sense of humour and perspective through it all. Congrats on juggling not one, not two, but three kids and their unique personalities and quirks. That’s commendable! Happy Friday and weekend.
Thank you so much! Happy Friday and weekend to you too!
You’re doing such an amazing job! And it sounds like a perfect directive!
Thank you so much!
This must be a huge stress. My daughter is home schooling her son and step daughters. But her husband is also home and they spell each other off as both of them are “working from home”. They send us videos via Facebook messenger and they also go out to all the family members, Aunts, Uncles and Grandparents. We love to get them . But my daughter does admit it is a big task and she would never choose home schooling voluntarily! But our little grandson seems to be thriving on it as there is more individual attention. I wish you all the best and as always my hat is off to you!
Homeschooling is not something I would voluntarily choose either. If I needed to for a child that was struggling in the school setting, maybe. I can say for certain Catelyn would not want to be homeschooled either. This is quite an experience for all of us! Thank you, Anne!
Pur Grandson keeps asking to have a sleep over with his classmates. They had a Zoom meeting last week and he kept asking all of.them.to come for a sleep over. But one child said they couldn’t have sleep over because of the “germs”. 😃
Ben’s teacher keeps asking about school work. His therapists are asking if they can offer support… I get it. There will be questions come IEP time, but honestly, we’re just trying to get through each day. That’s what we tell them. We do some teaching/learning when situations arise. Like reading words on videos, some handwriting, a little math. Nobody knows what Ben knows because he doesn’t cooperate with testing.
A win for Bob! Leave mom alone, indeed! Its ridiculous to expect you to do the job of what 10-15 teachers?! On top of being a mom and a wife. When do you get to be Robyn???
Hide in the bathroom with a book! Make a “Do Not Disturb” sign😉💌💌
If it’s not school the kids each want to rearrange their room. They want to bake cookies. They want to do this or that. Then with all the school – it’s a lot! I do have to say I see them hanging out a lot more together cooperatively and not wanting to tease or fight. So that is good. And maybe the more we do this the better I will get at trying to schedule some more time for me to read or write. Two things I haven’t been able to do lately! I might have to make that sign and hide 🙂
Hmm. Makes me think I better do a check in.
If you haven’t heard anything from any teachers I would take that as a good sign – but who knows. Good luck!
Very relatable, and funny too! Thank you for sharing.
Thank you!
The wonders of modern technology, eh? Again, you’re not alone Robyn! I understand and share all your experiences. Roll on the time when they can get back to real instead of virtual school! 🙂
Absolutely! All these emails about missed assignments or upcoming assignments. It’s a good thing I am going through their work with them so I know what is happening. It’s all so overwhelming! I think we are all excited for them to go back to a real school.
It is overwhelming, and so strange. I think a return to normality will be welcomed by everyone. 🙂
I sympathize with your kids. Teaching my dad mathematics when he went back to college was frustrating and hostile…
Yeah, I’m not the best at this. I think I MAY have threatened to stab one of them with a pencil….But if they don’t talk then it never happened.
Hahaha i love you sense of humor, as the pandemic is at its peak . Online learning is helping out the world to move. Instead of being bored all day we can learn new things online. Thank you for this blog, keep posting.❤
Thank you so much!
I know this post is from April. My kids struggled with virtual school then. But they have new teachers and its going well compared to few months ago. But its total drain on our energy to get them focused on school and follow up. Is he still doing virtual school?
Yes, my kids are still virtual but this time they have classes online, which helps academically. But like you, getting him to actually focus on the screen is a challenge and doing school work at home. He just wants to do his own thing here. It’s tough!