I Never Considered Homeschooling Before COVID. Now I’m Hooked
By Jeannette Ellis
At the end of the day, and at the inevitable end of this pandemic, it’s parents who will ensure that their kids continue to learn and develop.
I am not an expert in education policy, nor am I an expert in epidemiology. I’m an expert in one very narrow field of study: my kids.
Even though I have a college degree, I decided to stay home after my son was born. No matter what my training was, I could not bring myself to leave him. So, for almost ten years, I was a stay-at-home mom who took her job very seriously.
To make sure my son was always developing his language skills, I filled our house with books. Every single day we read together. Our lives became the stuff of many adventures, from hiking, trips to the park, visits to the zoo, and even just playing around in the back yard. Together, my son and I learned through, doing, playing, reading, and seeing the world.
I raised my kids with care, and I made a conscious decision to be there for every single milestone: the first step, the first word, potty training, and even their first day of school. Because I was there for the phase where kids learn the most — those important years between zero and three — and have spent so much time observing and talking to my kids, I know immediately when something is wrong.
Once both of my kids started public elementary school, I knew it was time for me to get back to work. For the past two years, I have worked remotely from home. To be sure, in many ways we are lucky. My job was uniquely suited to continue in March when the coronavirus lockdowns began. While my two kids transitioned to remote learning, however, I had to try to keep doing my job. As a result, this became an extremely stressful process for all of us.
Truth be told, until the public schools went to remote in the spring I never seriously considered homeschooling. It didn’t take long for me to realize that remote learning was not going to work for my family. The plan seemed to change every week or two. We had trouble finding and completing assignments, trouble attending Zoom meetings, and every time my daughter logged on to the computer to work ended with both of us in tears and me losing an entire day. What I experienced with remote education was essentially a complete loss for my kids.
full story at https://thefederalist.com/2020/08/17/i-never-considered-homeschooling-before-covid-now-im-hooked/