"Isolation" Schooling

I saw the above quotation on my friend Jenny’s Facebook wall a little over a week ago. And as posts and news articles flood my timeline, I've been thinking about it ever since. It certainly rings true on so many levels. Like classroom teachers, home schooling families have sets of educational standards and outcomes that need to be achieved to ensure their students (their children) are ready for post-secondary studies and life. Jenny is a wonderful mother of six. Her eldest attends-post secondary and her youngest is now of preschool age. She home schooled them all and I have all of the respect in the world that she balanced mothering, teaching, and huge home renovation projects so well. Her humility speaks volumes. I can tell you she is not sharing every thing she accomplishes in quirky and humble bragging little Facebook updates. 

I can say for certain that I do not have what it takes to home school my children. Does that make me a bad parent? Maybe. Yes, I have been a classroom teacher since 2000 (minus the years I took off to be with them). I take great pride in my work and the difference I have made in the lives of a number of students through the years. Does that qualify me to formally teach my own children? Nope. In these uncertain times, my kids need me to be a Mom first. They sure as hell don't need their caffeine and sleep deprived mother to fret over fourteen different sets of senior high curriculum outcomes. I will continue to be the odd and over-bearing mother I've been while continuing to support and parent them as best as I can. And trust me when I say that my duties were far from over when the school bells chimed on Friday, March 13. 

I read to my kids from the time they were in utero until late middle school. They knew how to read, write a number of words, their alphabet, numbers, and colours before they went to school. I don’t view that as homeschooling. To me, those skills that were taught go hand in hand with parenting. Knowing how to read and write should be considered a basic life skill and are just as important as teaching your children basic hygiene and manners. 

Reminding my 15 year old to get off the Xbox and get some more work done or encouraging my graduating senior to complete a worksheet that won’t make a difference to her lifelong learning is not homeschooling. I believe in structure and routine. It is so important. I’ve been encouraging home study but our days have not been built around it. I am a self-admitted list and scheduling queen! That said, you will not find one posted on my fridge or anywhere in this abode. My main objective really is that they do something educational and something productive everyday. Mathematics? Check. (I'm pretty certain Liam dies a little inside each time I suggest it.) New paintings and other art pieces? Check. Emily surely does not need me guiding that process. I am the equivalent of functionally illiterate when it comes to Mathematics 1201 and I can barely draw a stick figure. Man, my offspring are doomed. (Please note my sarcasm and insert eye-roll here.)  Learning presents itself in so many different ways and does not need to be tied to a curriculum outcome. Does that somehow make me (or Tim) shitty parents because all of this time has not been spent picking up where our kids' teachers left off? Nope. That was not the purpose of this school suspension. I'm not sure how or when "learning activities" and "homeschooling" became interchangeable. 

At the moment, children of all ages are coping differently. My eldest - like so many - continues to mourn the loss of her senior year and is missing the myriad of activities that goes hand in hand with it. My youngest misses socializing with his friends in person and not over a slow WiFi connection through a gaming console headset.

When all is said and done, who knows how much longer it will be until our children hear  the ringing of the bells that will usher them from class to class. Families have and will continue to respond to their new routines differently. Some are being a little more sanctimonious than others about it. And for those who have mastered to successfully meet their children's thirst for knowledge and educational needs while teaching in isolation, congratulations! Humble brag away! I salute the countless numbers of families, like my friend Jenny's, who have home schooled for years and will continue to do so. 

Be kind to one another. And please wash your hands.