I don’t even know where to begin. Remote learning sounded like such a great idea at first. Children could continue their education and keep busy, parents could help out a bit and help make it kind of fun. Heck, it just made sense, especially after the whole quarantine situation happened.

So what happened?

Well, lets just say that things did not go as smoothly as we all thought. For those parents that it has gone smoothly and your children are doing great, more power to ya! Im glad it is working for you. However, for us parents that it has been a bit of a hellish experience, i feel your pain. Trust me. I do.

Wether it is watching your child fall behind, seeing how they are told that their assignments were handed in late, getting yelled at, yes you read that right, yelled at for not submitting work on time, even getting told that if their camera is off they will be marked absent… And many other things. It is just a nightmare. I would hate to be a child trying to learn in 2020.

Children & Parents are more stressed

I don’t know who said that it was ok to call a parent 4, 5 or more times a day plus emails per child. For those parents that have more than one child, i feel the headache from all the way here. Im sorry but this is just too much. Yes i know that everyone is stressed because we have had to change a lot of things around due to the new way of doing things because of the pandemic. But man… We are slowly turning this education thing into a new prison system for both children and parents. I know that is harsh to say, but that is how it feels. The whole getting up and going on a computer or tablet from 8 am all the way till 2 and then having to do homework, and read on the thing. If you asked me, i would definitely say that the screen time has quadrupled for  children in general. Lets not even factor in the screen time for entertainment during these super boring times. If we were concerned with the amount of screen time our children utilized before, our concern definitely has skyrocketed to new levels. Believe me, i am concerned as all hell about what this is doing psychologically to my children.

Why the attendance mandate?

Im sorry, but that whole “you have to sign in at a certain time and you have to be in class by a certain time” seems a bit ridiculous to me. The DOE is mandating that our children sign in or else they are being marked absent. Even if they do the work!. I am so disappointed with the way that this is being handled. Not only is this mandate putting a lot of stress on the children, but also the parents. It almost feels like the children are prisoners and the parents are the parole officers. Why so much strain on signing in at that time? The child is not going to the physical building, so automatically they feel that they should be able to rest a little more in order to face their day. Why can’t the child sign in before 12 or something like that? I don’t get the harassment aspect of it. I don’t understand why attendance is being calculated into their grade. My children are feeling more and more helpless with each passing day. It really saddens me that the educational structure has become such a tremendous pain in the…

What is going to happen?

At this point i am just encouraging my children to do the beat they can and to complete as much work as possible. I will do my best to purchase extra material on the side just to make sure that they understand a lot of the concepts that they need to get at their grade level. I will encourage more writing and will get them some more reading material. But all of the mandates and the ridiculous scheduling is just a bit overwhelming. We are already going through a lot and trying to manage this whole pandemic situation, bilks, our health, and many other life situations; And not to mention, some of us have children with disabilities, which i am not trying to use as an excuse, but it is a bit more different for them to grasp material and learn things under such stressors. 

Parents, you are not alone!

I know that like me, there may be parents out there thinking similar things, but i just want to let you know that you are not alone. I hope things get better, and perhaps the DOE can revise their plan and come up with a more reasonable way of doing things.

Im talking about possible packets that kids can get through either email or mailed with the learning materials for the month. Parents would ensure that the child gets their work done, and just to make it better, setting up a meeting with the teacher in the subject matter needed to go over the material at least once per week.  This seems less stressful to me. These are just a few ideas.  But man, how i wish things were the way they used to be. When children could sit in a classroom and learn at school. When parents were not bombarded with phonecalls or emails. When will things get back to that? I am just thankful that our children are safe at home and not subjected to possibly getting infected.

To the teachers

I do want to take the time to thank the teachers and all the educators for all that they do. Despite the many negatives, they have been such troopers and have gone above and beyond to help our children learn. Thank you!