Homeschooling — 7 Non-Gloomy Thoughts
A few days ago, a friend of mine posted a picture of her daughter who was returning for her first day of in-person high school after being home for a year or so.
It was the same day that Germany announced that we'd be back in lockdown with schools closed for the next weeks. It still feels very surreal when I hear news of things opening up from other countries while things over here are decidedly moving in the opposite direction.
Don't get me wrong, I think we need our current lockdown. I just think we are a little late to the party. Many parents in the US finally get to say goodbye to homeschooling while I feel like I am just getting started.
Here are a few thoughts that help me keep my Vodka habit in check and make it through the next couple of weeks without serious liver damage.
My son is not going to have a permanent educational disadvantage just because school is haphazard for a while. I know many very successful people who had very inconsistent experiences at "normal high school" and now they have wonderful lives. Life is not over at 18. He has time to catch up on everything.
Sean might fall behind on the prescribed material right now but most of that is only a teaching device anyway. In many ways, the skills he is developing at the moment (self-organizing, self-motivation, etc.) will come in very handy later. He's figuring out a lot of stuff I only got to in my mid-twenties. As far as I can see, he has a ten-year headstart on me when it comes to “adulting for realsies and figuring out how that brain thing works”.
I get to spend a lot of time with Sean that I would otherwise not have spent with him. The power of attention is astonishing and I don’t know that I would have showered him with it quite as liberally during normal times. As a result, our relationship has really grown and the conversations we have are really interesting. I love that he talks to me a lot. I know this is not something I can take for granted in a 16-year-old.
Some things about digital classes really work in Sean's favor. For example, since all the homework is assigned through the digital learning platform, he can't forget an assignment because he didn't write it down anymore. Also, being able to have your feet permanently installed on a heated blanket rocks.
Just because the school system as a whole is very slow to adapt and some teachers never make it to digital doesn't have to mean that Sean is not learning. There are plenty of ways to get a science class. The internet is such a blessing.
It will pass. Or we'll get better at it. One way or the other, things will improve.
When I am done teaching him, Sean will make a kick-ass office manager. Not sure he'd relish this as a career choice, but it's always good to have skills.
That last one is a bit tongue in cheek. I kind of noticed that I was teaching Sean many of the same things I teach the interns and apprentices at the place I work. Never hurts to know how to automate a document workflow and do stuff on the internet.
