Homeschooling in a pandemic || You don't have to, do this instead

 

Let’s face it, we are all different and I know that there might be a lot of people out there trying to encourage you to homeschool your kids in this pandemic but homeschooling is not for everyone. As much as some people can try they just don’t have it in their bones, as much as some people can try they are just too exhausted to do it, as much as some people can try they just can’t juggle the demands of working from and homeschooling. 

Just like everything else, homeschooling is HARD!!!

We have been thrown into a difficult situation all over the world and while we are struggling to be stable mentally, we have to deal with homeschooling too and working from home? Sigh!! I said you don’t have to homeschool in the sense of the word “Home” “school” you don’t need to have a table and chair, designated area or attending zoom classes for your younger kids to feel like you are keeping them engaged. You’d find that the work it takes for your to even keep them focused on the said virtual class is so much more than if you just let them be. So, why don’t we just let them be? 

The thing that is causing us stress with regards to homeschooling is the pressure of thinking of "what they will learn" "if you are a good teacher" "if they will know to write" or "learn a certain thing based on the curriculum" but I want to tell you that ALL of that doesn’t matter!!! 

You are your child’s first teacher, yes, but you also know you are not a teacher. 

One thing you are is a learner. So, how about shifting focus to looking at yourself as a co-learner with your child? 

Secondly, think about this quote:

"Knowledge which is acquired under compulsion obtains no hold on the mind." - Plato

Here is also a quote from a blog 

“When learning is connected to living it is meaningful. It is not something that occurs at certain times, in certain places, with certain people. It occurs all the time, everywhere, and with everyone around us.”  - Whole family learning

Do you see it? You don’t have to homeschool but what you can do instead is connect learning to living! 

Let them be involved in every day, let their curiosity be an area of exploration. A child can learn to write by an interest in writing a letter to someone, a child can learn punctuation by reading books, a child can learn arithmetics from an interest in baking. A child can learn physics from an interest in cars. The possibilities are endless. The general rule of thumb for me is to follow the interest, the learning will happen without you forcing it. 

While I advocate for this to be the way we approach learning with our children, I also know that there are some parents who need to take the pressure to do things a certain way off themselves and just focus on what is important. 

I hope this helps take the pressure off. 

How has homeschooling been for you and your family?