Kids going back to school is normally cause for delight, but I’m freaking out
The reality that the kids are going back to virtual school tomorrow just hit me. How on earth am I going to fit that in? The 10-year-old is fine. It’ll be great for him to reconnect with his peers and to have a bit more structure. The 5-year-old is another story. He has no device of his own – he uses the family iPad when needed —and has no idea how to use anything digital on his own except YouTube kids. How will I find the time to sit with him while he does his school work and still get my work done? And where will I put the 1-year-old while I help him?
So I did some research to find out exactly what is expected of parents during this time.
What is the Ministry of Education saying?
In a recent press release the Ministry says it’s “working to a timeframe of a four-week Level 4 lockdown, but we’re planning for every scenario”.
I’m struggling with this. I’m a planner, and this is telling me that we don’t know how long this will go for, or what will be required. What I know for sure is that I’ll be doing this for at least a week, and realistically a week and a half minimum. Let’s not worry about what next for now.
The primary aim from the Ministry is for students to “remain connected with learning”. Because this is a pretty vague statement, I’m taking this to mean that that they’re not expecting a lot from me. Reading on, it says “it is important to remember that despite these resources becoming available in homes, parents aren’t expected to become teachers. Teachers will continue to have the primary role in students’ learning.” I’m definitely not on the hook for much.
What is Nigel Latta saying?
I have a lot of time for Nigel Latta, and when things get tricky he’s usually my first port of call to find out what to do. I went looking to see what he had to say about my work/parenting/schooling dilemma and he delivered. He’s been working with clinical psychologist Dr Natalie Flynn. She’s put together a post about the science of learning and holidays. The post says “parents don't need to worry about their primary school-aged children falling behind in their learning during this stay at home time”. It turns out that a heap of research has been done looking into the effect of the long summer break (up to three months) on students in the United States. The research shows that if there is a drop in academic performance, students make it up within four weeks back at school. It also found that in some cases reading and other skills improved over the break. And then I saw this from Nigel Latta and the amazing Jacinda Ardern. Feeling even better now.
What does this mean?
One of the key messages from the government during this lockdown has been to be kind to ourselves and others. I’m taking this to mean that I should try to do what I can each day with the kids and not beat myself up if it just doesn’t happen. Working parents have a lot on their plate at the moment, and a few weeks of lost schooling are not going to change our children’s educational future. What I will be doing is staying in touch with my children’s teachers, even if is to tell them that we didn’t get anything done. I think that will be enough to meet the Ministry goal for students to “remain connected with learning”.
Finally, Dr Natalie Flynn has produced a six minute video with some great advice on how to parent and work through this time. She has practical tips on how to manage kids of different ages, Zoom calls, and your own sanity. I really liked it - her suggestions seem like things I can actually do.
My favourite tip of hers - start the day with a list of everything you want to achieve, then halve it, halve it again, and halve it again. At that point you should have a list that you can actually achieve.