If you are a WFH (work home home) parent with homeschooling children due to the continuous lockdown we’re facing; no thanks to Mr. C, continue reading and yes, welcome to my world!
So, a little bird told me that WFH, homeschooling, e-learning and so on is here to stay for a little while to keep us safe from the deadly virus that we’re all so familiar now like a daily mantra (yes, no prizes for guessing)! For a person who is very familiar with WFH situation, it’s no secret of the few challenges we face daily managing between home and work and keeping a steady “separate” lives under one roof. What seemed like a piece of cake to handle started to crumble when children are thrown into our lives – worst if they are toddlers or school-goers who are now stuck in a unique situation of learning from home with parents as their teachers!
It is a nightmare not only to the children but parents too as we’re now stuck in a situation of juggling between WFH, chores, cooking and teaching. I dare say we are superheroes too wearing many different hats and keeping sane at the same time! So you think, well it can’t be that bad right? I just need to follow the millions of instructions thrown at me opening the various gadgets and apps – easy peasy! That’s where you’re wrong. I discovered the hard way that my child needs assistance as the subjects he was comfortably learning in school had to end abruptly because of the naughty virus; so that only meant one thing – we had to take over the teaching process so the child can understand it first, then set about on completing the tasks as instructed by the teachers.
Remote Virtual Learning Environment, communicating to friends and teachers via other online platforms has now become the child’s best friend. But it seems a little taxing when parents are now main subject teachers, language teachers, PE master, Music maestro, Art teachers and so on with only a little help from the teachers who are not fully engaged online in real time like how they would if the child was taught in school. Perhaps, synchronous lesson delivery (where students and teachers are required to be engaged on the same task at the same time) would be of greater help to us but it may be difficult to be achieved virtually when the learners are younger children in either kindergarten or early key stages (primary).
Many say – welcome to the new normal of learning.
Though it is wonderful that children’s learning journey is not disrupted thanks to technology, but do we want this sort of new normal to stay in the long run without teachers and classmates by their side, physically? I don’t for sure. However, the one thing this crisis has taught me is to adapt to changes and we’ll come out stronger than before, including our young ones being more prepared to whatever else the world would face in the future.
* The views expressed are opinions of the writer and do not necessarily reflect the stand of the newspaper’s owners and editorial board.
