[VIDEO] Making Homeschooling During COVID-19 Easier

“If you find a path with no obstacles, it probably doesn’t lead anywhere.”

Frank A. Clark

Well isn’t this going to be a different type of post! This will be the first post that my 9-year-old daughter, Whitney, will collaborate with me on. Well, she is going to give me some material to use and I am going to write it up. It is also going to be vastly different, because we are going to try and film and embed a video of us talking about this “stuff”. At this point, you should be wishing us .. errrr, ME, luck!

Whitney is a magical child (don’t we all think that of our kids, as their parents?). She is incredibly smart; she cares greatly for the underdog and will stand up for any injustice that is felt; she is massively creative; and has always had very different interests that are beyond captivating to me (i.e. interests that I never had as a child, nor do I have now).

HOWEVER. (That is a BIG however.) Whitney and I are so perfectly matched but so perfectly unmatched, that our relationship is sometimes tenuous.

You know me – perfectionist, type-A, puts my best foot forward, gives it my all always, works hard and is determined .. mmhmm. Well, Whit ISN’T that. She is innately smart, but could CARE LESS if you know it. Her attitude is, she doesn’t need to prove it to you or anyone else (not even to her teacher). She doesn’t often do her best work, like, ever, and she is 100% fine with sub-par. That injustice piece of her personality also rears its ugly head at inopportune times, because it isn’t FAIR that Emmy’s (her 4-year-old sister) work is easier. And, it isn’t FAIR because her best friend doesn’t find this work as challenging. Or, it isn’t FAIR that the other group got easier spelling words.

You can absolutely imagine how all of this goes when she is in a home with a teacher for a mother, first and foremost, and a teacher mom who expects 100% every.single.darn.time. NO.EXCUSES.

In thinking about all of this loveliness – while I am now fully homeschooling her due to COVID-19 (thanks Corona), I decided that maybe I wasn’t the only one who felt this way, and maybe our trials and tribulations could help someone else. If nothing else, we wouldn’t all feel like we are on an island all by ourselves. I mean, after all, this is our mental health and mental contentment that we are talking about here. It’s kinda important.

So, with Whit being a child who does not want to work, and who does not find ANY value in education (although she has big dreams – she just thinks she is going to be able to muscle her way through them), I asked her what helps her most when she is working now that she is “working from home”. If she had to pick a small list of things that she does, or even could do, when she is getting frustrated at the work that she is “forced to do” (God forbid) what would she say?

First of all, she starred at me blankly. Spoiler alert – she doesn’t do anything except whine, cry (sometimes) and complain. But after we chatted about it a bit, she started thinking about things that she could tell other kids (or parents) that they could suggest, and even some things that SHE herself could use to make the time feel at work, more tolerable.

The following is going to be her list. BUT, it seemed to make sense to me, if I matched her list. So, for every suggestion she gives, I will give a suggestion of things I truly have and am implementing here, that makes the time pass a little more bearably. Because in case I haven’t said this to you yet, I don’t drink wine, so unlike many, I have no vices. Rookie mistake here.

Whitney’s Helpful Suggestions

  • Take a break!
  • Receive a reward
  • Calm music or go somewhere quiet
  • Or, if you prefer noise, put on Pop or Hip Hop music
  • Before or after, draw or write something calm

Mom’s Helpful Suggestions

  • YOU should take a break
  • Sticker chart (heck yeah!)
  • Have them (or you both) change locations
  • Work first, then play
  • Start with the work they dread the most (or is the hardest), first

Now, if my genius decides to come out, I am going to embed a video in this post where these suggestions will be discussed more at length. So, please! Watch our video! Comment on it, too! It is the first one we have ever done and would love to know if we should do more. And the video will hopefully elaborate the above lists for you in a fun, funny, informational way.