As I scroll through Instagram, I’m intrigued by the parenting stories that are being shared during this pandemic. Some families are managing things quite well, while others are living a nightmare.
For us, we’re maintaining. We have our ups and we have our downs. But, those downs can get pretty icky while homeschooling this teenager of mine.
Homeschool
The biggest issue that we have had to face and continue to face is homeschool. The boys are not doing virtual learning through their school district. Instead we are using Time4Learning.
The curriculum is great and everything is well laid out, but truth be told, my oldest son is not an online learning. He wants to go back to school. I get it. So, getting him to get through assignments is always work.
At one point, I thought about giving up and telling him that he would just have to repeat the ninth grade. But, then I thought, nahh. That would be too easy for him. So, I immediately dismissed that from my mind.
Boarding School, Perhaps?
Another point in time, I threatened to send him to boarding school. Yep, I sure did. Actually, I haven’t heard much about boarding schools lately, but I do know that Boardingschools.ca is open in Canada. So, he better do right before he finds himself there. He probably wouldn’t even mind. Haha! Because we love Canada!
Speaking of Canada, learn more about things to do in Port Coquitlam as a family.
Mixing Up the Learning
No, but really. I do try and keep homeschool interesting. Before the most recent virus surge, we took a field trip to the Indiana Medical Museum in Indianapolis. Feel free to check out my tips for visiting on Roadside America.
Aside from a few in person field trips suggested from the curriculum, we have also done virtual tours through VirtualFieldtrip.org. And, this doesn’t include the hands-on activities that I’ve picked up from different stores or shopped for online.
To mix things up even more, I’ve had him do some scholarship applications and career assessments to see where his interests lie. I even did this with my youngest son, who said he wants to do something with landscaping. For him, we ended up looking at various landscaping websites such as edmonton landscaping so that he could see the kind of work that he would be doing.
It’s a challenge, but slowly he’s getting his work done.
Take a Step Back
What I’m realizing is that I have to take a step back and tell myself that this pandemic is also hard on them as children and teenagers. So, I have to learn to relax (just a little bit) and allow them to move at their own pace (some).
Because really, the normal life that they have always known has been taken from them and they really are missing their friends, being taught in person, extra curricular activities, etc.
How’s it going for you?
