'The Best Part Is We Can All Do It In Our Pajamas': CBS4's Carey Codd On Home Schooling & Parenting During COVID-19 Outbreak
(CBSMiami)--My 9-year-old made a request as he prepared for an online class conference call with his 4th grade teacher and fellow classmates on Monday morning.
"Can I do it in my pajamas?" he wondered. "Of course", my wife and I replied.
These are new, unprecedented times we're living in and if my oldest wants to chat with his teacher and classmates in his pajamas, so be it. The important thing is to get him, his brother and hundreds of thousands of other South Florida kids motivated to learn again as distance learning began Monday.
My wife and I tried to treat Monday morning as a regular school day for our kids. Up by 7 am. Breakfast. Brush teeth. Change clothes or wear pajamas. It was optional. There were kinks as our boys sat down at their desks in our dining room, ready to log into Broward Schools for online school. The website got jammed up and only one of them immediately accessed the software.
As my oldest began his video chat and more of his classmates joined in it dawned on me just how much this connection meant to him and his peers. They genuinely missed each other. They missed the camaraderie and the closeness they share on a daily basis. They missed their inside jokes and their unique conversations about video games, Pokemon, and the latest YouTube videos that their parents are entirely ignorant of. They missed their teacher and how she leads them, motivates them, keeps them on task.
They missed the structure of school. So do the parents, believe me. It's a challenge to have a 9-year-old and a 7-year-old home all day, trying to keep them focused on a productive task like reading, practicing the piano or helping us tidy up the house. It's also a challenge to constantly rebuff their requests to play on a screen ad infinitum. Getting back to school work gives us hope that they'll be encouraged to continue learning. But there's only so much they can do on their own without our help.
All morning Monday the questions and requests came at us fast and furious, all while my wife was trying to work at her job and I was trying to juggle emails and reading news stories ahead of my shift at CBS 4.
"Dad, how do I get on this website?"
"Mom, I cannot figure out this answer."
"The cat is laying on my laptop."
"I'm hungry."
My wife and I have always shared a deep respect for teachers. This experience took that respect to a new level. The boys worked through their assignments in short order and appeared invested in doing their best. Once done, our youngest wanted "free choice" time. Apparently, that's time in his class where he can do whatever he wants for 20-30 minutes. I explained to him that he's had free choice time since the week before Spring Break. But I was a kind teacher and acquiesced. I think he spent the time on his favorite pastime — playing the Nintendo Switch.
During the "school" day the boys both read copiously, practiced the piano for music class and swam in the pool for PE. They also helped me dismantle their old playset for wood shop class. It was a full day for all of us.
It certainly is a far cry from the school they're used to and we long, as do most parents, for the day when schools will reopen and trained educators can resume doing what they do best — preparing our children for future success through learning and engagement. Until then, we'll do our best to keep them on task, find new ways to supplement their education and try to keep them off screens, except for the ones they're doing school on, of course.
The best part is that we can all do it in our pajamas. Together. As a family.
