What Moms Think About the 2020-2021 School Year

Before the last day of the 2019 – 2020 school year, moms started talking about, thinking about, and wondering about the 2020 – 2021 term. I am one of those moms.

For the sake of setting the stage, I have two daughters in school. The eldest is in third grade at a public elementary school; the youngest attended pre-K three days each week.

It goes without saying, but I suppose I must mention the major disruption coronavirus caused to everything — schooling included. I often joke that we are STILL on the eternal spring break. We left the Friday before spring break and haven’t been back to school.

When it became apparent school was not resuming as-is, crisis schooling commenced. For us, it looked like three 30-minute video meetings per week for my youngest and daily work for my third grader. Translation: On average she has two or three assignments (worksheets or videos) per subject per day, plus 45-minute video meetings three days each week. Did I mention that I shifted from working 30 hours per week to squeezing in 10-15 during rest times and evenings? And did I mention that my husband is about as essential as you can get during a pandemic? I am mothering two wonderful children, crisis schooling, running a business, encouraging my husband, and shouldering the management of our household 90% of the time alone.

I quickly came to the conclusion this couldn’t continue long term.

Don’t get me wrong, I am THANKFUL for the organizing of school work and EFFORTS both schools made to make lemonade out of the sourest batch of lemons. I just know — that for the long term — this will not work for our family. And I knew I couldn’t be alone.

I asked several women from different ages and stages and parts of Tarrant County to share what’s rolling through their minds. Some think like me and some don’t. I’m delighted to introduce them to you.

Amanda

Three of Amanda’s sons attend school — public middle school, public elementary school, and private preschool. The older two participated in 100% e-learning in various formats. They are assigned a week’s worth of assignments at the start of the week. When we talked about her experiences, Amanda said:

“I don’t like that once they finish their work that is it for the week. They are sometimes all done by Wednesday or Thursday, so we try to supplement to help. They are also not getting anything for their fine arts at this time. 

Catherine

Catherine’s schooling situation is mixed. She has two daughters who attend WISD, one in eight grade and the other in third. She also homeschools her son. When chatting about how the coronavirus school break impacted her family, this is what she told me:

“Our schooling situation is a little chaotic and varies from day to day. We had a schedule when we first began, but then, as the days began to blur together, all I worried about was them completing the assignments they were given. 

“My oldest is not responding well; she misses her friends. This is her last year in middle school, so I know many of her friends will be moving schools. Even with her schedule, it is easy for her to be off-topic frequently. My youngest thrives on continuity, but right now she is not doing so well. She, too, finds it hard to stay on topic and complete her schoolwork despite having a schedule.

“I have many fears and hopes at the same time. I worry for their safety health-wise, but my hope is that this is teaching them to be resilient. That we may have fallen from this disease, but we came back strong and learned who the real superheroes were. That essential workers were the ones who helped us survived, and it may be a new outlook for a career path.

“I am considering changes for my children’s schooling this fall. I have many concerns about their health and the return to school: If the school will be cleaned enough each time to ensure healthy children and what would I be exposing them to if they return too soon.”

Dominique

Dominique has a son in second grade and a five year old attending Museum School at the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History. They, too, did digital work and projects assigned by teacher, but overall Dominique found the work easy for the boys and ended up supplementing with other activities. Here is how she explained their lives during all of this:

“I do the schooling and take care of the cooking, cleaning as before. My husband had the opportunity and flexibility to work from home but is back in the office. There are furlough periods to help conserve and save jobs. He has been going to the grocery store and errands as needed. I’m in charge of the kids, which was how it was before, but with his time off he has more interaction, which has been nice. Taekwondo has been on Zoom, so both boys have been participating even more than usual, both four times a week and every other week private lessons on Fridays. We also do live story times, other live chats on topics of interest, and two school Zooms a week. Overall, my running around and us going to various places has halted. We usually aren’t home this much, but I think we’ve all enjoyed the slowing down, though we miss places like the zoo, playgrounds, and museums with friends. We stay in touch with friends on Facebook, texts, and occasional Zoom meetings. 

“I like that this time has provided us with time to work on more life skills, like doing laundry, cooking, and learning to type and use a computer. I like that we had to learn new things and new ways of accomplishing things. I dislike, but understand, that only a bare minimum of what they would be learning is provided. I dislike that we couldn’t get the learning materials they used in the classroom to help supplement.

“My concern is how both, especially my oldest, will transition back into the school environment. I’m not concerned at what level they will be or of any slump.”

Emily

Emily has three boys in elementary school at a small, low-income PK-8 parochial school. Her perspective is interesting because she is also a teacher. When I asked for her thoughts, she said:

“As a middle school teacher, I teach on Zoom six hours a week and am responsible for creating, presenting, and grading assignments to help students continue their learning, as well as being available to them throughout the day (and evening and weekend) when they have questions or need help. I also work part time (approximately 15 hours/week) for Stitch Fix. I manage the dinners, children, schoolwork, piano lessons, guitar lessons etc. My husband is working from home full time, which typically means he is on calls for the majority of a workday and does some work in the evenings after children go to bed as well. He is not able to be out and about much or help with the kids.

Heather

Heather has one daughter in public high school and two sons who’ve graduated. Her situation looks like having one grown son home because of COVID and her high school sophomore managing most all of her school work. However, Heather made a point of explaining how stressful it’s been for her daughter to handle AP classes and trying to make the top 10% of her class. The pass/fail transition will impact GPAs and maybe future college admissions; if anything, it will shake things up. Her story goes like this:

“My daughter STRUGGLED the first two weeks, as rhythms are so incredibly important for her mental health. Also, she was accepted into the Columbia University pre-college program for one week of cellular and molecular biology in August. Now, it’s online. These losses are hard on her — and the social and basketball losses.

“I desperately hope for some sort of in person classes, even modified. 

 

“Junior year is THE year of college visits and making the grades toward college applications. I want for my daughter to have this year with even some moderation of a regular school year. 

 

“I am not concerned about her academics — we actually have to parent her to relax a bit with it all. But, I am concerned for her overall well-being and the social outlet, the team she’s missing, and the connection with her teachers. High school teachers are NOT so much on connecting in any way with their students — other than AP classes. And I HOPE that taking her SATs and ACTs don’t become an issue.”

Meagan

She has two daughters — both in public elementary school. She shared this:

“We made this choice because our neighborhood kids also attend this school and it’s the closest in proximity to our home. With our oldest, she had always thrived at the school and never had a reason to seek anything alternative.

“We are being led through clear teacher-instruction virtually. Our children are not being taught lessons live; instead they are through videos in which families can watch at the time of their choice and do ‘school’ around dual working parents’ schedules. I’ve been extremely pleased with how the district has handled it. There are enrichment activities for those who need more and at the beginning, when our third grader had way too much math, this scales it back easily.

 

“With this said, I do not believe they are learning any new content. It’s more reinforcing what they knew. That’s a bummer, but what can one expect? These teachers are also having to teach their own kids and manage it all. It’s a tremendous load on them.

 

“Their workload is about three hours a day, working on their own. I am neutral to this. It’s a lot — but I expect a lot for their education. BrainPop, however, is no substitute for a teacher.

 

“What I do like is the freedom of more creative play, more time with the kids, more opportunity for life lessons, social responsibility, etc.

 

“I actually love having them home more, and the general slowdown of life, BUT, I need them at school. It’s been great to pause and reflect on what we’d like post-COVID life to look like. Now we are ready to start post-COVID life.

 

“For my children, I fear having to send my daughter where I know she isn’t succeeding because I can’t afford alternative options. I am worried about my oldest becoming depressed due to isolation.

 

“My hopes are that this opens up the dialogue for more alternatives to schooling.

 

“It would be great to see the public schools spend the summer developing curriculum for a possible shutdown situation OR for students who have discovered their learning style is accommodated through at home learning without the $20k price tag.

 

“I would love to do a semi virtual, semi in-person learning environment for my youngest. A blend of traditional and ‘COVID’ education.”

Rachel

Rachel has three kids all in some sort of school — first grade, pre-K, and preschool — and is a mix of public and private. This is what she told me:

“I am overseeing distance learning for a first grader, am trying to figure out learning-through-play with our three year old, and am patchwork teaching our five year old some blend of pre-K, kinder, and first grade work. I am also trying to work part time, grocery shop, keep our house in some kind of order, cooking all the meals (except for eight) since this began, trying to make sure everyone does their online dance classes, trying to find motivation to workout, and trying to maintain relationships with family and friends over the phone and Internet (which is the hardest part for me, because face-to-face conversations are my jam).

“My biggest dislike about the current situation is the sudden, massive increase in technology use. I think for the ages of my children, technology is not the best approach for learning. And, the lack of hands-on experiences are frustrating the kids. Basically, it’s okay for school maintenance, but would 100% not work for the long term.

“My hope is that kids can safely return to the classroom most of the time. I also hope that, if we do stay home, our incoming kindergartener will continue to thrive. I hope I feel more equipped to tackle whatever situation is thrown at us in the fall and next spring.

“I worry decisions are being made too hastily, but also not fast enough. It has to be so incredibly difficult to be a leader making decisions behind the scenes right now. So, we are trying to be patient and extend grace when we don’t think they’ve made the right or perfect decision. I fear committing to being in the classroom again full time might not be the safest thing, especially if we are possibly expecting a new surge of the virus around flu season. Oy vey.

“My biggest question is how FWISD will be able to continue serving under-served children. My heart goes out to families I know that are struggling much more than ours with distance learning.

“Right now, we are looking at backup plans in case schools are more online than in the classroom next year. We absolutely love our school, so it would feel weird pulling our kids out even for a season, but I just don’t think they can do an entire year mostly online. I’ve started researching co-ops and homeschool curriculums that might fit our needs for next year.”

You

What about you? What are you thinking? Feeling about the 2020 – 2021 school year? What questions would you love answered? Share those below and keep this conversation going.