WeeklySA_AdminTHE PARENT: How journalist and mom Bongi Sithole keeps up juggling house chores with helping her Grade 1 daughter with her studies…
Its been an overwhelming year of covid-19, as parents were forced to adjust to new methods of ensuring that children are still getting value for their money spent on school fees, the kids are learning and not being delayed by a pandemic no one has answers to its end.
This meant as a parent juggle your whole life, be a teacher, be a mom and be a full time worker all at once.Parents find themselves in an unusual position during the Covid-19 crisis and subsequent school closures. They’re no longer just checking homework is done, they’re facilitating their children’s learning at home on a daily basis.For many that means combining working from home with supervising online lessons and grappling with their children’s concentration span.
I recall this very experience with mixed emotions, as a grade 1 parent, before the pandemic last year homeschooling was my first thought of what I considered would be best for my little girl because I love to be a very present mom and would have the time to monitor her growth whilst I work from my comfort zone. However that option flew out the window when the corona virus pandemic forced the world to a stand still and parents had no choice but to educate their own.
A normal day which entailed waking up early for school drop offs, go home to work and in the afternoon pick up child, now meant wake up, prepare to teach a child, try catch up with work whilst sharing one laptop to get all activities done. In between, we had compulsory PE and dance classes to keep the home activities fun. Homeschooling isn’t easy, sometimes classes would begin midday and finish off late afternoon, simply because my daughter would sleep in at first, there was no sense of urgency when mom played the role of the teacher.
However the joys of it came with the digital skills my daughter acquired from school, logging in for school work and getting her work done wasn’t always a headache. Being the modern age mom , has its perks children are tech smart and even smarter than us parents. Often when I assisted, she would get upset and say ‘you’re disturbing me,I know how to do my work’ that simply translated as back off. If anything I learned to push her harder and reward her with a treat, It made learning fun. Sometimes motivate her with a longer break, once she completed the task.
l learned that teaching a child from home requires a lot of patience and less shouting. Gradually the nightmare thoughts of self teaching a child fell off, in the beginning it was complex, juggling my work time with her school time. Hats off to every parent who kept their cool, during remote schooling and working.If anything we have a clear vision of what learning options work for our kids. We can see a rise in homeschooling in the future, it will personally be more favourable for me when she is out of her foundation phase and playtime phase.
