RHODYLIFE

The names have been changed to protect the innocent

Posted 11/12/20

This week I am staying at my daughter's and taking care of my grandchildren. There are four - a 13-year old boy, and three girls ages 11, 10 and 7. Let's call them Tom, Suzy, Mary and Jane! They distance learn on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays. On

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RHODYLIFE

The names have been changed to protect the innocent

Posted

This week I am staying at my daughter’s and taking care of my grandchildren. There are four – a 13-year old boy, and three girls ages 11, 10 and 7.

Let’s call them Tom, Suzy, Mary and Jane! They distance learn on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays. On Thursdays and Fridays, they go to school. They are distance learning today and I’m here to guide them.

That is easier said than done!

I’m not real computer savvy, so of course immediately Suzy couldn’t get online to join her class. I guess this is a common problem with so many homes utilizing their computers and so many people on the internet at the same time. Finally, she was able to get online, whew … first challenge met!

As I listened to her class, I realized how difficult it must be to have one half of your class in front of you the other half of your class online. The teacher was trying to get all of them on the same page. Her class is comprised of 7- and 8-year old boys and girls. They were talking at the same time, fidgeting with things and complaining about not being able to hear everyone or understand the lesson.

Because the distance learners are in their homes, there is snacking, dog petting and lots of things you would never do in your class. To the teacher’s credit, she was patient and tried to help everyone. It was not easy!

May and Jane, the older girls, were pretty independent with their distance learning. They knew when they needed to be online and what supplies they would need. My daughter works from home, so she needed to be able to work and help them at the same time.

The school does not want any student on their bed, so my daughter had to find four different work areas for them, within earshot. They were working on either side of a big dining room table. It went pretty smoothly except when they had to recite things out loud. Then it got a little crazy and confusing.

Tom is a freshman in high school. He is the easiest. He works on his own and gets his own snacks.

Another big problem is each one of their schedules is different. They start at different times, have breaks and lunches at different times and end at different times. I can tell you, it required constantly paying attention, and preparing snacks and lunches.

I have a new appreciation of my daughter. I honestly don’t know how she ever gets any work done! To all those parents that are dealing with this, I have a renewed sense of respect and admiration for you. I don’t know how parents that work outside their homes do it. I believe that the children’s educations are suffering and hope that we come out of this soon!

You can contact me at SixtiesAndSexy@gmail.com.

sexy, sixty

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