This school year is going to look very different than any other school year before. By this point I don't about you, but I am tired to hear people saying 2020 is unprecedented, but I have to say that is the word that best describes this school year.
I remember back in March when schools went virtual and we all struggled to manage the demands of adjusting to working from home on top of trying to help our kids figure out things. Schools were not prepared for it and they pivoted as best as they could. Personally for me it felt very chaotic. We really struggled to managed it all.
Now, as schools start again we faced a lot anxiety, trying to decide what model of learning was the best choice. Face to face, virtual, hybrid. The anxiety increase as we were getting closer to the start of the school year and schools were still trying to make decisions themselves. We spent a lot of time thinking and analyzing every scenario, identifying pros and cons in an aim to make the best decision possible. No matter what the decision ended up being, I guess, you like us had second thoughts and questioned your decision.
We are past that point. Decision is made. now we need to make it work. As hard has making a decision felt, the really hard part is starting now as school starts. We are ending week two, and there are already a lot of learnings out of these first two weeks.
Here are some of our key learnings so far, and some of the things we have identified as helpful in navigating this school year:
1. Stay organized
Now more than ever is critical to stay organized. A few things that have helped us stay organized include:
Keeping one and only one calendar. You are one person. Yes, you are playing multiple roles, but at the end of the day you are one person and your days all have 24 hours. I personally stick with my work calendar and just added all my personal and my kids' schools appointment to my work calendar. That helps me see my full day and make sure I am aware of potential conflicts so I can plan and work around them.
I created to visual calendar for my son to keep track of his classes, specially since he is on a hybrid model so he goes to school every other day and because weeks are odd that means one week he is on school three day and the next week just two. My worse nightmare since school started is to send him to school on the days he is supposed to do online classes or vice versa.
We also planned meals ahead of time. Keeping on mind what days he is going to school and what days he attends virtual school for home, we define what makes most sense for snacks and lunches. Planning ahead helps us reduce the stress during the week. Check out this blog post for tips on a healthy back to school.
2. Hold weekly family planning meetings
Talking about organization, every Sunday we have a family meeting where we plan ahead the upcoming week. We look at all the things everyone has coming up and we get organized. We decide who will take care of what, what things we might need to pass on and when we need to ask for help.
3. Designate a spot for school in your home
With kids taking online classes from home is important to have a designated spot at home that they can claim as school spot. When we decided what would be that spot for our son, these are some things we considered:
Lighting. Since this will be the place he is going to be studying and doing homework we wanted to make sure he had enough natural light.
Distractions. As much as possible we wanted to reduce any distractions.
Power outlets. Very important, since his laptop is the main tool he will be using to attend school and submit homework was important that there were enough power outlets available.
Ergonomics. Making sure he had a desk and a good and comfortable chair was important to ensure ergonomics were right. So we invested on a new office chair.
4. Stay flexible
This is not the year to aim for perfectionism. I don't believe perfection is possible anyways, but this year flexibility is more important than even before. While we are intentional about planning ahead we realized it's important to stay flexible and adjust as we go. The first couple of weeks on a hybrid model were all about learning and adjusting. We didn't knew what to expect, so we planned as good as could and we took the time to adjust our routines as we learned how this new "norm" was going to look.
As a working parent, flexibility at work as been key to navigate through the last weeks of school. I believe that the only way to really take the most advantage of the flexibility at work is by planning and stay organized, as contradictory as that sounds. Planning my meetings when possible around critical times in our day to day home schedule was helped me find the balance I need. Here are a few example of things that have worked for me:
I block lunch time in my calendar so avoid as much as possible meetings during that time so I can prepare lunch for my kids.
I've built flexible time slots in my calendar that I can use to help my kids with homework or to do focused work, that way I can feel I am feeling fulfilled both at work as at home and that focused work allows me to be more productive and get more done. If I wouldn't block these time slots I would probably be on meetings all day long. Some days that is my reality, and that is ok, I just don't think I will be able to survive if all my days looked like that.
Be ok with my kids showing up on video calls.
Allow my kids to figure things on their own when I am in the middle of a meeting or working on a time sensitive deliverable. That, as I will touch on later, helps build their character and for them to become more independent while am able to pay attention to work.
5. Give yourself and your kids a break
We just talked about letting go of perfectionism. I think another things we've learned is that we need to give ourselves a break. Realizing that our reality looks very different than what it used to, and that our kids are not used to virtual learning and therefore there is going to be an adaptation and learning experience. At the beginning I would get stressed out about my son not missing any assignment and I would review and correct his work before he submitted it to the teacher. But, you know, this is a life lesson, our kids are going to grow and learn more from the experience itself than from their school homework. I believe that the skills our kids are learning this year are going to mold their character. Therefore I accepted that I can't be on top of everything nor can my son. We do our best and that is the best we can do. I've learned that by helping my son with his homework and am taking away the opportunity for him to develop his character and skills.
The extra stress we put on ourselves is not necessary. Of course I want my son to get good grades, but for me him developing a growth mindset, soft skills, planning and organization skills, resilience, patience, and him being self-sufficient is more important than a grade on a homework.
6. Have confidence in your choices
We are on unknown territory. We've had to make decisions that many times we have second guess. I don't believe that is going to change any time soon. Is just part of this new "norm". Second guessing our decisions doesn't help anyone. We need to have confidence in our choices and our decisions and try to make out of them. It's going to feel uncomfortable, sure, but I am convince we are going to figure it out. When we start with that believe, that we will be able to figure anything out, we are setting ourselves to do just that: figure it out. As they say, whether you believe you can or you can't you are right.
7. Ask for help
This can look in many ways and can look totally different for every person but I think it starts on the same place for everyone, acknowledging that we can't do it all. Yes as parents we can claim to be superheroes, no doubt about it, but even superheroes need help. Taking a moment to think of what help we need and who we can ask for help is key to survive this school year. Keep in mind that help can look in many different ways and come form places you might have not though about in the past.
Other things that can help:
