Lessons Learned as a Parent of a Virtually-Schooled Student

Degrees of Maternity is going back to school! Well, sort of. And here’s what I mean. Since Little Man (my 10-year-old son) has started his new school year — virtual style, I feel like I’ve returned to a fresh new school year myself. 

Every year I feel this same way — like new school beginnings are starting afresh and anew for me. And, I’m not even the student. But because I’ve always shared in the joys of my children’s educations, I can’t help but sideline participate in their experiences as much as I possibly can. And Little Man’s schooling is no exception to the rule.

With this particular start to a new school year, I’m able to be front and center on quite a bit of what’s going on with Little Man’s education. Reason being: he’s a virtually-schooled student. He’s home with me this year. And, instead of using the term “homeschooling”, I’m beginning to catch myself referring to this year’s school experience as “school from home” or “virtual school” or “distance learning”. 

As a matter of fact, there are so many different terms used for what the children are experiencing today who are learning from home. As I’ve just stated, you’ve got homeschooling, virtual school, distance learning, online learning, and the like. A lot of the terms are used interchangeably, but I have learned to distinguish between what the official understanding of “homeschooling” is versus some of the other terminology. I think. 

From my understanding, homeschooling in its more traditional form is closer to what I was participating in when Little Man was in first and second grades. At that time, Little Man was a part of our district’s school system (just as he is currently) but was associated with a school that was predominantly online. And although he had a dedicated teacher assigned to him, I was actually providing him with daily instruction (along with the online instruction he was receiving) from the physical and electronic curriculum that the school system provided to me. So, you might say I was conducting a hybrid homeschooling experience for Little Man.

Here’s where the hybrid (not to be confused with full-out) homeschooling comes into play. I didn’t have to worry about picking out a curriculum and figuring out what materials should be utilized to educate my son at his grade level, I didn’t have to separately report (to the state) the instruction that was being covered at home, and I wasn’t required to grade assignments or even administer in-class and district-wide testing. His school took care of all those responsibilities. So, it was a “homeschooling” experience that was the best case scenario for my teaching know-how at the time.

Now, my son is experiencing a 180-degree change from the previous scenario when he was educated from home. He’s experiencing the distance learning approach, according to the virtual school style, where he is still a student associated with his public school system and with his last year’s magnet school (instead of having to go to the separate virtual school he was a student of in the past). He also has dedicated teachers who are responsible for administering all of his core class instruction, as well as his instruction in art, music, P.E., and library.

So, instead of me teaching my son, I’m actually just needed for tech assistance mainly and to make sure he’s completing and turning in his assignments and getting parental educational reinforcement to back up what his teacher is relaying to him.

Furthermore, although he’s home already, I can assist him with the “homework” assignments that are not being turned in for grades. It’s the kind of work that’s meant to be foundational and built upon — like practice exercises to make sure he understands concepts before assigning the work that will be turned in for the actual grade. I’m supposed to be more hands-off when it comes to the graded assignments. And, I’m definitely to be hands-off when it comes to any kind of testing scenarios.

I hope all that makes sense.

Well, I stated the above just to lead into the fact that I’m going to start incorporating (into the Monday posting schedule) some of the lessons I’m learning as a parent of a virtually-schooled student. Believe me when I say that I have a whole list of things I’ve just learned from my son’s first week of school, which passed by too quickly, if you ask me. So, I obviously can’t help but share this new educational journey I’m on with my blogging community friends. This “school from home” experience is going to be a big part of my life the duration of this school year, so I’ll be revealing some of my take-aways from this new venture I’m embarking upon with my son.

And I know I’m not alone. Many of you are, quite possibly, fulfilling the role of being a parent to a virtually-schooled or homeschooled student. With this pandemic, social distancing has permeated into the school fabric, so to speak. Therefore, I can only imagine the wide-spreading numbers of parents out there who are going through a lesson or two. So, feel free to join in the conversation and let me know if you’re experiencing some of the same lessons that I am or totally different lessons than I am. Actually, just feel free to share your lessons learned with me, period; because I’d love to hear them.