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My First Week of Home Learning

March 26, 2020
By Lana Kaneakua-Pia

Aloha Everyone!

Who would have thought that my first blog would be in the midst of a pandemic where our families are “working from home” and our students are “learning from home!”  So here goes, a glimpse at my first week of Home Learning in all aspects: working, parenting, schooling, surviving!  I have five takeaways.

1.  I am not a great school teacher.

There's a reason I did not choose to homeschool my children.  Granted, I have a kindergartner, so the pressure here is low.  Even still, the minimal homework we used to receive, and the short readings, would test my patience.  As a result, I was intimidated by even the anticipation of “Home Learning.”  What I love and what works for us, though, is the fact that we can attack different tasks at our leisure.  On Friday, Specialists day, we made our crane in the morning, but didn't make it to Hawaiian and P.E. until after dinner. And that's ok!

2.  I'm constantly making food!

Yes, I knew how much kids eat, but I didn't realize how often I'd be in the kitchen-breakfast, snack, lunch, snack, snack again, dinner, snack.  The dishes are unbelievable!  But by day three, I was faster, more efficient, and less embarrassed by the lack of balance on their plates.  The beauty in these meals is that we're having them all together, something I had wished for out loud to my husband less than a month ago.  I'm finding sweet blessings and answered prayers in this drastic change to our daily lives.

My girls having a picnic in the yard
My girls having a picnic in the front yard :)

 

3.  I am getting to know my fellow parents and teachers better than I ever had!

I have the luxury of working with our keiki's teachers and seeing them all a lot more often than most parents.  However, through this switch to Home Learning, I have LOVED getting to watch Miss Sandy read her stories and interact with the students.  I keep thinking, “How wonderful that my Sophia has such a loving and patient teacher!”  I can feel Miss Sandy's love for her students through the screen. :)

It has actually been a very social time for me with our classmates, their families, and teacher.  I have had chats with Sophia's classmates and their parents through Teams, text, and Facebook.  I'm in regular contact with her teachers and I'm completely aware of all that Sophia is learning and doing because I'm right there with her!

4.  My children are rediscovering PLAY!

It's something I grew up doing all the time and it's something we've missed out on with all our schedules and activities.  This week, we had days and days to just play, and it was glorious!  We climbed trees, did yard work, cleaned the cars, rode our scooters, played with the dog, picked flowers, drew with chalk, and on and on, over and over!  Did you catch that?  Some of Mom and Dad's chores got done and were passed off as play!  I'm thrilled!

5.  I'm letting things go if I need to.

All this is happening: the schooling, the cleaning, the cooking, the playing, and yet, there's still work to be done!  So...I'm working while they're napping, (unless I'm napping while they're napping :)), while they're playing, after bed, while they snack...you get the picture.  It feels crazy wonderful and crazy awful--but somehow, the sun continues on its path and the kids are still smiling/still alive, so it must be okay.  I read an article passed on to me by a dear friend, and what it said was, IT'S ALL OKAY.

I imagine we're all experiencing a lot of the same things.  I wanted to remind you all that you're doing a great job!  Whatever it is you're doing, it's working, and it's just fine.  Enjoy these crazies that are your family, do what you have to do, and identify those sweet nuggets of “yay” in your day to day!

What crazy things have you done/discovered in this first week of Home Learning?  Good or bad, it's all welcome.  I'll start with one-I've finally had the chance to focus on potty training my three-year-old.  We had three days of great success, and today...not so much!  So, that's where I'm at :)

Melissa says:
April 03, 2020 04:51 PM CST

Loved it.


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