Virtual Learning - Mental Health Struggle
Nine weeks ago, my kids’ world was turned upside down and everything they were used to went dark. Our school district, Cherry Creek School District, announced an extended spring break… which didn’t mean much since our plans for the break were all cancelled. No Spring Training in Arizona for my son, mom, or myself. No business trip to Houston. No sleepovers for my daughter.
And then a week later, the school district extended the closure and said that our kids’ were going to now do virtual learning. We waited with trepidation as we had no idea what that would really mean for our first and fourth graders. Would they have to login at a certain time everyday to have their classes? How much would we have to hold their hands to do the work? What would happen to those families without the capability to connect to the technology they wanted to use? Would teachers be available to work one-on-one with our students? Would our kids fall behind their grade level? How would this work for our son who recently “graduated” from his Individualized Education Plan (IEP) but still needed some additional supports?
All of these questions stressed us out that last week of “Spring Break” but we knew we needed to just let our kids enjoy the outdoors and be kids. The school work would be explained later.
As we waited, we began hearing from our friends and family what virtual learning looked like for their kids. For some schools, they had implemented three-four hours of virtual learning with their instructors. For others, there were assignments that had to be done on a weekly basis and occasional check in sessions via Zoom or other platforms. We heard from some teacher friends about how they had to teach Kindergartners and couldn’t get them to pay attention for 5 minutes.
Finally, on Thursday before our kids’ virtual learning experience began, we learned about some of the basics. The district would provided Chromebooks to those families that were in need and at least in the elementary schools, there would not be specific times the students were expected to join a virtual classroom. There would be optional check-ins (originally only once a week) and they would receive assignments on Monday and need to submit them by Sunday. There would be office hours for our fourth grade student.
Thankfully, the district had been using Google classroom and Seesaw for a number of years so they decided to use these platforms for the assignments. Our kids were able to navigate both programs pretty easily and for the most part the instructions that first week were clear on what was expected of our kids.
Over the next nine weeks, the learning has been a roller coaster for both of our kids.
Our six year old daughter, who is self-motivated but also a pre-pre-pre-teen, has tried to do every assignment and optional assignment. But when she joins the virtual classroom, she clams up and won’t participate at all. She remains shy and won’t interact with her peers. While this isn’t completely different than some of her behavior in the classroom, she had begun opening up in February and March this year and was just beginning to feel comfortable interacting with the students. To see her revert to being quiet and reserved in the virtual meetups has been hard to watch and caused some tears along the way for her.
For our ten year old son, who has an amazing emotional IQ but struggles in some subjects, the virtual learning has been a struggle from week one. As a child who battles his own anxiety issues (one of the wonderful traits I passed on), he triple guesses himself on every assignment and is anxious about the point totals assigned for each assignment. A project that should take 30 minutes, takes him a couple of hours because he has to know that the facts he finds online really answer the questions in the assignment. The virtual classroom meet ups have been good for him as he is very social but the lack of structure of these meetings and the school work has caused him much anxiety. Watching him struggle and become emotionally drained from some of the work has been gut-wrenching and we feel powerless.
Yes, there have also been wins for both kids. Our daughter’s teacher continually is impressed with her effort and willingness to do almost every assignment. Our son’s final project was to come up with a new product that he had to pitch to SharkTank. He has been excited to invent a new item, create a logo, set up a price, and share his work with anyone that will listen.
As we have seen in nine short weeks, there are some positives but many struggles with online learning for our kids. We have seen both of them struggle with their mental well being on assignments and their anxiety about this experience has caused much stress in our household. We also have no idea what the long-term impacts of this past nine weeks will be on their mental health. How will they view school work in the future? How have the Zoom classes impacted their socialization? How can they get the additional support from teachers when the teachers aren’t seeing the daily struggles they are experiencing?
While we near the end of this unforgettable school year, we wait for answers about the fall semester. What has the school district learned from the past nine weeks that will allow them to handle school work in the fall differently? Will the semester be online? How can we help our daughter feel more comfortable with her peers online? How do we get help for our son who needs additional support? How will we be able to support them with their online classwork as we try to go back to normal work schedules?
These are just the beginning of the questions we are asking and we know there will be many more. As we enter the summer break, we look to give our kids a mental break and give them time to unwind in this crazy times. We will also continue to do some learning so they aren’t so far behind when school starts back up. And finally, we will continue to be appreciative of everything that our teachers do on a daily basis. Teaching is never easy and this time has made us appreciate the teachers even more.
What are some of the struggles your children have faced with learning? What mental health resources could you share with us and other parents to help support your kids during this time?