Lori Falce: Reluctant covid-19 homeschool lessons

I have never wanted to home-school.

While I want my son to reach for knowledge, and I want to be his partner in finding it, I have never wanted to be his teacher.

That is largely because I am all too aware of my strengths and my weaknesses, and how both could be detrimental to his education.

In a perfect world, I could teach my kid to love words and history, to brainstorm and puzzle and create. But even in that perfect world, it would be nice if he knew how to do math, and that’s not something he’s picking up from me.

But we don’t live in a perfect world, and I know I don’t have the patience to convey even those things I love to any kid, much less my own child whose road I want to pave smooth and whose frustration breaks my heart. And if I’m being completely honest, what he has learned is exactly how to pull those strings.

So I was not exactly enthusiastic about the idea of distance learning in the coronavirus shutdown.

I knew it was not going be easy for either of us. My kid has ADHD and functions best with structure and routine. He also requires a lot of supervision to stay on task. Independent work on something he loves is simple. On something that bores him, it’s nigh on impossible.

In our second week of Chromebooks and Google Classroom and figuring out how to make our living room as functional as a one-room schoolhouse, I have gained a fresh appreciation for the job I already knew was hard.

Teaching isn’t just about moving facts from a book to a kid’s head, like downloading a file or stuffing an envelope.

With a class, it’s drawing attention and getting a reaction, like a photographer taking a group shot and getting everyone to smile at the same time. With a single kid, it’s like hiding a pill in a chunk of cheese to get your dog to swallow it — and if that doesn’t work, stuffing it in his snout and forcing him to swallow.

And I hate it. I don’t want to crack the ruler. I want to help him with his homework, not teach him about math that I barely remember from 6th grade.

He doesn’t like it either. He likes when school is school and home is home. Quarantine status is ripping down those walls and making it seem like he is chained to a desk he never leaves.

His teachers can’t be any happier. They knew what their plans were before the virus burned them to ash. My son’s science teacher had a great lab planned to explain how earthquakes work. His social studies teacher was teaching about politics by diving into ancient Egypt. The lessons are there online, but they just aren’t the same.

Still, I’m glad we have the opportunity.

I might not want to home-school anymore than I want to take meetings on my cellphone, but I’m just as grateful that my son isn’t at risk of contracting the virus, and that his friends and his teachers are safe, too.

If some good comes out of the whole frustrating process, it might be more understanding and appreciation between parents and educators, and kids who look forward to putting walls back up between home and school.