My Family’s Sanity Is More Important To Me Than School Work

Right now, we’re all stuck at home together.

Even the essential workers that leave every day are spending much more time in the confines of their home than normal.

I’m working the job from home that I normally have several hours to do uninterrupted each day.

I’m now a 2nd and 3rd grade teacher. At the same time.

And a full-time chef.

None of us have had a break away from each other longer than about the time it takes to shower.

The kids are arguing more.

We’re nervous.

We’re edgy.

Many of the things that “fill our cup” are gone.

We miss our friends. We miss our family. We miss our outings. We miss normalcy.

Life is weird right now.

It’s isn’t bad (at least not for our small family – we’re safe and not sick)… just different. More stressful.

We’re surrounded by stress none of us can control.

But what I can control, is putting down the pencil when the fractions get too hard.

I can control giving my kids learning that fits our environment better than worksheet after worksheet.

We are walking away when I start to fail at teaching things I don’t remember learning myself.

We are prioritizing our sanity straight to the top of The List of Important Things.

Are we quitting school? Of course not. We are up and working every single day. But one of the privileges of remote learning is that we can do it when we want. I’m able to recognize the day when everyone is drained of all ability to focus and suggest we go play a game together instead.

School is important and learning is essential, but right now, the mental health of this crew is just more important than school work.

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