Tales of Distance Learning – I quit.

We have been grappling with distance learning since March. We had a glorious 10 week break for summer, and when distance learning started back up in the fall I was determined to give it a shot. Our private school had worked so hard to improve the delivery system, the communication, and the methods used. They did a phenomenal job! Distance learning in the fall was certainly done much better than the emergency in the spring.

We approached the year hopeful, organized, and determined to give it the old college try. From experience in the spring, however, I knew that it would present challenges, so I created a spreadsheet to track the data of how successful DL was in our household. Criteria included the children’s ability to work independently, how often we lost internet connection with the class, and how much crying there was. In retrospect, I should have added myself to the sheet to objectively assess my stress-level.

Anyway, all that recap is leading up to why I quit. I quit distance learning. I quit hoping that they could return to campus like normal. I quit waiting for someone else to make the situation better. I quit putting up with the expectation that WHAT my children are learning can only be done by a school. I quit stressing out over making them sit still, log in on time, complete their homework, and go with the flow – because, quite frankly, the flow has not been something I think they should go along with.

Giving up on barely getting by is the best thing I’ve done in 2020. My husband empowered and encouraged me to stop being afraid of going against the flow and to choose what is best over what is just barely good enough. Quitting mediocrity is the best thing I’ve ever done! Road trip here I come!