How Pittsburgh area families are dealing with at-home education
BY PAUL MARTORELLI
The global pandemic has changed the lives of nearly every person on the planet. Families with children in kindergarten through 12th grade have seen some of the most drastic changes to daily life since the novel coronavirus prompted everyone to shelter-in-place.
With children having to spend the extra six hours at home, parents like Melissa Smith, the mother of a fourth-grader and a seventh-grader, are learning to adapt on the fly.
“It’s very stressful,” Smith said. “I’m very fortunate though, I’m used to working from home so I can put a client on hold to tell the kids to have lunch or do their schoolwork.”
Smith has a degree in secondary education but has not worked as a teacher.
Yet, even with the degree, she said she is having some difficulty in making sure that her children are up to date on their classwork.
“I definitely learned math a way different way,” she said.
She’s also learned the value of daily structure during the week.
“I try to wake the kids up at the same time in the morning, as if they had to catch the bus,” Smith explained. “Obviously we don’t rush like we used to, but we keep the sequence. Do schoolwork until you’re done, have breaks for lunch. I do make sure that they get an hour of activity outside of doing schoolwork. Go outside, ride your bike, that sort of thing.”
“I definitely learned math a way different way.”
— Melissa Smith
Pittsburgh mother of two
Heather Star-Fielder, a professor at Point Park University, has two children, one in the seventh grade and the other a freshman in high school. She said she has taken this experience as a learning opportunity.
“Watching my children do online learning has actually informed my practice teaching my college students,” she said. “I see that sometimes my kids have trouble logging in, trouble with Wi-Fi and trouble submitting assignments. If we’re struggling with basic technology, even with my experience as an educator, I’m sure they (my students) are too.”
Both parents said they are having different experiences with the help they are being provided from their children’s schools.
“The teachers are very much doing the schooling,” said Star-Fielder. “They work on lesson plans, grading and engaging with their students. It’s simply my job as a parent to guide my children into good soft skills and life habits.”
However, Smith said she has found the experience of keeping up with her children’s school confusing.
“The teachers are using different methods. Different classes go to different websites for info, it is very hard to keep track. I wish it would be more consistent,” she said.
For example, Smith said that her children’s teachers email assignments and are there to talk via email if needed.
But her fourth grader is mainly doing Zoom meetings, while her seventh grader is given pre-recorded videos and some sessions on Google Hangouts for instruction.
Both parents said they have found solace in talking to other parents in their school systems.
“Everyone is feeling the same,” said Star-Fiedler. “We’re all extremely grateful to the teachers who have put so much work into these online lessons. But we are also sometimes confused and frustrated at our own lack of knowledge or technology.
“I’ve heard parents of younger, elementary-aged students are having a harder time because those children often cannot do the work independently, so it makes it very difficult for them to work at their own jobs during the school day.”