past, present, future:

What will education be like post-pandemic?

By Molly Ovenden

Historically, there has been a stigma around homeschooling: children might not receive quality education at home or develop proper social skills. With COVID-19, education as we’ve known it has had to change. In most cases, children have engaged in a spectrum of learning from home. This has had many challenges.

With parents also working from home and new distractions for kids, concerns rise about whether children will suffer. Many parents are asking, is homeschooling a sufficient alternative to the traditional school setting?

Is it possible to wait it out with distance learning and do the best we can until schools reopen? Parents in the Northland have been working hard to provide the best education possible for their children.

Samantha Kelleher, 32, of Lake Nebagamon, Wisconsin, grew up homeschooled by her mom in Duluth. Kelleher said her mom “took on homeschooling without even having her high school diploma.” She taught her children that it’s OK to not know the answer right away and would invite them to learn alongside her. Time passes quickly, making learning together a real gift for both parents and children.

Kelleher enjoys childhood memories of doing schoolwork and getting to play with neighbor friends, without having to be away from family at school for several hours each day. She wants to give this experience to her children. An advocate for homeschooling, Kelleher is even more an advocate for parents to confidently make education decisions for their children, believing that each parent knows what is best for their family. Wanting her husband and her to be the biggest influences in their children’s lives, Kelleher considers it a privilege to be able to teach them.

Watching them grow and learning their strengths and weaknesses is not all easy, however. It can be frustrating watching them struggle and having to apologize to them later for being impatient. It’s all worth it though, Kelleher said, when she witnesses a learning moment.

“You get to see the sparkle in your child’s eye when they read — that’s huge,” she said.

For Angela Piket, 41, of Proctor, it was not an easy decision to homeschool. In the beginning of the lockdown, the school district impressed her with their distribution of supplies via school buses stopping at each student’s house. When it became clear that distance learning was here to stay, Piket began searching for a homeschooling curriculum. One major criteria was limiting screen time. With distance learning, suddenly, “they were bears from all that sitting and looking at a screen,” she said. Used to less than one to two hours per week, having so many video calls, both parents and kids were overwhelmed.

What Piket learned from other homeschooling parents was invaluable as she started teaching her children. She began doubting herself, however, wondering if she must be doing it wrong because her house and everyone in it weren’t all perfect. Piket said that once she realized “it does not need to look like traditional school in your house,” she relaxed and she encourages other homeschooling families to embrace this freedom, too.

“The reality is,” Piket said, “I have a moody 9-year-old and an out-of-control 6-year-old (and) two dogs who are often barking and howling along with everyone else and it’s complete chaos.”

And this is OK.

Her first grade son would ”much rather be hammering things into the ground” than learning to read. Her third grade daughter, already an overachiever, is more an artist than her parents. Rather than pushing them into the depths of science and math she enjoys, Piket wants her kids to learn everything they can in each subject, but prioritize their interests. Piket’s also grown in compassion toward them when they struggle.

“We slowed math way down (for our daughter) and she’s been much more willing to try to do the math now,” Piket

• said of the flexibility of homeschooling.

It’s likely her son will return to in-person school postpandemic for more social interaction, while her introverted daughter will likely continue with homeschool. Thinking about the future of education, Piket said she hopes that schools will have “more flexibility in letting kids learn the way they need to learn.”

Homeschooling continued on page 29

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