Here are a few of the lessons I learned during my brief stint as a home-school teacher.

1. Everyone is truly different.

I quickly learned that our kids had very different needs in their learning. While our older child preferred to execute his daily schoolwork on a computer, our youngest needed the familiarity of paper. One wanted to sit at his desk to work, the other wanted to work anywhere but at her desk. Instead of fighting these differences, which I tried for a few days, I learned that focusing on their needs was easier on all of us.

My takeaway: If you can get someone in their sweet spot, it can make everything seem easier.

2. Sprint and rest.

Our original plan was to hammer through schooling in the morning so that the kids would have as much of their day as possible totally free. I imagine some of the parents or educators who are reading this laughed at the idea of “hammering through” anything with a third and fifth grader.
We quickly figured out that little minds don’t work best with that kind of intensity. Adapting a strict program of shorter learning periods broken up with periods of fun or play worked best.

My takeaway: Brain breaks are important, for kids and adults.

3. Movement matters.

More than once, we had a reluctant learner. Maybe it was the subject or simply these strange circumstances, but there were a few pretty good standoffs. Our “go-to” solve for this was to take a quick walk. It was a foolproof solution; each time we did it, we found it to be an effective “reset” for both frustrated teachers and reluctant learners.

My takeaway: Steps are important, for mental health and physical health.

4. Stress demands change.

There were days when both parents were affected by job stress. On several of those days, we faced off with kids who pressed back on our intensity. While we were committed to executing education per the plan issued by our school district, we also recognized that the stress and fear related to the global circumstances that forced us to home-school were simply too much to bear. On those days, we learned to make decisions that were about our mental and emotional well-being.

My takeaway: If stress levels feel extraordinary, change something.

As I look forward to the fall, I know that there are uncertainties about whether my teaching career will persist or if kids will return to their classrooms. Every meme I have seen about teaching during this pandemic is true; teachers surely should make $1 billion a year!

My most important takeaway during this season is this: Leave it to the professionals.