COVID Schooling Is Not Homeschooling

by Lorinda K. F. Newton

Shortly after the mid-March announcement that all Washington State schools would close, a flurry of homeschool questions and advice appeared on the Web. Parents expressed worry, anger, and desperation on social media posts. “I don’t want to homeschool!” One father said, “We can’t quit work to teach our kids. We have bills to pay.” 

Nobody knew what the schools would do. The schools didn’t know what the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction would tell them to do. The state, and later the nation, ventured into unknown territory.

Homeschool veterans offered guidance and encouragement for schooling at home. “Don’t panic. Have family time with your kids.” Many recommended relaxed schooling, including a teacher friend of Heatherjo Burgy, who posted this advice on the “School House 19” Facebook page on March 15, 2020.

Bloggers, educational websites, and curriculum vendors have provided advice and free lessons during the COVID quarantine.

Now a month later, most American schools have shut down. The districts are providing various levels of support. A few, such as Irvine, California, moved to their established online classes system. A handful has thrown in the towel and offered nothing. The majority are trying to provide remote learning to as many students as possible through as many ways as possible.

Remote learning is requiring millions of families to oversee their children’s education at home. Many call this “homeschooling” because their kids are doing schoolwork at home. Don’t be misled. The true homeschool experience differs vastly from what’s happening now. Coronavirus crisis schooling is an emergency stop-gap measure, not normal homeschooling.

Many find COVID schooling frustrating and overwhelming, and I don’t want people to draw the conclusion that their current experience represents the typical homeschool experience. It doesn’t.

How does public school remote learning differ from homeschooling? 1) It was not a choice; 2) It’s done under duress; and 3) The students remain enrolled in public school and rely on it for guidance, materials, and instruction.

Not By Choice

Ordinarily, families choose to homeschool after much research and consideration. Yes, sometimes an emergency causes a family to suddenly switch to homeschooling. But that’s the exception, not the rule. Homeschool families normally take time to plan and then gather supplies and curricula before they start educating their kids at home.

In contrast, the public schools have imposed upon unprepared parents a supervisory teaching role.

Most families send their children to school because our culture has conditioned us to view public school as the default educational choice. Therefore, few have had the desire, ability, or time to homeschool. 

Now, these parents find themselves in educational survival mode and are being asked to do something they don’t want to do. This unexpected responsibility has intensified an already stressful situation created by the pandemic and sets the family up for a challenging time. Thus, this schooling-at-home experience will not look the same if a family had chosen to homeschool under normal circumstances.

Living Under Pandemic Stress

Many believe homeschoolers always stay home. But the reality is, several of us shuttle our kids to co-ops, community classes, and sporting activities. (See my daughter’s schedule.) This shutdown disrupted our educational process as well. Granted, home educators probably transitioned more easily to the stay-at-home order than classroom students because we do spend time at home and have a plan to follow. But we, too, have had our routine disrupted. We are all COVID schooling, not homeschooling.

For everyone, from preschoolers to the elderly, from classroom students to homeschool families, has had their lives turned upside down by the coronavirus. This cessation of work, school, and other activities has left a void in our normally busy lives. With this loss of routine comes a sense of grief. Social isolation and the shift in family dynamics caused by being together 24/7 can strain our mental well-being. 

In addition, many face financial stress due to business closures and the stock market plunge. The economic downturn has led to an increase in hotline calls and suicides. Moreover, the news cycle and the unknown future keeps all of us distracted, making it difficult to focus on the work we need to do.

A poll of California parents reports that 80 percent are experiencing a higher than normal level of stress, and 89 percent worry that their children will fall behind academically.

In the same way, our children also feel the tension.  They are grieving the loss of routine and time with friends. They missed out on spring sports and other activities they enjoy. High schoolers worry about their GPAs. My niece, who’s a senior, is sad and angry that she lost her prom and graduation ceremony.

Therefore, don’t be surprised if your kids are unable to focus on their studies. A crisis makes it hard for the brain to learn.

So parents, give yourself and your kids some grace. COVID schooling is hard. You may not know where your children stand academically, and your school’s support may be frustrating or sparse. Please don’t consider this experience as an example of what homeschooling is like.

Still in Public School

Homeschool families function independently, selecting their own schedules, curricula, and methodology. They don’t receive government funds but pay their own way. (Some people participate in alternative public school programs that are often called “homeschool” programs. Legally, anyone participating in such programs is still a public school student.) 

Whereas, the millions of children sent home from the public schools remain under the authority of the government. Their families still depend on the public schools to provide instruction.

The support that the schools are providing varies greatly across the nation. A handful of schools already had online services set up before the pandemic and easily expanded their use. Others supplied paper packets and offered limited teacher communication. In Bellevue, Washington, my friend’s third-grader daily logs onto Zoom to spend only 30 minutes with her class and teacher.

Many of America’s school districts have resorted to posting a list of online educational resources for parents to select from. These families, who have been mostly left to their own devices to develop an education plan for the kids, are functioning more like homeschoolers because they can select educational materials for their children’s instruction. Even this is still emergency schooling and not typical homeschooling because the choice is made under pressure.

Finally, the vast majority of families currently crisis schooling will most likely return their kids to the public school when it reopens. Yet, some parents may find they enjoy teaching their kids or have become disillusioned by the school curriculum. These may choose to blaze their own educational trail and join the ranks of homeschoolers and withdraw their children from the government school system.

In conclusion, American schools, and with them millions of families, have ventured into uncharted territory. Very few school systems have ever considered they would need to transition instruction to a remote learning model. Nor did millions of parents ponder the idea that one day they would be required to oversee their children’s education at short notice and without a plan. But due to the coronavirus shutdown, the unthinkable became a reality. 

Despite what some people call it, public school remote learning is not homeschooling. Normal homeschooling is a personal choice with no strings attached to the public school system. Parents, not the government, freely decide the scope and sequence of their children’s homeschool learning experience. COVID schooling is not homeschooling.

Lorinda K. F. Newton began homeschooling her children in 2004, and her family joined Academy Northwest in 2014. Her family lives on beautiful Whidbey Island north of Seattle, Washington. She writes about faith, culture, and governing from a biblical worldview at Lorinda’s Ponderings and Lorinda’s Ponderings on Facebook. ©2020 by Lorinda K. F. Newton. All Rights Reserved.