LAURINBURG — Less than three months into 2020, school for Scotland County teachers and students has been turned upside down by a coronavirus pandemic — but parents and teachers are working on adapting.
With Gov. Roy Cooper mandating that schools be closed until May 15, it means teachers are having to re-plan lessons that were originally set up for the school year, and now students have the responsibility of learning completely at home rather than in a classroom.
Many parents across the world have taken to Facebook to speak on the struggles of homeschooling their children, from keeping them attentive on their work to working on other things like crafts and games to keep them busy.
Jennifer McRae is working from home and now has her two sons working from home with her. Her son, Eli, is at Spring Hill Middle School, while Owen is at Laurel Hill Elementary and both feel differently about not being in the classroom.
“Owen is already kind of a homebody, so he’s really enjoying working independently, while Eli is missing having the schedule, sports and his friends,” McRae said. “Since I’m working from home, it’s a bit stressful with them here doing schoolwork, too.”
One of the big things was working to get a schedule down and figure out what worked and what didn’t for both her and the boys.
”At first we started with a strict schedule, but after a few days we realized it wasn’t working,” McRae said. “So right now they’re doing schoolwork for an hour and then they get a break so they can watch TV or play video games.”
McRae did add that, currently, the two are learning about things they wouldn’t get in traditional schooling through various online classes that interest the two, such as Harry Potter online escape rooms and master writing classes. The two are also helping her with her YouTube and Facebook pages for her business, McRae Design, as she is posting how-to arts videos for people to follow along with.
“It’s been nice for them being able to think outside of the box and work on their creativity,” McRae said. “They’re helping me edit my YouTube videos and are learning things with the technology they might not get in school.”
McRae said that, despite some of the stresses, she’s enjoying being able to spend more time with both her children.
Myra Stone feels the same way.
Stone works for the Wagram Apiary, which is in its prime season right now. working with bees and has an elementary student and SEarCH student at home.
Since having her children home, she’s gotten to enjoy more time with them — from playing board games together to just talking.
“That family time we get to plan meals together, sit down and eat together, and have something to talk about,” Stone said. “That was the beauty that has come out of all this. I didn’t realize how much time I would get with my kids now and we’re enjoying the extra time.”
Stone said that a couple of hours are blocked out per day so their work gets done. She also has tried to make games out of the schoolwork or have them using links sent by the teachers if they get bored, along with teaching them about current events and what is going on in the world.
“They’ve enjoyed not going to school,” Stone said. “Honestly, in this whole situation, the teachers have done an excellent job of communicating. It’s an adjustment, but we’re getting through it.”
While parents are working to adjust their schedules to work with their own children, teachers are learning the steps in figuring out how to teach in this new way.
“It’s been a challenge for me to learn this,” said Meg Johnson, the senior English teacher at Scotland High. “I didn’t come along during the technology era, so it’s been a struggle for me while I think most of my kids have got it figured out.”
Johnson explained that both she and her students have been working to set up a routine outside of the classroom and she currently has them reading from the Renaissance Era to keep them in the world when they begin online readings.
“We were right in the middle of reading ‘Macbeth’ and it’s something the kids do not want to read by themselves and we were reading it line by line outloud in class,” Johnson said. “So we’re working to figure out when we would all be able to be online to read it together.”
For Johnson, this change has been an emotional thing for her, going from seeing her students in-person five days a week to only being able to Facetime and text them.
“This Monday to Wednesday I thought I needed to go into the classroom to get in my routine,” Johnson said. “But after three days of having a classroom with no kids, it was sad and depressing, so I’m working from home now … I’m really looking forward to May 15 and getting them back in the classroom, so hopefully they can finish out their senior year semi-normally.”
Also at Scotland High is AP government, civics and economics teacher Tom Havener, who has been using the events to teach students about politics — as well as having them relate examples from their textbooks into what is happening in the world.
“The No. 1 thing you learn as a teacher is to be adaptable,” Havener said. “You can’t have everything online and you can’t have it all on paper … this has really helped some students who face different challenges that they can’t control, like being able to focus in a classroom or not being able to get to school. Now they’re able to learn at their own pace.”
One struggle Havener has seen is the personal relationship that happens in a classroom.
“You don’t know what you have until it’s gone and kids are starting to realize that,” Havener said. “For teachers, you start to notice that something is missing and you realize what’s missing is the kids.”
Both Leigh Carter, math I and eighth-grade science teacher at Spring Hill Middle School, and Catherine Gates, eighth-grade technology education teacher at Carver Middle School, agree that the hardest part is not getting to see their students.
“I struggle not seeing their little faces everyday,” Carter said. “Having them in class you’re able to see their faces and one knows if they are paying attention to you and if they are understanding what you’re teaching.”
For Carter, the transition to virtual learning has gone well, as students were taught Google Classroom so they didn’t have to learn anything new. From making videos showing how to work out problems to adding links to help students learn with assignments, Carter has been working to give students as many resources as possible.
“A perk is that they’re getting a lot more one-on-one time with me,” Carter said. “We’re able to work on it together, but they are missing out on having peer tutors, which is something we’re working on — but it’s not the same as being in a classroom.”
Gates has been working to get daily check-ins from her students and currently has packets out, rather than just having assignments online — but is working to turn her lessons into the virtual world.
“One of the struggles is getting the kids motivated outside of the classroom,” Gates said. “Some of them have turned into babysitters while their parents still have to go to work, so I’m trying to make it engaging so they’re wanting to learn and have the motivation to do it.”
Gates added this sudden move is helping students learn skills that they might not get on an average day in the classroom and helping prepare them for the real world.
“This is helping teach students adaptability,” Gates said. “It’s helping develop a work ethic in them that they’ll be able to take into their future jobs that they might not get in the regular classroom.”
Reach Katelin Gandee at kgandee@laurinburgexch.wpenginepowered.com.
