Some mothers have taken e-learning to great levels with cooking lessons and gardening included. I’m NOT that mom. I barely made it through e-learning, and I’m pretty sure I had a glass of wine to celebrate the last day.
Now that e-learning is complete; I am faced with all but one of the activities planned for my son’s summer being canceled. Although I understand that video gaming online with his friends is his only connection to his pre-pandemic world, I don’t want him mindlessly playing video games all summer. I also want to keep him learning and moving. Like the rest of the parents across the country, I’m unsure of what the upcoming school year will look like, and I’m definitely concerned about brain drain.
The one activity that was not canceled for my son was the Center for leadership development Imani Book club. Instead, it was converted to a virtual book club meeting once weekly via zoom. This will keep him reading for at least 6 weeks.
He is also taking a few courses on Outschool. There are all sorts of available online courses from knitting to math with kids all over the world enrolled in classes. He immediately chose one on how to improve his Fortnite skills. I, of course, encouraged him to choose a few different ones. So far, he has taken a time management class and is looking forward to an endangered species class.
My son is an athlete and will participate in any team sport if given the opportunity. His love is for football, but he has played basketball, ran track, and was going to try his hand at lacrosse this spring. I thought it was important to keep him moving so when his gym Genesis Sports Performance offered zoom virtual training sessions, we jumped right on it. He was able to complete the workouts with things around the house. When the weather was bad outside, he was able to do the workout indoors. He is anxiously awaiting the return to in-person workouts.
My son struggles in math and probably for good reason because math was always my worst subject in school. I’m not the best person to help him with math. Now that e-learning is over, he doesn’t have that daily math lesson that he very much needs. I have started him in math tutoring not only to address some of his math deficiency but to try not to lose the gains that he has made this school year.
A year from now, no matter what happens with how schools reopen in the fall, if they reopen at all, my son will be heading to high school. I know there will be some gaps that all children will have but for children like my son who struggle with some subjects or already have learning gaps I worry it may be even harder for them to recover. This is why it is important for parents to find something academic for their children to participate in this summer.