In the first weeks of the Stay Home-Work from Home ordinance, San Antonio took a collective inhale and figured out how to make the new normal happen. Businesses adjusted accordingly, employees with jobs that could be done remotely carved out space in their homes to set up shop, employees with essential jobs learned new ways of interacting with people from a distance, individuals faced lay-offs and furloughs, and every educational institution across the board shifted from physical to virtual classrooms. Now, after almost a month, one of the many concerns bubbling to the surface for parents and caregivers is the responsibility of educating their children from home while managing their own stress.
On Thursday, April 16, the Chamber hosted Ravae Villafranca Shaeffer, coordinator of strategic partnerships and innovation at Education Service Center Region 20, for a signature webinar on Balancing Working and Schooling from Home.
“Every employer, friend, and colleague I’ve spoken to in the last few weeks has brought up the stress of educating from home while dealing with so many other demands right now. Through the Chamber’s Education and Workforce Development network, we knew we could provide real and practical information for our community grappling with this balance,” said Richard Perez, President and CEO of the San Antonio Chamber of Commerce. Shaeffer’s presentation began with grounding the audience in the fact that our community is not simply educating and working from home but doing so while in crisis. She explained that the jarring changes for children mean many things, including trauma, fear, loss of friends, frustration, sadness, and food and safety instability. Recognizing the emotional impact on children is an opportunity for parents and caregivers to embrace the positive aspects of this situation, such as freedom for children to explore, taking on passion projects, unstructured learning, and family and game time. “Your job is to love your child,” Shaeffer emphatically stated to the attendees.
While parents and caregivers may feel it is their responsibility to educate their children, Shaeffer urged adults to see themselves as partners in academic support. Keeping in touch with teachers and other school personnel that are involved with a student’s learning is also a critical action to take. Schools are learning everyday how to level up services and student outreach. Addressing the concern of children not getting as much focused academic time, she offered the following formula: # of years in age = # minutes students should be directly engaged with direct teaching, including lectures, videos, tutorials, and adult-led instruction. She assured the audience, “You are not teachers, do what you can. You will not break, harm or disassemble your child’s brain (or learning).”
Acknowledging that adults are going through a lot right now and may be overwhelmed with many other things, Shaeffer invoked the familiar flight safety instruction to “secure your oxygen mask first before assisting others.” Parents being attentive to their own self care needs is critical during this time. She recommended parents and caregivers carefully manage the expectations they put on themselves and their children. Since students no longer have the structure of a school day and activities to run through with parents, Shaeffer recommended engaging with children about their learning experiences while doing casual activities like walking around the neighborhood or setting the table are great ways to check-in and really hear what children are going through on a day-to-day basis.
Shaeffer punctuated her presentation with a call for parents and caregivers to think of what their children will remember about this time. She encouraged adults to observe the state of mind, body and spirit in their children and have open dialogue when things are off, “share your roses and thorns.” She concluded with advice from Serna Elementary School Principal, Jennifer Lomas, “Memories before math, relationships before reading, sanity before science & social studies. Do what your family needs.”
A copy of Ravae Shaeffer’s webinar and for resources from ESC Region 20 will be uploaded to our microsite at www.sachamberrapidresponse.org shortly. For information about ESC Region 20 and resources for adult self-care, parent and instructional resources visit https://tinyurl.com/ESC20Resources.
