Brave Little State: Tips From A Homeschooling, Remote-Working Mom
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Hello, But Why listeners. This is producer Melody Beaudet. Today we've got something a little different for you in between episodes, something for you and your adults to listen to together. We're going to share an episode of a different podcast from Vermont Public Radio. It's called Brave Little State, and it's kind of like But Why for adults. It takes questions about life in Vermont and finds answers.

We know that many of you are experiencing some changes now that schools in lots of states and countries are closed to slow the spread of COVID-19.

For some families, like mine, this is the first time you've had to try to do something like school at home. But others of you might do homeschooling all the time, and you've probably got some great advice for families who are new to this routine. Brave Little State is hosted by Angela Evansy, and this episode starts with a conversation between her and another VPR reporter, Emily Corwin. We hope you enjoy it.

Hello, Emily Corwin. Hey, Angela. So it's time for some real talk. Things right now are really crazy. They are. We are both at home recording in our closets and under giant blankets. And we were supposed to bring you listeners an episode today about homeschool regulations and

Emily, you were working on this. It was almost done. It was. But it's clear that this moment is calling for something very different. This week, the governor closed Vermont schools and a lot of parents essentially became homeschool parents or something similar. So we're sticking with the homeschooling theme, but apologies to original question asker Sue LaRue. We're going to shift gears to focus on this situation a lot of parents are facing right now.

That is to say, maybe you've got kids home from school, maybe you're working from home too, and somehow you've got to make it all work. Hi, Sarah. It's Matthew Smith at VPR. I'm here with Holly and Emily Corwin. Our colleague Matthew Smith is still at VPR Studios. He's a producer with Vermont Edition.

Okay. Great. So, Emily, I'm recording on this end just as a backup. Perfect. Yeah. So Matt patched me through to two women who've been friends for 28 years since they were freshmen in high school. Holly Friot in Berry and Sarah Blondin in Worcester. Holly is a veteran homeschool parent who simultaneously works from home as a legislative analyst and church school director.

Sarah is a financial advisor. She usually works at an office and sends her kids to public school. Until this week. Real quick, let me get a mic check for everyone. Emily, your breakfast this morning, please. Oh, I had yogurt and granola. All right, Sarah, can I have your breakfast, please? I had a bowl of kicks. And Holly, your breakfast, please. Coffee. Coffee. Coffee. Coffee.

So a little about these two. Holly homeschools her two daughters. I'm Amelia and I'm in fifth grade. I'm Olivia and I'm in second grade. And now Sarah is home with her two kids. My name is Jordan and I am nine years old. My name is Christian and I'm seven years old. While Sarah does her own work, she needs to make sure her kids stay on track with their schoolwork. We thought, why not put these two friends on the phone with each other?

and let Sarah pick Holly's brain for tips navigating her new reality. We also asked their kids for a little help. So, without further ado... From Vermont Public Radio... From Vermont Public Radio, this is Brave Little State. This is Brave Little State. Today, an episode about homeschooling. In the age of coronavirus.

A conversation between our mom, Holly, and my mom, Sarah. We have support from the VPR Innovation Fund. Welcome. Do either of you have any questions before we get started? I don't think so. I'm not going to trip you up, am I, Holly? We'll see. I know, uncharted territory. While Matt records a backup, Holly and Sarah record themselves with their iPhones. Hashtag social distancing.

All right. So my first question for you, Holly, is just to sort of focus on our younger children. So my seven-year-old is definitely strong-willed, and I'm most concerned in this new environment of homeschooling on how I'm going to minimize our battles. So that would be the first place I would want to start in this conversation. Sure. Well, let me preface this just a little bit by saying that

You know, even for homeschoolers, this is sort of a new world for us too. And my kids that we're never home this much, you know, so even for me, I'm finding that the tried and true needs some changes these days. So, so anyway, when you're doing whatever the schools are wanting you to do, take a lot of breaks. That's, I think like, you know, the really young ones, they're

maybe can handle a few minutes of doing some concentrated schoolwork. Some kids might really love it, but I know your son and my daughter need some time to like move around and just get some of their wiggles out and snacks are another big one. I think that when I see my youngest sort of starting to melt down and needing some extra time

Sometimes she's just needing food, you know, honestly. It's like just have some chill time and have something to eat and get your mind off of doing school. And I think the biggest one probably is just that

I think for any kid in any grade, most of the homeschoolers who I know aren't sitting down and doing lessons from like 9 to 3, you know, which the kids don't in school either. There's a lot of transitions and a lot of downtime. And so there's just a lot of getting up and moving around in general. So don't expect that, you know, you're going to have like a 9 to 3 day where your kids are focusing on school.

That helps a lot with sort of like the either strong-willed children or younger children. Let's talk a little bit about our older kids because I know our older kids are both similar in age. Mine is almost 10 and yours is almost 11. And they, you know, correct me if I'm wrong, I would define both of them as sort of more independent learners and they can take on more work.

So my question is, how do you know when it's enough or how to like, how do I challenge my daughter but not expect too much or put too much stress on her? Oh, gosh, that's a stumper, Sarah. I'm sorry. Let me think. You know,

I guess the first thing is if you were a full-time, all-the-time homeschooler, I would answer this question maybe differently for you. I think the best thing I would say to this is, number one, you know, just do, if your teachers have sent work home, do that. Reach out to them for support. And if there's further, you know, I'll put in quotes, work,

that you want to do with your children, ask them what their interests are. And, you know, maybe they have something that they've really wanted to learn about for a long time. And this is the perfect opportunity to like take a deep dive into something fun for them and explore. And, you know, maybe that means going outside and studying some things in nature or, you know,

doing what you can around the house and while we're sort of all on our own. So I think that's, that's what I would say at this point for this. Great. So what about your daily schedule? Do you try to follow some sort of a structure? Yes. For my family and for a lot of families, I know if you're doing schoolwork and particularly for the younger kids,

do it in the morning. A lot of times, you know, if you're trying to do a lot of stuff after lunchtime, they just, their energy just isn't there anymore. So definitely for the younger kiddos and by younger, I mean eight or nine and younger, and maybe even some 10 or 11 year olds, that morning time is going to be when you're really doing your work. For my family, it's

We get up in the morning. Everybody has breakfast. And for our family, my kids really love me reading to them. So after breakfast, we'll put dishes away and everything. And then we'll have some time where we're sitting on the couch together and I'm reading a chapter, you know, in a book to them.

And then after we do that, we sort of break up into doing our individual work. And after we're done work,

We have dogs, so their job is to take the dogs out in the yard and play with them and have a walk. And that's sort of, for me, when I check messages, I get back to people on emails. Maybe I'll do a quick little bit of work while I can and then sort of get lunch going. And so after lunch...

Um, is usually we'll have a little free time downtime or they can just sort of do whatever they want. Um, and then after that, often my older daughter, um, who's 10, almost 11, um, she's sort of gotten to the point where, um,

A lot of the stuff that she does for school, like she can do some more work in the afternoon. And usually that, you know, I'll say work and say that sometimes that involves research. And maybe that research means something she's actually doing right now is a project on animals and animals.

about their behavior socially and she's picked bees. So later this afternoon, she is watching a documentary on bees. And in that time, having some quiet time in the afternoon, especially if all of your kids are younger, if it's possible,

And I know I can think of mom friends I know who are like totally laughing at me right now because sometimes getting the kids to do that is a huge struggle. You're just thinking, right, yeah, that's not going to happen. But I found for me that, you know, setting up something quiet for even 10 minutes, you

sometimes they were able to get into whatever they were doing. And some days it lasted longer and some days, yeah, the quiet time is, you know, doesn't work out. Yeah, I think that's really helpful.

So all the homeschooling stuff sounds very doable and interesting, but the reality is I'm still expected to fit in an eight-hour workday on top of that. So I would love to sort of hear how you manage that with just fitting in your job and what's expected of you for work responsibilities.

I wish, first of all, there was a magical answer to that. I know that people listening are probably hoping that there is. I can tell you there's not, unfortunately. You know, if you're trying to fit in an eight-hour day and that you're home educating, you know, your kids and just managing, I mean, not even adding educating your kids onto that, even if you're just home with your kids, you

and you're trying to make breakfast and make lunch and, um, you know, let the dogs out and all the things that come with being home, there are a massive amount of interruptions, um, in your day now. So the way I get my work done, um, is honestly a lot of early mornings, a lot of late nights, um,

And I prefer to work at night more. Actually, I'm more of a night owl. So which means sometimes I sleep in a little later. And if you're able to do that in this environment, I think go for it. I mean, do what you can do to make it work. If you're in a situation, I think, where you need to be available during the day, you

Um, I, I'm not a big proponent of, of media and like screen time myself, but, um, you know, there's days that I've had to turn to that too. Sometimes, you know, maybe you put an educational, um, movie on for the afternoon or, you know, let's face it, maybe a non-educational movie for the afternoon. Um, just so you can get some work done and get a few hours in, um, flexibility, I think is the key word for all of us. Um, yeah.

So I was going to ask you if there's anything that you've learned along the way that would save me from learning the hard way. Oh, gosh. Some of the things I do during the day are my kids get one glass that they use during the day, and it's their responsibility to wash it out because otherwise –

They are just loading my sink and everywhere with dishes, and it just turns into a disaster and mess really quickly. The one glass a day, I might have to use that. And I think this is easier as the weather's getting nicer. Get them outside, you know, just because we're trying to, you know, kind of stay away from folks a little bit these days. You can still go outside, and I find...

I found this when my girls were young and I find this now that they're getting a little older. If you're having a rough time, just going outside. And even if people are really resistant to taking a walk or doing anything active outside, just getting some fresh air sometimes really just changes the scene and, you

I think my other advice would be to take care of yourself. I just think of like, you know, when you're on an airplane and they tell you to put your oxygen mask on before others. I think as work from home parents, it's stressful. You're trying to answer to other people and get work done. You might be staying up late or waking up early. If you can rest, definitely.

rest a little bit. I mean, sometimes the laundry is secondary to your sanity or always maybe. Thanks so much for listening to the show. And thanks to Holly, Sarah, Amelia, Olivia, Jordan, and Christian for helping the cause and recording themselves at home. This episode was produced by Emily Corwin and Angela...

Thanks very much to the sustaining members who support our work.

I'm Angela Evansy. We'll be back soon. And remember, be brave. Ask questions. From PR.