Did you become a teacher recently (without signing up to be one)? You're not alone.
For at least two weeks now, parents across the country have been tasked with homeschooling their kids due to the closing of schools amid the coronavirus pandemic. When asked how they're handling it, most families described it as 'frustrating'.
“We tried to make it work the first week. We put together a schedule, and what we found is that forcing a child who is that young into a fake teaching situation is really, really hard,” said Alexandra Nicholson, a parent of a kindergartener in Boston.
It's even tougher if the parent has multiple children in different grades...
In some cases, older siblings have been put in charge of the homeschooling while the parent works.
“I think the pressure is on and I think it’s on even more for some of our low-income families. It’s totally overwhelming,” said Rachel Pearl, chief program officer for Friends of the Children, a nonprofit that pairs mentors with at-risk children. “A lot of our families already feel they’re not doing enough when they are working so hard and I fear they will fear they are failing at it.”
According to a poll by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, if a household earns less than $50,000 annually, they are more likely to be concerned about their child falling behind academically as compared to households with higher incomes.
“We don’t have the luxury right now to not be working. Some people aren’t working at all and they can make time to do this stuff, but that for us is just not an option,” said Perrone, a parent who lives in Pennsylvania.
Are you having a hard time teaching from home? Tweet us your experience @johnandkenshow.
Check out the full story on NBC4.