Over the past month and a half, COVID-19 has consumed my days and nights more than I would like to admit. As a single mom of five, I am no stranger to worry.
But this worry is different. The thought of spreading or bringing home something that could be deadly is frightening. I worry about my family and friends. And I worry that my friends are under an unusual amount of stress from having to wear extra hats during a global pandemic. I worry how that will affect them in the long run. I’ve been schooling my children at home for three years and worry often if I am enough for them.
When I found out that parents were going to be thrust into serving as home educators while managing so many emotions during a time of uncertainty, I knew some parents would feel like they were inadequate and blame themselves for not being able to pull it off. I read stories on social media about how parents were overwhelmed by the thought of having to teach their children, work from home and provide their children with therapeutic support.
Moms were concerned their children were going to fall behind and often spoke of wanting to keep their kids on track academically. I saw copies of the educational packets their teachers sent home. Everyone spoke of chaos and confusion. Parents were upset and frustrated. Teachers were pressured because they had never been in a situation like this before, either.
I am a single mom of five children. My oldest daughter is 24 and has made a home for herself in Sandusky, Ohio. My four younger children were adopted from the foster care system in Allegheny County. All of my children have special education and mental health needs, which can be challenging under normal conditions, but especially with homeschooling in the mix. But we’ve made it work.
I work for Instacart as a personal shopper, which allows me to work around our normally chaotic schedule, but because two of my children have medically complex needs, I am choosing not to work to avoid the risk of exposure to COVID-19 in stores. I also put together resources and topic-based curriculum packages for families of elementary schoolers, mainly for an African American single mom homeschool group that I run. While it’s work, I do it free of charge (though I accept donations).
“When I saw the crisis so many of my fellow parents were thrown into, I wanted to offer peace and love to them,” writes Leah Walker, who homeschools four children. (Photo by Ryan Loew/PublicSource)
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