First of all – Happy Mother’s Day! How lucky am I having more than one Mother’s Day in a year?! Half of our Italian family celebrates today. The other half will rejoice in two weeks again!

Homeschooling!

I wonder how are you doing? How do you feel and what is your state of mind? How it looked and maybe still looks at your home.

If and how do you prepare? Have you ever thought to find yourself in such an odd situation?

Are you coping with separation of mothering from teaching?

Will this state persist for a long time?

The day when the school became home and school became home, we did not realise how hard it is to become a teacher and teach someone. And what’s worse, teach our children without any theoretical preparation and no experience in the field of education.

Not every parent is a homeschooling professional. Not every person has innate predispositions to teach.

We started to think about the priorities and making decisions, what at this point is more important – your family’s well-being and mental health. Is it the main academic progress of your children, the principal, and the leading goal to achieve? How and if there is any possible solution to reconcile peaceful family life with the chaos of distant learning, teaching platforms? To maintain the flow in a low-stress time scheduling keeping your loved ones still smiling and willing to have some fun time once they close their Microsoft Teams?

How long will it last? Moreover how to minimise the increasing frustration level generated by prolonged screen time, and social distancing?

Oh, holly marmalade! All this is a massive amount of difficult questions at once.

And as you can imagine, I do not provide any universal answer at any of these! There is no unique solution, there are millions of singular cases that probably suffer from this enormously tricky situation, and I feel for them all. I have the same issues, and I have no idea home to cope with some of them. We learn by making mistakes. Unfortunately.

The worst and the best way to get out of this crazy grand slalom race for better tomorrow, reach the finish line with the least amount of damage and injury—mental sanity as a top priority. There is no other key to it!

On the other hand, there is teaching stuff and its conditions.
The role of the teacher is complicated because today becomes more and more questioned, socially misunderstood.

Teacher’s work is evaluated and monitored every day. Especially nowadays and regarding the current circumstances, a teacher has to deal with a lack of resources, large classes in online streams, small kids coping with technology, and virtual bureaucracy. Reality puts the teacher on the border between the skills and the need to be a social worker, psychologist, and missionary. And last but not least – mental health. The most crucial feature but so much underestimated and neglected.

The significant social, economic, technological, and cultural changes that changed our society in a short time force the educational institutions to rethink their duty. International education guidelines point to the need to change the teaching paradigm: teaching ‘how to learn’ has become a new guide value.

This priority puts teachers in front of meaningful challenges.
A competence challenge that requires the adoption of research-based learning conditions, problem-solving, laboratory, and projecting teaching.
A challenge of reality that requires the promotion of science. Not only theory but also the ability to face real life, promoting transversal skills.
Promotion of a cooperation approach – to recognise the non-individualistic but collaborative dimension of learning.

An old and already tired of being an unsatisfied ‘idea‘ that became a critical challenge – inclusion – requires integrating many values extra right now.
Hospitality and openness are not enough anymore. We need high competences to maneuver resources and maximise positive solutions skillfully. There need to be meaningful actions to combat the adverse effects of not meeting the needs of the increasing number of disabled individuals. To open our minds, shape our morality and ethics understanding to be welcoming regarding diversity. To fight against inequality and discrimination, especially when there is no one going in a battle for a good and noble reason.

Today, the need for a paradigmatic revolution is more urgent than in the past. In a short time, the transition started and completed.
We are a complex, technologically advanced, cosmopolitan, and globalised society.

What is my equation for not losing your mind?
All this uncertainty and volatility of the events lately do not facilitate our personal growth, do not make us see the road, and our destination, do not benefit our evolving. It’s confusing, weary, and not at all making it easy as individuals, still part of society. It’s time to reconsidering the priorities. Who is the most fragile in all this mess? Invest family quality time in creating a positive, healthy, and robust relationship.

Try to avoid additional stress and put energy, soul, and mind in shaping, bonding, and keeping the family unit in harmony. Reduce any screen and digital-related events and find ways to spend time together working on life skills and basic knowledge. Teach whilst playing and they will follow.

Show your kids that they do not necessarily have to rely on what’s offered by external sources. They can grow food and take care of basic needs learning and practicing. Teach them how to be able to reduce, reuse, and recycle adding an explanation of why it’s so hugely relevant.

Do whatever gives a beneficial outcome not only for themselves but for all.
And do not focus on a crazy, speeding, and looping rat race of academic progressing via humanless, disappointing, unequal, and falling apart asocial schooling formula.

There is no option to replace the student-teacher relationship with any educational platform. More importantly, a family relationship is not worth to be damaged by the racing and uneven school surrogate.