Anxiety inducing comment on the amazing @debperelman piece in the Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/02/business/covid-economy-parents-kids-career-homeschooling.html?referringSource=articleShare&fbclid=IwAR3TQRfbIQ7EkgtFM2iFsUtwkeae1ej0nQPZtmWkDbUlYypgM9tzYtIkWuE

I've worked from home while homeschooling/caring my kids for their entire lives. It took years of training and growing up for them to amuse themselves without me (and I provided sibling after sibling as company). It took years for me to find a job and a balance to flexibly work.

I spent years researching homeschool curriculums that fit our needs and wants and I was not tied to Zoom and someone else's schedule to make it work. (I am fully convinced that "school on Zoom" is more complicated than parents taking it over and doing it themselves.)

But you have to spend an extraordinary amount of time picking that curriculum that works for your needs and wants. Planning a homeschool year takes time and that's not exactly what people have while they're also trying to work full-time jobs for home while caring for kids.

We chose our last two places based on these needs too. We chose places with lots of outdoors space, etc where kids could run around unsupervised so I could work. It took A LOT of advanced planning to have space that fits these needs that we anticipated before 2020.

All of this is saying: Hi, I am a homeschooling and working (PART TIME! KEY PART!) parent and I am here to validate parents who have suddenly and unwillingly been thrust into this experience, but without the advanced planning, desire, etc.

This is not possible. This is bullshit.

I've seen people saying "ah well YOU do it!" as if to say that everyone should be and can. And no, I have 1,000 different advantages that parents who were thrust into this don't. Also, I WORK VERY PART TIME. Can't stress that enough.

A lot of working parents have been asking me for help and tips and I don't have a lot of answers for them because they involve time travel machines where they ramp up to this for years. Y'all were put in the fast lane, in a lane I don't even occupy, and it's not fair.

I keep being asked why I, a homeschooling mother, am SO outspoken about opening schools full-time in person. In part, it's because I know it is what is best for kids. But in part, it's because I have a very good window into the hamster wheel parents are on & it's not sustainable.