Starting Monday, many parents of young kids in metro Atlanta will join the ranks of homeschoolers.
With schools shut down over concerns about the coronavirus, parents like Pamela Faletra of Woodstock will have to figure out how to juggle working from home while their kids study from home. The new educational paradigm will likely be toughest on hourly workers forced to choose between work and childcare, and lower income students who might not have the digital tools of their peers.
But it likely won’t be easy on anyone new to distance learning, as many school districts put it.
Faletra, a former teacher who runs a catering business out of her home, has six children, three of whom are still in grade school. Her oldest is a teacher who will be managing her own remote lesson plans for her pupils.
Two others are in college and Faletra’s three youngest range from third to 12th grades. They’ll all be jostling for computers and internet bandwidth — not to mention some peace and quiet to think — while stuck at home for at least the next few weeks.
Faletra said she and her husband will have to figure out how to keep the kids on track while she runs her business and he works from home.
“Each one of the schools has put the students on virtual learning days for two weeks,” she said. Then comes the regularly scheduled spring break for Cherokee and many other local school systems.
But if concerns about the spread of the virus linger, Faletra said, she fears the situation could last far longer.
Faletra said she doesn’t worry about her kids adapting. They use technology at school and to turn in assignments over the web during the school year.
But in between online lectures, papers and third-grade math for her youngest, Faletra said she’ll also have to keep her kids’ spirits high and occasionally mend hurt feelings. One daughter, a senior at Agnes Scott College, is worried graduation and job fairs might be canceled, while her son in eighth grade wants to stay fit for high school football tryouts. His school’s gym and track also are closed.
“It’s going to be tricky,” Faletra said.
Susan Chana, a communications executive at Emory University, has three kids, aged 2 to 15. She’ll be working, while also making sure her kids aren’t in front of a screen all day.
Chana’s oldest, Spencer, 15, attends St. Pius X Catholic High School, and his school will conduct online instruction. Her middle son, Drake, 6, was sent home with worksheets to complete. The daycare of her 2-year-old, Nydia, closed, and keeping a toddler occupied is its own full-time gig.
“I’m just going to have to be creative,” she said.
Chana’s oldest son can help wrangle the little ones. Neighbors have offered to watch her kids for short periods so she can finish work and she said she’s offered to return the favor.
Chana said she hopes to get her kids outdoors to a park where they can enjoy fresh air and sunshine while keeping a safe distance from others.
Tracy Coffie of Dunwoody has another challenge.
The mother of 19-year-old triplets and an executive at staffing firm Accountants One, said her college freshmen children are home after their universities suspended classes.
Though her kids are grown and can fend for themselves, the weight of isolating for a pandemic takes an emotional toll, she said.
“The way the four of us have decided to deal with it is what’s your project for the day,” she said. One son plans to build a compost enclosure. Another plays the guitar. Coffie’s daughter is an artist.
But Coffie and her siblings also help look after their parents, who in their 80s are most vulnerable to the coronavirus.
Coffie said she plans to continue cooking for her parents, and will stay in constant contact, but she’s wary of risking physical contact.
“We’ve had scares but never anything where the entire world is about to shut down,” she said.
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