Are you a working mom?  Are you a homeschool teacher & mom?  Are you struggling to balance your work, your kids’ work, take care of yourself, your partner, and your house, all at the same time?  I sure am trying to do it all, but I am failing miserably at all of the above.  I shouldn’t really say I am failing because everything is a work in progress, but I just don’t feel like I am doing well at one particular thing or area.  What is the secret to successfully balancing it all?  I guess the reality is… there’s no secret.  It’s all so damn hard!

Yes, the college I work at is closed to those not considered essential, and all classes and services have moved online, but my position is a 12-month position.  That means I have to work all summer.  There are programs, events, services, and other work that needs to be done.  And now that everything is online, everything seems to be that much harder.  But thankfully, the people in my department are all hardworking, kindhearted, and supportive.  We are doing everything in our power to keep supporting the students, the faculty, and the staff both on and off-campus.  And, in between doing all of that, we are working on completing our 10 page departmental Summer To-Do List.

Moreover, I have found it hard to get all of my work done during the day in between all the Zoom and Teams meetings.  And for those of us still considered essential personnel, we are the kind of people who thrive on interaction with others.  We want to talk to each other when we come across others in their space.  So, completing your work for the day can be difficult.  Just because students aren’t living on campus in the summertime, doesn’t always mean we are able to get massive amounts of work done in a day.  Plus we have several students both on and off-campus who don’t have a central home to go home to, so they have stayed on campus or in their off-campus apartments.

In between my Zoom and Teams meetings, and the work that needs to be done that day, there are still two kids at home who are relying on me and their father to help guide and support them with their school assignments, zoom classes, etc.  YES, the kids are old enough and capable of doing some of the work on their own, but they are still children and they need direction and intervention.  I am so thankful that I don’t teach classes anymore (not that I taught in the summer anyway), there would be no way K2, KAM, and I would be able to manage all of that at home, in the same space, and all on the WiFi together.

And just when I begin to think, there is an end in sight, I look at K2’s school calendar and find that they don’t finish school until the end of June.  I just don’t know how much longer any of us can keep doing this.  The school work they are being taught now is all brand NEW material.  KMM is in Spanish Immersion and my Spanish is only as good as Google Translate.  KEM is in 7th grade and has 4 subjects to work on.  There is no way teachers can glean from a virtual class session, in 60 minutes, that the kids are lost.  Kids at both of their ages should not have to be teaching themselves.  Then add in the curveball of the Common Core!  KAM and I are not stupid; we have a total of 4 degrees between the two of us.  We can barely understand how K2 do Common Core math, and now we need to figure out how to help them.

Could things be worse?  Yes, they could be much worse.

Are we lucky to be in the situation we are in with both of us having a job and having a consistent income?  Yes, of course.

But, that doesn’t make anything any easier on the kids, me, or their father.

And ever since COVID-19 hit the United States, I find myself praying every single day that there will be a resolution to all of this… and soon.