In March, the world was transformed into learning a new reality due to Covid-19. Many were faced with job-loss, wearing a mask and quarantining. One extremely big change was school being out and switching to virtual learning.
While adjusting to the surrounding new change, many families have also had to adjust having their kids be in school while at home. Some parents are able to work from home, but that isn’t always the case for others who are back at work.
According to an article by The Washington Post, a poll asked “What do you think your child’s school/children’s schools should offer students this fall?” 39% voted on all online instruction. A mix of in-person and online instruction had a 44% vote and 16% for all in-person classes.
Christina Rodriquez of Camarillo, shared how she has adjusted to her new reality by keeping an organized and detailed white board of her kids schedule.
The full-time working mother of six shared that her son, who is now a first grader “struggles so bad with reading and writing, because his last half of his kindergarten year, they were trying to teach him how to read and write over a computer,” Rodriquez said.
Rodriquez then explained “its basically on the parents, they have to set aside that time and a lot of parents can’t do that.”
Rodriquez shared she has been one of the very few who enjoy having her all of her kids home and in school via Zoom. The optimistic mother has kept scheduling very structured which has benefited her and her family.
For her senior in high school, “he is hopeful the second half of school he will be there and get to have a ceremony and have somewhat of a normal senior year” Rodriquez said.
Naturally, she is “bummed” about not having senior ball and prom.
For incoming students that are going to a university, one student who is attending Cal state Northridge, Jozea Lopez explained “it has been an adjustment trying to meet professors and join clubs via Zoom.”
With a major in deaf studies “it has been difficult to make friends in a university, especially to study with,” Lopez shared.
According to a statistic on Insidehighered.com, 6% of college students who were attending a university contracted the virus.
Many other universities have also switched to virtual learning including California Polytechnic State University (Cal Poly) which is where Anthony Marin is a student majoring in history.
“School has been hard trying to figure out how professors teach via Zoom as well as trying to figure out how their websites work,” 23-year-old Marin shared.
While school remains at home, the Cal Poly student also explained the struggle of trying to figure out his new university while online and having to explain the difficulty of learning through a computer screen.
As the new semester approached, high hopes arose for the incoming transfer to make new friends.
“I have no friends. It’s hard to make friends through Zoom and even harder to do group projects through a computer screen,” Marin explained.
Marin hopes as COVID-19 numbers drop, schools will go back to normal, especially universities. He expressed his disappoint by stating “I didn’t picture my university experience being from my home.”
