How hard do you think distant learning is with multiple siblings?

Generally a person without siblings never  has to worry about this. They don’t bear the responsibilities of doing their classwork and making sure their siblings are doing theirs as well. It’s really difficult trying to listen to two different teachers at the same time in order to know what you and your sibling have to do for the remaining class time. You also need to make sure they are understanding and getting their work for the day before you can start your own.  I have three siblings plus myself in distant learning, now imagine how hectic that is.

Here is a typical day in my life: We have to wake up at 7 a.m, get our supplies, get our school places ready, and by the time we are done it’s time for two of my younger siblings to join their zoom meeting. This gives me and my older sibling time to fix up our areas and get ourselves ready. I can’t even begin to imagine all the other students that are in distance learning who are helping their siblings with little to no support. 

How are students supposed to succeed if they have no one there to support them? As in support I mean, moral support, supplies, a quiet space, and even WiFi to do their work. I saw a post a couple months back of two little kids sitting outside of places while completing their assignments because they had no WiFi at home. Now imagine how many other kids are doing the same thing all throughout the world. 

We need to have a better system with the school to where they can have enough to supply every kid on a roll sheet with a hotspot. I doubt they were the only ones without WiFi that day. The numbers of how many failed distant learning last school year were bad. Chavez Students received a No Mark in a total of 818 courses in the Spring semester.

The large number may be due to some kids being embarrassed to speak up about their internet situation, some kids just didn’t care, but what about the ones who really tried to find a stable internet connection and were unsuccessful. Students with unstable or not all together households tend to struggle more.

Now onto more stable households, obviously they are going to have it better. Students will not need to worry about walking places or finding a stable internet connection. They have adults that are there to help them and able to answer any questions they may have. They are there to wake them up and get them ready for the day. These students also receive reminders to get on their work done from their parents, and are able to connect with their teacher.

It has been a work in progress for my household in distance learning. My siblings and I all have our own spaces. My sister has her room, I go to mine, my little sister has her office, and my youngest sister is in the dining room. Our mom works 8-5 everyday and my dad’s schedule is mixed, so some days he’s able to help us, but most days not.  Luckily sometimes my older brother stops by to help with the younger ones.