More and more areas are implementing lockdowns, community quarantine or stay home policies because of the coronavirus pandemic. Because of this, there are more school closures. Schools and teachers started using online apps and means to reach their students. Many parents are asked to suddenly homeschool their kids.

Homeschooling is not easy. Homeschooling needs preparation and discipline. Sudden homeschooling due to COVID-19 is not really homeschooling. A lot of those saying that they are homeschooling now are simply bringing the school set-up at home. Therefore, I am not surprised that many parents are having a hard time homeschooling now.

I have homeschooled all of our three children since birth. I am now homeschooling three children of various ages and grade levels. But I did not homeschool three children right away. There was a time when I was only homeschooling one child. That was when I was homeschooling our eldest child. So, I had some practice and experience in homeschooling before I gave birth to our second child. Then, another three years before I gave birth to our third child.

So, if you are a parent who is suddenly teaching multiple children now because of the pandemic, don’t be too hard on yourself. It’s natural to be overwhelmed and to struggle.

My children and I are blessed because this pandemic and our community quarantine happened when we were already wrapping up our formal or structured homeschool lessons. And since we are really homeschooling and not bringing home school work, I have declared that our last day of class was last March 31.

You see, I have the authority to decide when we have classes and when we don’t. I have the authority and freedom to choose what to teach my children and what activities they will do as part of their lessons. I have the authority to say when our classes will officially start and end for the school year.

In the past, I didn’t give my children any grades. We were independent homeschoolers. But last school year, I have decided to get a homeschool provider or partner school for our accreditation. Thus, for the first time in their lives and as a parent-teacher, I will give grades to my two older children. As of this writing, submitting their grade is what is left for me to do.

I’m writing this blog post to help fellow parents who are suddenly homeschoolers due to the lockdowns.

I’d like to share with you the most important lessons that we need to teach our kids or our children during this time.

TEACH YOUR CHILDREN THAT THERE IS A GOD.

Teach your children that there is a God. That this God is a God of love and mercy. He does not delight in the sufferings of His children.

Teach them that God is more powerful than any disease. That God is our Healer.

Teach them that God is with us even in our challenges and sufferings. They may not see Him like the COVID-19 virus. But He is present, everpresent to us all, both in good and bad times.

Teach them that God is our Provider. He will provide for our needs.

Teach them that God is faithful.

Teach them that He is our Protector and our shield.

Teach them that He listens to our prayers and answers them. Sometimes not in the way we want Him to but He always answers our prayers. Sometimes, His answer is no or wait.

Teach them to pray to Him. Teach them to persevere in prayer.

Teach them that God is in control, even when things seem so bad. Teach them that sometimes, God allows bad things to happen. But God can and will work things for the good of those who love Him.

Teach them that God makes all things beautiful in His time.

Teach them to believe in God’s only Son, Jesus Christ, who came to save us from our sins, so that they will not perish but have eternal life.

TEACH THEM THAT LIFE IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN ANYTHING ELSE IN THIS WORLD.

Teach them that their life is a gift from God and that their life is precious. Therefore, they should treasure it and take care of it. Protect it. They should keep themselves safe and healthy.

Teach them that their life, our lives, are more important than money, possessions, awards or achievements, popularity, prestige, position, grades or academics. Life is more important than work or school.

Teach them that money can be earned again. Grades can improve. Contests and awarding or graduation ceremonies can be postponed.

But life can never be postponed. And once you lose your life, you cannot get it back again.

When we are healthy, we can work or study again. We can pursue our passions again. We can dream of achieving our goals and dreams again and work hard to attain them.

My two older kids had important events coming up this year or in the coming months before this pandemic happened or even started.

My eldest son passed the audition to the World Championship of Performing Arts that was supposed to happen in the USA in July 2020. But we have decided to back out when we learned that there is an epidemic. It was not yet declared a pandemic when we informed the organizers that we will not push through. We requested for our payment to be refunded.

I told my eldest son that his health and his life is more important than this event, his dream or this opportunity. I told him that he is still young and that he will have more opportunities ahead of him if he is healthy and strong.

My second child was also supposed to join several chess tournaments. We were also thinking of helping him prepare for the Palarong Pambansa either in chess or karate or both. He was a finalist in a chess tournament that is scheduled in May.

I told him the same things that I told his older brother. I told him that while there is a threat to our health and lives, he will not join chess tournaments in the meantime.

Both of my two older children are chess players/athletes. I told them that we will only resume joining tournaments when there are no more epidemics or pandemics happening.

I told them that their lives are more important than their achievements or the awards that they will get from joining these competitions.

I told them that my love for them and their worth will not be diminished whether they win awards or not. That their identity is not tied to these awards or achievements.

NOW, what is important is that we protect our lives and live our lives in the way that God wants us to.

I’m so glad that my children understood and were still happy even after I told them about my decision.

They did not insist on joining. They simply accepted it.

My eldest cried out of disappointment. He was really excited to go to the US to compete and represent the Philippines as a pianist. It was going to be a dream come true. He was supposed to parade with performers around the world at Disneyland. But he had to let the dream go… for now.

I told him that maybe this is not yet the time for him to fulfill that dream. That this may not be the year for that dream to be realized. But it doesn’t mean that it will not happen anymore. I told him that as long as he is still alive, that dream can still happen.

After crying for a day, he moved on and became happy and hopeful again.

My second child didn’t even cry. He simply let go of the great opportunities he could have participated in.

I thank God for the wisdom He gave my children to accept and embrace these changes. They did not throw tantrums. They did not resist.

They were resilient, especially my eldest. he bounced back right away. In fact, he continued serving in the Mass as the pianist in our parish days before the community quarantine or lockdown was announced in our area. he only stopped serving when it was already declared unsafe for everyone to still attend Masses.

They may be young but they understood and knew that their worth and identity are not based on achievements. That their lives are more important than any or many medals they could have won from joining competitions.

That’s why they are not desperate to prove their worth by putting their lives at risk and insisting on joining competitions even when there is an epidemic or pandemic.

How many adults know this and live this out?

TEACH YOUR CHILDREN SURVIVAL SKILLS.

I have mentioned that we were independent homeschoolers from the start and that we only got a homeschool provider last school year when my eldest child was already in Grade 5. He will be in Grade 6 this coming school year.

I have prioritized life skills or survival skills in our homeschool curriculum. I made sure that only relevant lessons would be part of our lessons and activities. I don’t want to waste our time.

I wrote a blog post about our home economics lessons here.

Teach your children household chores. Teach them to clean their room and your house.

Teach them how to cook.

Teach them how to plant so they can grow their food.

Teach them how to preserve food.

Teach them how to budget money. Teach them how to distinguish between needs and wants.

Teach them how to save and invest for the rainy days or emergencies.

Teach them independence and interdependence. Teach them how to be self-sufficient. But teach them also that no man is an island.

Teach them collaboration and interpersonal skills. In this time of great emergency, collaboration helps solve problems faster.

TEACH YOUR CHILDREN TO USE THEIR TIME WISELY.

Our children may be young but not all young people get to grow old.

Even young children were not spared by the coronavirus. There were babies, young children and youth infected and killed by the virus. No one was spared. The virus does not discriminate.

Teach your children that tomorrow is not guaranteed. That we do not know when our life here on earth would end. Only God knows that. Therefore, we should not waste our time doing foolish or unimportant things. Instead, we should live deliberately or intentionally. That way, when it is our time to die, we would not have regrets or plenty of regrets.

Teach them that one way to live their lives to the full is by using their time, knowledge, talent and skills to help at home and to help others outside your home.

Teach them that one of the best uses of their time is to use it to make other people happy. In the end, it will also make them happy.

Teach them that one strategy to a full and successful life is to live each day of their lives as if it were their last. With that kind of mindset, one will be forced to think of what really matters to them. Thus, one would be thinking of using their time only on what really matters to them and with who really matters to them.

TEACH YOUR CHILDREN TO BE RESPONSIBLE AND COMPASSIONATE.

Teach your children to look outside of themselves and outside of your family. Teach them to look at the needs of the other people in your community and even the bigger community, the world.

Teach them how to be compassionate human beings. Teach them to show concern and sensitivity.

Teach them to be responsible. Responsibility is first taught and learned at home. One of the best ways to teach this at home is by giving your children age-appropriate chores.

Require them to pitch in no matter how small.

Teach them that their choices, words, and actions have consequences and that they should be responsible for the consequences of these.

Don’t stress too much about your children’s schoolwork. That can wait.

Remember that what is most important during this pandemic is for your family to survive, to remain healthy (in body, mind, heart and spirit) and not to get sick. Everything else is secondary.

If you want tips on activities that you can do as a family, I recommend that you read my previous post titled 7 Activities Families Can Do Together During a Lockdown.

I hope this post helps lessen your stress and helps you to be kinder to yourself and to your children during this pandemic.

If you need coaching and counseling on homeschooling or homeschooling while working from home, just send me an email at teresa@fulllifecube.com. You can find my rates and the details of my coaching packages in our online shop. Just click here.

If you are considering homeschooling as an option for your child but unsure how to start and need help and support, feel free to join the Homeschooling Parents Support Group PH on Facebook. You can ask me questions there.