Families Struggle With Learning From Home

Jennifer Norris
B, who asked to be identified only by her first initial so she could speak freely, said her husband has been out of town for job training since before school started, and won’t be back until October at the earliest. That leaves her juggling her two jobs and distance learning for her three children, as well as her neighbor’s kid. Her neighbor, a single mother, is unable to work from home and relies on B to be her son’s teacher and supervisor during the day.

“I don’t have more than 15 or 20 minutes between when another child should be doing something different,” B said. “I just run in circles for about seven hours.”

The four kids are all in different grades, and both B and her neighbor have complicated schedules. When the neighbor gets off work, she comes over to have dinner with the four kids and be with them while B leaves for her nursing job at a hospital. When B arrives back home at 11 p.m., she wakes up her neighbor who’s asleep on the couch, so she can go home, and the day is finally done.

“I’ve cried every day for the past two weeks,” said B, who has a master’s degree in nursing. “I’ve done a lot of hard things in my life, I feel like, but this takes the cake.”

In order to stay home with the kids during the day, B said she has had to reduce her hours as a nurse and begin virtual visits for her other health care job. B said she is grateful her employers have been flexible, but her income has suffered as a result.