Page 28 - COVID Consortium Journal - An Edited Collection of Student Art and Writing

act. When Ms. Jensen, whose family
did thankfully recover, works during
the day, she often has one of her sons
sitting right next to her. “We feel for
families with multiple kids. Even
though there are two of us, some-
times I have to be with one kid one
on one, and he [her husband] has to
sit with a kid one on one to get any
work done, because they are not self
directed learners right now,” she said.

Cooking and food preparation
is a challenge, especially without the
meals that schools used to provide.
Erica Fontana, 6th grade English
teacher and mom of an eight and ten
year old, often prepares nine meals a
day, with her and her kids on different
6th grade teacher Erica Fontana’s online schedules and eating at differ-
daily family schedule, which helps
her balance teaching and parenting. ent times. Nailah Moonsammy, a 10th
Image by Erica Fontana. grade English teacher and mom of
Sammy, her nine year old, expressed
aged children with online school
work, keeping them occupied when a similar sentiment, “Samuel eats
they are not “in” school, and making so much food. I spend most of my
sure their kids get exercise. Ileana day working in the kitchen because
Solla, 8th grade science teacher and he eats four manly meals every day.
mom of a four and six year old, I cook a lot of ethnic food, too, so it
explained how most of her day is takes forever.”
spent multitasking: “Oftentimes I am
cleaning, grading, [doing] laundry,
and playing with the girls all at the
same time.”

For teachers, completing daily
virtual classroom obligations while
at the same time helping their own
kids with school work, proves to be Thai Sander’s four month old son.
a sometimes frustrating balancing Image by Thai Sanders.

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