In my previous post, I talked about using flags to help communicate in our house while we practice social distancing. The Orange flag is when the kids must be quiet because I am in “time-out” – on a teleconference. See post 2. In the ever-changing dynamic home learning environment that we find ourselves in, we are constantly learning what it means to be flexible and supportive.

Through a community effort between internet suppliers and the local school system, we have started on-line learning for my kid’s classes. I can seriously understand how parents are feeling overwhelmed. 17 classes between all 3 kids that were all coming online using different teaching methods, Google Classroom, Edmodo, Remind, Padlet, Infinite campus, and the list goes on.

PAUSE – Mommy moment: My brain was exploding, images of missed assignments, kids fighting devices, bandwidth, not to mention passwords, locked accounts, no help to unlock, nevermind my own inadequacies to interpret everything from 6th-grade math to College English poetry, and Physics. Sweat was literally beading up on my forehead. My blood pressure was rising. (felt like Sanford and Son, this is the big one!) Engineer to the rescue! – Organization Mode – Activate! I remembered at some point I had a whiteboard calendar in the house for an origination attempt fail. I drug it out of a forgotten corner of our attic and pooled our dry erase markers. Instant calming effect. Zen moment! Crisis Adverted.

In true #TeamJackson style, I pulled the kiddos together to admire my find. They were as excited as a bowl of limp noodles. I shared my thoughts that while they had a school agenda, a visual board help might help ensure they have every class accounted for, it would be easy for something to slip through the cracks. (yes, I said the word crack which led to butt jokes – I have teenage boys – it happens)

As a mom, I needed peace of mind that we weren’t dropping any classwork because there are so many communication modes. Let me be clear. It’s not my responsibility, it is the kids’ responsibility to keep up with their work. It’s my job to make sure they are equipped to do so. Being in uncharted waters calls for new mission planning. Their mission was to figure out a process, with or without the board, to make sure 1) They have a method to keep up with which classes have been checked that day; Responsibility. 2) They can see who is still working, when they are done, etc. – Accountability. The conversation went something like this.

  • The President – Need the red marker.
  • The Great one – What are you going to do with it?
  • The President – Don’t know yet, but it’s red.
  • The Great one – You have orange? Do they make Orange? Okay then blue.
  • The President – What you gonna name your marker?
  • The Future – I got purple!
  • Parent – in my mind “Oh, for the love of Pete…What does color have to do with anything? Why are we naming markers? Breathe in. Breathe out. relax. don’t interrupt!!!! Breathe in, breathe out”
  • The Future – How bout we use the columns or days for each kid – 7 columns, we each get 2 and there are 5 rows, should be able to get a class in each block.
  • Parent – eyes tearing up, the math was perfect, it was beautiful! The angels were singing!
  • The Great One – Penny you get Monday and Tuesday cause you are a girl. (I don’t know the logic, I didn’t ask – sometimes you really don’t want to know the answer)
  • The Great one: Mom only needs one column cause she is teleworking
  • Parent (Wait, what the heck…. 1 column? at least I get a column.)
  • The President – The little boxes where the dates are supposed to go, we can check when we are done. When I get done first, and your blocks aren’t checked, I will still be quiet.
  • The Great one – Seriously? As if. Y’all better check off your blocks. Mom, we got this board, but you can use your flag if you want to.
  • Parent (not sure what just happened here, but I just saw the accountability flag go off in each of their brains in their own way. Mission Accomplished! )

This may seem silly, ‘really y’all made a calendar for that?’ Yep. We did. (you don’t have to have a whiteboard, use paper and stick to windows with tape, sticky notes, any visual representation works.)

I am teleworking and the kids are schooling at home and we are sharing the same space. I too need to be respectful of their workspace. Here’s the thing. To teach respect I have to show it. To learn how to respect they have to practice it. To teach accountability I have to practice it and so do the kids.

I can see some parents digging in their heels. I am the parent – My way or the highway. Don’t mistake what I am saying. I am the parent and I am in control. There is a difference between control and doing it my way or being the boss. I am most interested in the end goal. The process? Well, it is a process. Many times it is not the path I would take. The process is where, you as the parent, get to mold and shape, develop and prepare, enjoy and support and most of all enjoy!

If I expect the kids to respect the orange flag when I am in a meeting, I have to respect the board (trust me that sounded better in my head). If I expect my kids to be accountable I must also add my actions to the board. I added my teleconference times to the board in my column. We can now keep each other accountable. When you do this – expect the kids to let you know about your meeting! over, and over. I would argue, that isn’t this what we want? Our kids learning to respectfully hold others accountable as well as themselves? Your kids are not the master of tact…at all. Take advantage and help them explore better ways to respectfully hold others accountable.

How did it go you ask? It went well! I was surprised. I really expected a couple and crash and burn attempts. What transpired was the kids checking on each other. Two days of using the board and we are keeping each other accountable. I fully expect how the kids are using the board to change and modify as we figure out this whole situation. On the other hand, you haven’t lived until you have had 3 video classes and 1 telework telecon at one time.

Note to self: Teach the use of the mute button before you get on your teleconference. Me to my teleconference “Sorry, got a 6th grade Math telecon at the same time” We all laughed and I stayed on mute as much as possible.

You guessed it! We will try again tomorrow.

Our first attempt at controlling chaos