Homeschooling

Our attorney Jaime N. Berger interviews Jessica Taub, from www.privateprep.com – Linkedin.com/in/jessica-taub-237b811/

Jessica: My role at the Private Prep is that of a matchmaker. I meet with each one of my students personally to understand their academic needs, their personality, their learning style, and then I thoughtfully pair them with a member of my team that has been vetted and background checked and someone that I know personally so that I can ensure that is a good match and we know that when the student likes their teacher they are more likely to engage and that is where we see all the success.

Jaimie: Let´s talk about home school. I do not know about you but it is a daily struggle. I have three little ones at home, two that are at school age and every day is different. People who talk to me, it is an adventure you do not know what is going to come. The teachers are doing their best to post assignments, but I do not know if you are having the same experience, we tons of emails and there is times everyone is doing their best, but it is certainly been a challenge over the last weeks. So, I want to get your perspective on it.

Jessica: Yes, it is certainly a challenge I think depending on how old your kids are. It could be more or less challenging. I think that as a mom of two young kids at different grade levels it presents a different type of challenge. I think for parents that have older kids in high school, what I am being told is that their kids go down to the basements or wherever they work, and they do not see them all day. It is the opposite for us with young kids because we are kids of managing their schedule and trying to keep them engaged in the learning process. My best advice right now is to just tell yourself that you are doing a great job, no matter what you are doing, you are doing a great job.

Jaimie:  Even if it does not feel like you are doing a great job?

Jessica: Yes, well you can also just say, today was a bad day, and tomorrow it will be better, I think we are all adjusting into your earlier point. No day is the same. I think we all have the best intentions. I think for some of us who are setting schedules and we are able to stick to it and for others or us for example we are creating just task lists and we are just happy if we can complete all the tasks in one day. So I think that we all have to be open-minded and know that every day is going to look different and there is just no perfect way to do this, unfortunately. We have to let go of all of those expectations of being perfect homeschooling parents.

Jaimie: It is funny, I know the night before our kids started this homeschool I posted a video and I had this color-coded schedule and I was ready to go. It lasted for about three days.

Jessica: Well, that is good!

Jaimie: I was proud, I was actually impressed with the three days, so I lasted about three days and then it was adapted and for me in what I do because obviously the courts are still somewhat operational and I am on calls and I am doing mediations and all that stuff, so I do need some level of structure in my day. But like you said every day is different and it is not going to feel the same from one day to the next.

Jessica: Correct, and I think we have to remember just to do what we can. I actually want to share a really interesting statistic because our director of executive functioning shared it; in the New York state, they required to have four hours of instructional learning per day in elementary school. Four hours and that is in school. So I think if we can get in an hour and a half of real instructional learning we are winning.

Jaimie: I do not disagree with you, it was interesting because when got those initial packets from our kid’s school and it broke down how much time they are spending on each particular subject it was somewhat enlightening for me because I would think, they are at school eight hours a day, but there is so much more than they are doing in school that socially, that they are not experiencing at home so one of the things that I think is important is keeping up that communication, letting them have the same thing that we all need, zoom calls with friends and virtual happy hours; they can not have happy hours, but a virtual meet and greet with their classmates. My daughter had a virtual birthday party. There are things that we need to make sure that that social aspect is there.

Jessica: Correct I think school is important, but social and emotional well-being for ourselves and for our children are going to be our number one priority right now.

Get in Touch with Our Morristown Attorneys Today

At Jacobs Berger, our attorneys are experienced in protecting our clients across Madison, Randolph, Tewksbury, Morristown, and the greater Morris County area in all family law-related issues.

To schedule a confidential consultation with Jaime N. Berger or any other experienced team member today regarding your particular case, please contact us online or through our Morristown, NJ office at (973) 710-4366.