Parents are facing a tough decision. Do they send their kids to school in September, keep them home for distanced learning, or try something completely different?
Katherine Hopkins, a teacher in York Region with children who attend Tecumseth South Central Public School in Tottenham, said her children will not be going back to school.
Instead, they are doing something called "unschooling." It's a form of education without a schedule and that encourages learning through play, household responsibilities and personal interests.
“When the province made their announcement, my husband and I were not comfortable with it, particularly our four-year-old going to a classroom with 30 students,” she said.
Her husband, an airline pilot, is currently off work, so that played into their decision.
“I actually don't support four-year-olds wearing masks because I don't think they can do it properly and I don't think they can socially distance properly, so the only other solution to me is have less children in the classroom,” she said.
As a teacher, Hopkins said she realizes some students need to be in school for their well-being.
“There's no right decision,” she said. “I don't think it's irresponsible to send your kids back if there's people that have no choice.”
Hopkins will be heading back to school herself as a kindergarten teacher.
“I need to be there for my students… That that's my role and a job I signed up for, and I'm comfortable as an adult going back to navigate it,” she said. “Even though I've made the choice to keep my own children home, I'm still advocating for a safer return to school. I'm still not accepting the government plan.”
Hopkins said she and her husband feel they can meet their children’s education needs at home in a safer environment.
“I have a bit of an advantage in that I'm pretty familiar with the Ontario curriculum, so I feel pretty comfortable that we can give them what they need through play and life experiences,” she said.
As an example, they had their seven-year-old daughter create a menu for a restaurant, take orders, and calculate the bill in a toy kitchen.
“The math, the language — that just came through play,” she said.
Hopkins said her kids are excited at the prospect of unschooling.
“My daughter going into Grade 2 is pretty happy. I mean, she misses her friends, but we've tried to stay connected with them in different ways,” she said.
While it is not the ideal situation, Hopkins said she had to go with her gut.
“It was a hard decision, but I kept going back to... the what if,” she said. “What if an outbreak happened in their school when they could have been home?”
There are still silver linings to be had throughout all of this.
“This is giving us... so much time as a family to just be together,” Hopkins said. “Since March, the growth that I've seen in my seven-year-old in her creativity, her innovation, the amount of thinking and learning that this kid is doing naturally just on her own, it actually blows my mind.”
– Shane MacDonald is a Local Journalism Initiative reporter at the Barrie Advance
