Back-to-school season has looked pretty different for students this year, depending on their school district’s specific guidelines for returning to classes.
Some kids are right back in the classroom, albeit with face masks on, while others have had their entire curriculum switched exclusively to online learning.
For younger students, distance learning simply cannot be done alone — just like if they were in the classroom, supervision is needed to make sure they stay on track.
One Missouri mom was recently faced with a particularly tough decision when her young son’s classes were moved online.
As Good Morning America reported, Leslie Stallone-Levitan had previously quit her day job in order to be home to supervise 6-year-old Oliver’s learning when she received a surprise job offer: a position teaching writing.
But the catch was it would require her to be out of the house and away from Oliver two days a week, meaning she couldn’t be there to watch him during school hours.
As she explained, “Remote learning for a six-year-old requires full-time adult supervision.”
Although excited about this new career opportunity, Leslie knew she was needed at home, and was prepared to sadly have to turn it down.
But her mother and Oliver’s grandmother, Candace Stallone, was not about to simply stand by and watch her daughter pass up on the chance to go back to work.
So she volunteered to personally sit down with Oliver and supervise his learning two days each week while his mom went off to her new job.
Candace isn’t even retired yet, and she has no experience with teaching, especially in a remote setting, but she still stepped up when help was needed.
“There’s been a giant learning curve,” Leslie told GMA of the arrangement. “When she started, she didn’t know how to Zoom, manage all the links, or move from one class to the next. And her grandson was no help [because] he didn’t know how to do those things either. So the two of them were quite the pair.”
But despite a few bumps here and there, Leslie is happy to report that online learning has been going really well.
In fact, grandma’s even started enjoying the experience herself, particularly since it means more one-on-one time with Oliver.
“[She] loves spending time with him and watching him learn new things,” Leslie explained.
Recently, Leslie shared a touching photo of Candace and Oliver’s online lessons in action online and it quickly went viral.
“My mom volunteered to supervise my son’s remote learning 2x/week so I can take a part-time job,” Leslie captioned the post, which was shared to her popular Instagram page @nochillpreschooler .
“Even though she doesn’t ‘know how to do any of this s***’, she still shows up, ready to work. Shout out to all the grandparents who are stepping up and learning Zoom like the badasses they are.”
As of writing, the photo has amassed over 55,000 likes and nearly 500 comments from users, many sharing stories of grandparents stepping up to help their own children.
“I’m a teacher having to do virtual teaching from my class, which means my own kid has no one to help him on his google class,” one person shared. “My parents stepped up to do it.”
Another wrote, “My kiddo isn’t old enough for school yet but my almost 70-year-old dad learned how to use our TV and streaming systems so my daughter could watch shows while i worked at home. He said so I could focus on work.”
Thank you to all the grandparents out there for being so incredible and helping out however they can during these crazy times!
h/t: Good Morning America
