Issue link: http://maconmagazine.uberflip.com/i/1365748
AS THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC PERSISTS, families continue to adapt their lives accordingly. Parents are learning to balance their own hectic work schedules with the fluctuating schedules of their children, and they have learned many lessons in the process. Audie and Julia Norman For Audie Norman, a freelance illustrator and podcaster, and his wife, Julia, a children and family minister at Mulberry Street United Methodist Church, adapting to the schedules of their three elementary-aged children was challenging, but they managed to take it in stride. With flexible job schedules, they considered themselves in a better position than most to acclimate to pandemic conditions. As a parent, Julia thought that explaining the pandemic to her children would be the hardest part. She said she worried about how she was going to justify to her children that they couldn't go to the playground or see their friends at school anymore. "I don't think that that was really as difficult as I thought it would be. I think the kids have been much more resilient than I expected or thought they would be," Julia said. In late fall 2020, Bibb County Schools transitioned from online learning to face-to-face instruction for six weeks before transitioning back to virtual school just before Christmas. As of March, Bibb County Schools has again transitioned from virtual learning to in-person instruction. "e back and forth has been rough. But at the end of the day, I think our kids understand. It's not our decision. It's not their decision. It's the school system that decides for us. So, we just have to roll with whatever is happening," Julia said. With the return to face-to-face instruction, their lives have regained some semblance of normalcy, but initially, it was important to find creative ways to get their boys to do their work. ey used positive reinforcement to encourage them. "For the 4-year-old, it's been like, 'Okay, you can have this toy with you and play with it if you will sit down here and do your work.' ey haven't done well when it's taking something away, but giving them something that they can focus on that's not necessarily school but still keeps them there, it helps," Audie said. ey also created a separate space in their home for schooling. ey set up a bookshelf with school supplies, books and an iPad meant only for school, so that their children would be able to find everything they needed. "e best thing you can do is have a separate space for school that you can say, 'at space is for school. Once you get done with that, the rest of the space is for us as a family.'" Balancing in-person and virtual learning, parents have been forced to be flexible, especially regarding standards for their children's grades. "Our 4-year-old is in pre-K, so maybe he doesn't know all the things that he might have known if he did pre-K not in a pandemic, but at the end of the day, he is doing the best he can," Julia said. "We're all doing the best we can. His teacher is doing the best she can. And we all have to just be able to give a little grace in that." A WE'RE ALL DOING THE BEST WE CAN. AND WE ALL HAVE TO JUST BE ABLE TO GIVE A LITTLE GRACE IN THAT." - JULIA NORMAN " APRIL/MAY 2021 | maconmagazine.com 93