Issue link: http://maconmagazine.uberflip.com/i/1365748
Julia said the most difficult part of keeping with her children's in- person learning has been communication between her, Audie and the school. Before the pandemic, Julia maintained the role of making sure her children's schooling was going the way it was supposed to. When the pandemic hit, she and Audie swapped roles, and he took over making sure the children were keeping up with their schooling. e school sends out messages to both parents, but she said sometimes she won't be able to check that tasks are getting done until she gets home from work in the evening. "He's at home dealing with the school stuff, so he can automatically follow up on that stuff, but then I'm at work trying to work and getting kind of bombarded with these messages that really don't have anything to do with what I'm doing today," Julia said. Keon and Sharon Devereaux While Audie and Julia work to keep their three children on track, Keon Devereaux and his wife, Sharon, both business owners, work to balance their lives with those of their six children, whose ages range from 6 to 18. "I was a barber and I owned a barber shop. When the pandemic hit, everything shut down. So, they kind of put me in a position where I had to rethink some things and put some more stuff in place, and that's when the cleaning service came about. It's been taking off ever since," Keon said. During this uncertain time, the family found maintaining a daily routine helpful. According to the Early Childhood Learning and Knowledge Center, a routine can provide feelings of comfort and security during challenging and uncertain times. "We treated the online class as if they were going to school. You still go to bed at a certain time. You still get up at a certain time, and we just kept continuing to help motivate them to keep doing it every day," Keon said. While maintaining a routine helps, Keon also finds that having a supporting family is essential to working through this tough time. "We kind of help each other out in that, you know, make sure we communicate really good to make sure that the kids are doing what they're supposed to do. And then, I have two 18-year-olds and a 17-year-old, so they help out a lot," Keon said. Keon said the biggest struggle has been adjusting to virtual learning itself. e roles shifted from teachers to parents in making sure that students are being fed breakfast and lunch as well as logging in and doing their work on time. "I remember one incident where we did have an issue where the teacher kept saying that one of my sons wasn't logging in and wasn't logging in, but it was on their end. Something was going on with the system. at was a big issue, but other than that, we've tried to help each other as much as possible," Keon said. Like the Normans, when the kids were transitioning between online school and in-person, the Devereauxes kept a separate space for schooling and did everything they could to make sure their kids were online at the right times. "Right here, we had a table. We had the alphabet right here on the wall. We had the schedule in there on the closet wall," Keon said. Keon and Sharon worked out a schedule to stay with their kids during the week. Sharon would be with them Monday through Wednesday, and Keon would stay with them ursday and Friday. Damon and Jennifer Woodson Like the Normans, Jennifer Woodson, 42, also has three kids: a 15-year-old daughter, a 13-year-old son and a 9-year-old son. She teaches online business classes part-time at Gordon State College and sells real estate. In the beginning of the pandemic, Jennifer's husband, Damon, was considered an essential worker and wasn't able to leave his job working 100 hours a week at a power plant. is left Jennifer caring for the children and the house while continuing to sell land and teach online business courses. 94 maconmagazine.com | APRIL/MAY 2021