7 a.m in the morning, stayed up until 5:30 in the morning doing classwork aimlessly. Assignment after assignment. Back to back headaches from being on the school laptop so long. They swear that teens usually stay on electronics just as much as virtual school requires. Lies. I don't. Others maybe. Before quarantine, the only thing I did on a laptop was typing out work I’d already written out on paper. I was the type to walk outside and write in the beauty of the sunlight. Exercise every once in a while to get a break from writing. Waking up and automatically getting on a laptop creates headaches that can last the entire day. They make schoolwork and writing a disaster. Headaches aside, waking up at 7 or 8 just doesn’t seem to make sense. Why wake up to sit on a laptop? To not get to see any friend or anything. It's a lonely existence.
Homeschooling was never an option. With 6 siblings, who fail to listen to anything, I was left to do virtual learning for my school. In-person isn’t an option. The risk is too great. My brothers and sister barely do their work as is so they’d never listen to do homeschooling. I, on the other hand, would. I’ve never done homeschooling but I’d gladly give it a chance over virtual learning.
To relay my day. I wake up at 7 a.m after staying up all night long. I try to log into a zoom meeting with a 50/50 chance of it even working. If it doesn’t, I get counted absent anyway. Excuses are not accepted. If the zoom works, I fight to keep my eyes open the entire class and refuse to turn on my camera. Only to learn absolutely nothing. Nada. They have so many rules for such a waste of everyone’s time. Be prepared, cameras stay on, participate, be on time, etc. Camera’s is one most people don't listen to. It’s 7 in the morning at home, not at school. We aren’t gonna be dressed to perfection or anything. And they act like everyone has their own room and desk or area to do work in. Spoiler alert. Most don’t. How can these people keep a ‘neat’ workplace if they have no workplace to begin with? Multiple classes later, I still haven’t learned a single thing. We learn nothing and just get assigned work. It causes people to turn to cheating amongst other things and stressed students out.
From all of my siblings one thing we can all agree on is how much we all despise virtual learning. The effects on mental health grow every single month. Parents often claim that they had it harder than us. That this type of schooling is so easy. It's anything but that. Siblings aren’t the sole thing that I have to deal with. My adorable group of animals that I have to rush out and feed during class also factor into my day. They need to be fed during part of the zoom. Waiting to feed them while I’m at home just doesn’t make sense to me. Cats, dogs, chickens and more they all get restless and hungry.
Chores are typically large since everyone’s home 24/7. Dishes stack up throughout the day. I don’t mind helping out. But doing schoolwork and balancing home life just doesn’t work for everyone.
It feels like teens are being ignored altogether. We are being worked tirelessly. Harder than ever before and not being recognized. So many are failing though they work so hard, others have given up. This is the reality of how we are living. I’d never wish this on anyone.
On the bright side, I get to watch TV as I do my work.