SAN DIEGO (KGTV) -- With many students throughout San Diego County back in the classroom, working parents are now having to sort out work with their children’s hybrid schedules.
Patrick Batten has three children in the Poway Unified School District. His two youngest children have been back in class for a few weeks on a part-time basis.
“My son has been back five days a week for two and a half hours. My daughter has been back two days a week for a full day,” Batten said.
His high school senior is going back soon. She adjusted well to distance learning, but his seventh grader did not.
“She took a very tough line and and [she] drew a line in the sand and just said I'm not doing it,” Batten said. “We've been fighting her since day one so it's nice to have her back in a classroom setting and learning again.”
He acknowledges the challenges with each child on a different schedule, but he said it is “100 percent” better than having all four children in distance learning.
“It's been chaotic, trying to make it work,” he said. “Luckily, with us still working from home, we do have a little bit more flexibility with our schedule to make it happen.”
Batten said he has seen his kids become more reclusive the longer distance learning continued. “They spend more time in their bedroom because they don’t have physical activities to do, they don't have sporting events, they don't have music recitals.”
He knows he is not alone in trying to deal with an impossible balancing act between work, school, and life in general.
“You're not alone. I have yet to meet somebody that has embraced this situation without problems,” Batten said. “As I'm ready to pull out my hair, it's just one of those moments that we need to reach out to other friends and just kind of talk [it] through and share experiences.”
