Kids

Why Your Kids and Teens May Not Be Open To Face-To-Face Classes

by Kevyn Gohu
August 2, 2022

Our teens and kids have their own reasons for not wanting to go to face-to-face classes.

Although the SONA and the DepEd revealed that schools need to slowly transition back to face-to-face classes, we’re not the only ones who are on the fence about it. Although they didn’t show it, our kids may have been secretly happier with online or homeschooling than face-to-face classes. These may also be the reasons why their grades suddenly improved.

1. No need to wake up early

We all hate waking up early yet we willingly subject our kids to that stress just because “that’s the way life is”. However, a study done in Singapore proved that waking up our kids early for class damaged their grades, attendance, and performance. The inconvenience of forcing them to wake up at 5:30 AM to get to school at 7 AM also makes them hate learning. Moreover, it’s because of this that makes them sleep until 2 PM in the summer.

2. No one to bully them.

Every school has its resident bully or “mean girls/boys” clique that rules the school and even teachers are powerless against them. We’ve already heard this multiple times that bullying can mess up our kids’ or teens’ grades but we don’t or can’t do anything about it because our involvement could make things worse. At home, they don’t have to deal with that. They can fully focus on studying.

3. The original style of teaching didn’t suit them.

Kids and teens have different ways of learning. But to cope with educating everybody, schools adopted the 30-40 students to 1 teacher ratio for face-to-face classes which unfortunately started revealing signs of others not learning. In homeschool or online schooling, the kids have their own ways of learning and can do their own self-study.

4. Better food at home.

Food plays a big role in motivating kids and teens to study. That’s why they say their favorite subject is “recess”! There are even times that the cafeteria is fuller than usual. It’s typically because a school favorite is out. It can be as simple as a pancake smothered in butter and dusted with confectioner’s sugar. Or, it can be their favorite deep-fried hash brown with cheese powder on top.

But not every kid likes eating that kind of food. Some would prefer to eat food at home. Schools unfortunately are still not accustomed to making keto, vegan or vegetarian-friendly menus.

5. Learning is more engaging in homeschool or online schooling.

Teachers needed to be more creative with teaching since they’re no longer in the same physical space. Some use games and others use activities to help kids experience the lesson instead of just drowning them with information. Whereas in face-to-face classes, teachers would rather use lectures since it’s easier to manage everybody.

6. Nap Time

While your toddlers or babies may not be fond of nap time, surprisingly, your teens and your college kids will take it! With requirements piling as tall as a human, our teens and college kids may be burning the midnight oil to meet them. In face-to-face classes, schools expect your teens or college kids to have the discipline to stay awake even if they haven’t had sleep for the last 12 hours.

7. Their friends are online anyway!

Schools served as physical meeting places for kids and teens to socialize. But with chatrooms like Discord and FB Groups, there’s little to no need for a physical meeting place. If anything, teens and kids might go out only if they want to try something new. But if they’re just going to talk, they know there are video games, chatrooms, and Netflix viewing parties to make it more fun.

8. The learning pace is more custom to their speed.

Not all kids learn at the same speed and many find themselves either bored or too scared to ask questions for fear of looking stupid in front of their classmates in face-to-face classes. At homeschool, they at least can ask questions or google the answer if they’re not sure.

Attending face-to-face classes is a decision for both parents and kids.

Some parents would rather have their kids go back to school for face-to-face classes. But if our teens or kids are hesitating, there might be something going on that we’re not aware of. It’s not uncommon to find out late in our teens’ life that they had a learning delay, to begin with. Nonetheless, going back to face-to-face classes is something we need to talk about with our kids.