Pandemic-proof your child’s future
‘I was better off during lockdown, and I’m better prepared for the world of work’
Donicia Haskin has been online schooling through Teneo for two years. She is currently busy with her matric finals:
“When we moved from Cape Town to Johannesburg I didn’t feel like starting over at a new school and making new friends, so I asked if I could try online schooling instead.
I’m glad that I started before Covid-19, because I was already used to it, and nothing about my studying really changed over the last year. When the pandemic started everyone else had to worry about how they would continue learning, but we could continue with our studies as always.
A lot of people think it can be lonely or that there is less support, but we have Whatsapp Groups where we can chat to each other and other apps where we can compare notes and study together.
My classmates are from all over the world there is a girl from Dubai and one from America. I don’t miss going to school every day; my favourite thing is that I can stay in my room. I wake up and I’m still in my pajamas but I’m in class. It’s not difficult to get used to - I get sent a link, I click on it and then there my class is.
I will say you have to be self-driven and be able to motivate yourself, and you need work at doing things and not just talking about them.
If you’re that person too then I’d say do online schooling. Just remember to get up in the morning! Don’t stay in bed. Have a separate space for studying and a separate place for sleeping - don’t try to do everything in one place
because it causes problems!
I feel like I’m more prepared for the future than other people, because I’ve been doing it for longer and I’m more comfortable with working remotely.”
Leticia Haskin-van den Berg says allowing her daughter Donica to
learn from home was the best decision that they could make for her:
“Donicia was attending a brick-and-mortar school for years, since the start of her schooling, and she did very well academically, but we didn’t want to distract her and disrupt her by changing schools every time we moved.
She was actually the one who asked if we could look into a homeschooling setup; it was her idea.
So I did some online searches and found Teneo - she started with them two years ago - just in time because a few months later the country went into lockdown.
She adapted very quickly to online learning, but she’s always been independent and good at doing things on her own. I’d say the biggest challenge has been loadshedding! The rest has been great.
Parents should consider online schooling for their kids, but also keep the hidden costs in mind. Before she started we had to make sure we had a fast, stable internet connection, and we invested in a generator for when the power goes out.
In Matric it gets a bit more expensive because at in-person schools the exams are usually included in the price, but here you pay additional fees for the exams.
High school kids can be very cruel, and I’m very protective when it comes to my children. Bullying is such a problem and you can’t expect the teachers to be everywhere all the time. But here, there is no need to worry about that, because I know where my kid is and I know she’s safe. She only has to focus on her studies.
My son is going to primary school soon, and for now I’ll keep him in the traditional schooling system to lay a good foundation for him. He’s not as disciplined as his sister yet and easily distracted; he’s still small. I think once he is older then I will let him learn online too.”