Not Your Ordinary Lesson

This lockdown brought this father and son closer

- Jane Kingsu Cheng

When 40-year-old Audric learned about the en-hanced community quarantine, the first questions that this father-of-three thought of were, “Who will handle the learning of the kids? What will I teach the kids?”

Teaching time

On the first day of the lockdown, the school sent them homework for the kids to accomplish. It was chaotic and not much was accomplished. “The kids did not know what to do, my wife Kristine and I were busy with work and procuring supplies,” says Audric. That night, he called for a family meeting and instructed his three children, Sofia, 9, Riley, 7, and Aidan, 5, that they would start their “classes” with “Teacher Audric” at 9:30 a.m. He also asked the three kids to get themselves ready without the assistance of their nannies.

That morning was met with much excitement. They were on their desks at 9:25 a.m., so they got to start their day on time. They printed their homework and went through their assignments together. This routine went on for a couple of days.

Being mindful

But the couple realized there was something missing. “We were just going through assignments and drills, and not much learning was taking place. iPads would read their stories to them, apps would tell them if their math was correct or not, and so on,” says Audric.