New Jersey Parents Prepare For More Remote Learning In The Fall: 'What's Child Care Going To Look Like?'
PARSIPPANY, N.J. (CBSNewYork) -- Carefree summer family fun for the Miskimon family of Dover in Rockaway Township is being slightly overshadowed by the stress of returning to school.
"It's sleepless. The closer we get to the start of school, the more the reality of what we're going to do in September is hitting us," Cheryl Miskimon told CBS2's Hazel Sanchez on Tuesday.
Cheryl and Timothy Miskimon have a daughter in eighth grade and a son in fifth grade in the Rockaway Township School District, which plans to have a hybrid of remote learning and in-person learning in the fall. But, the Miskimons are both teachers in two different school districts that have yet to release their back to school plans.
"We're hoping to find out soon," said Timothy Miskimon. "So that at least we have maybe a month or so to kind of get ourselves ready and our children ready as well for that transition."
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Gov. Phil Murphy is expected to announce the state's school reopening plan Wednesday. There's already talk that families will have the option of keeping their kids home for 100% distance learning. Joyce Andes David is a mother of five working from home and already set up a work station for her youngest children.
"I really do hope that we'll be able to continue remote learning because, for me, the kids' health is my priority," Andes David said.
But for working parents Jennifer and Shawn Yaney of Scotch Plains, they're scrambling to figure out how they'll juggle their full-time jobs outside the home, while their 12- and 9-year-olds are remote learning.
"What's child care gonna look like? Those are questions we have that no one can answer right now," said Jennifer Raney.
"Maybe there's a day care situation that might be affordable," said Shawn Yaney.
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The Miskimons, who expect to be teaching in school for at least four days a week, say they'll have to leave their children home alone.
"It's still incredibly nerve-racking to think that if they have questions, we're not there. If there's a problem, we're not there. And they're kids. They get distracted," said Cheryl Miskimon.
"They know I wouldn't do anything bad like burn down the house. And they know I would like to get my work done," said fifth grader Colin Miskimon.
But it's still not the way of learning anyone is used to, leaving families yearning for the norm.
