Should the course have been postponed?

[SistemaAddict]

I'm doing a TA course and lockdown started before the first assignment was due in. Placement hadn't even started for any of us and now of course can't go ahead and no one knows when we will be able to go into schools. We are being sent the lessons by email once a week and submitting assignments online. It's not great but the tutors are doing the best they can in the circumstances. With three dc at home that I'm homeschooling it's difficult to get any time to do the work and is stressful. There is an optional video meeting once a week but it's only going through what's been emailed and of course there are frequent interruptions from dc. I'm doing my best and the tutors are doing their best but I do wonder if it would have been better to postpone the course. We'd only just started when lockdown happened so no friendships made to contact other students and get peer support. It's all a bit odd and not great for learning as I'm very much on my own as I'm sure the others are. There's also the issue of the dc needing the laptop during the day to do their work meaning that my only chance of doing work is after 9pm once the small one is asleep. By that time all I want to do is sleep as I'm exhausted as dealing with chronic pain too.

This is a bit of a moany negative post and is not like me but I'm having a bad day and not coping well.

Is anyone else in a similar position and if so how are you managing? Any tips?

I think realistically life has to go on. I’m a lecturer (though not currently teaching, but I do have students to supervise who are doing dissertations and placements, etc). Not everyone has caring responsibilities and on the contrary, lots of my students are stuck in their rooms lonely and bored and having something to do besides Netflix has been really important for their mental health.

But we are also very aware that these aren’t normal times and everyone is doing the best they can. If you have work you need to do, school work may need to slide a bit in a busy week so you can use the laptop and dc may need to spend more time in front of a screen. That’s just how it is. That’s what we’re all doing. My 2 year old has been sat in front of the tv for 2 hours already so I could work and do school with my older one.

But they really should be flexible in terms of assignments and such if you need them to be, so I’d just talk with them if you need extra time or more support.

I don’t think it should automatically be postponed for everyone - I know someone on a similar course who says it’s the only thing keeping her sane. But it would be reasonable to ask for extensions or for you individually to postpone it for a year, can you talk to them about individual solutions?

They do know I'm struggling as is everyone else. It's a small group of 10 and we all have children with a few of us being single parents.
With not being able to do any practical training it's made it all theory only which doesn't help.
I'll get through it, it's just not a great way to learn especially when it could be postponed. But then who knows how long it would have to be postponed for.
I've done well so far with 9 weeks shielding and homeschooling the dc but I'm feeling very despondent today about it all.