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Covid-19 Challenges: Managing Work, School And Teaching Triplets Kindergarten Lessons

Cheri Lawson

After feeding her three boys a lunch of chicken nuggets, grapes, and apples at the kitchen table in their Boone County home, Liz Jarboe and her identical triplets go to their dining room which resembles a kindergarten class because it kind of is.

Six-year-olds, Ayden, Liam, and Carson Jarboe place their hands over their hearts and follow along with the video of the kindergarten staff at Yealey Elementary, as they say, the Pledge of Allegiance.

After a brief remote lesson from the teacher about numbers and shapes, mom, Liz takes over.
Jarboe is a registered nurse. She’s also in school, studying to be a family nurse practitioner. She cooks daily for her family, drives the kids to their sports, and now is teaching them kindergarten lessons.

“I’m not going to lie. I have no idea what I’m doing. People tell me all the time, they’re kindergartners, how hard can it be? That scares me. Kindergarten is the foundation for everything. If you mess up kindergarten, first grade, second grade, third grade, they’re going to struggle” said Jarboe.

The 40-year-old said keeping the kids focused and making sure they are learning what is required is harder than she thought it would be.

Dr. Meghan Marsac, clinical psychologist with the University of Kentucky, says trying to home school one kindergartner with one adult is extremely challenging. She said having triplets and balancing everything else on the schedule is quite a task.

“Often anytime we have big crises in kids’ lives or big natural disasters that disrupt kids’ education is that generally in the future kids can catch up and get on track and be okay in their learning over time,” said Marsac.

Credit Cheri Lawson
The Jarboe triplets and mom Liz leaving the kindergarten class at Yealey Elementary after meeting the kindergarten teacher in person.

Soon the Jarboe triplets will participate in a hybrid-learning model. The triplets will be in the classroom two days a week. Their mom will continue the remote kindergarten classes, the other three days.
Wearing face masks and matching outfits of khaki shorts and striped shirts, the Jarboe’s are meeting their kindergarten teacher in person, for the first time.

Jarboe said juggling this new schedule is a challenge but at least husband Chris can help in the evenings.

“I don’t understand how single moms do this. I don’t understand how kids are supposed to do this that don’t have access to computers or access to the internet at home and I know there’s a lot of them out there,” said Jarboe.

Dr. Jay Miller, Dean in the College of Social Work at the University of Kentucky, said on top of confusion over schooling, there are several challenges facing families amid the pandemic, including issues related to child care, unemployment, and eviction. One of the most stressful ripple effects of the pandemic, he said, is not  knowing when it will end.

“The only way that we navigate this or assuage the negative impact is to do it collectively in community. That is the way that we do it. And it starts with normalizing that experience, verbalizing needs and responses, and re-conceptualizing the way we meet and address those needs,” according to Miller.

At Breathitt County’s Highland Turner Elementary, Principal Sabrina McElroy said she did extensive preparation over the summer to get ready for remote learning. McElroy said there are a little more than 200 students, about 25 students without the internet and a few families without cars. McElroy said she’s working with the youth service center to provide additional support including home visits. She said the parents are willing to call if they have a need.

“None of our students fall through the cracks because we know who they are and they will reach out when they need help, which is great,” said McElroy.

Credit Cheri Lawson
Liz Jarboe, mom of the triplets is helping teach her boys kindergarten lessons at home.

In Boone County, Liz Jarboe and her triplets will continue kindergarten at the dining room table three days a week. She tears up when she talks about them going to the classroom for the other two days.

“I mean the longest I’ve been away from them is to go to work. Usually, we do something fun. We go somewhere, we do something,” said Jarboe.

After spending a day with Liz Jarboe and her triplets I suspect they will continue to have fun.

Here's a look back when the triplets were five months old. Liz Jarboe (Wells) says having triplets seemed like a challenge before the pandemic. This story tells how birthing identical triplets without fertility drugs is rare.

TRIPLETS5months.mp3

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Cheri is a broadcast producer, anchor, reporter, announcer and talk show host with over 25 years of experience. For three years, she was the local host of Morning Edition on WMUB-FM at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. Cheri produced and hosted local talk shows and news stories for the station for nine years. Prior to that, she produced and co-hosted a local talk show on WVXU, Cincinnati for nearly 15 years. Cheri has won numerous awards from the Public Radio News Directors Association, the Ohio and Kentucky Associated Press, and both the Cincinnati and Ohio chapters of the Society for Professional Journalists.
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