Homeschool Community Helping Parents Struggling With Distance Learning

ELK GROVE (CBS13) - Some parents hate distance learning, others tolerate it, and some are simply taking their child's schooling into their own hands.

That's where Randi Kearney comes in to help.

Once a preschool teacher of 13 years, Kearney is now a homeschooling mom in Los Angeles making her own curriculum.

"A parent can google a worksheet but to do really hands-on engaging curriculum it takes a lot of work and a lot of thought," said Kearney.

Kearney recently started offering to put together a custom homeschool curriculum for other parents and she got bombarded with requests. And that's no surprise to Kami Wanous.

"A lot of parents don't want their kids to be in front of a screen for 6 to 8 hours a day," Wanous said.

Wanous is a homeschooling mom in Napa Valley. She recently became an educational mentor after seeing parents struggling with distance learning. She's had more parents wanting help making the switch to homeschooling.

READ: Classroom Cybersecurity: Keeping Hackers Out of Virtual Classrooms

"They want to have flexibility in their schedule. With working parents it's really difficult," said Wanous.

Elk Grove parent Edward Martin got so fed up with distance learning he put his fourth-grade daughter in a virtual academy.

"It's either lose your job or do the homeschooling," said Martin.

Martin is now considering homeschooling.

"I'm not computer literate. They didn't have that when we were growing up so it's a lot harder on us," said Martin.

That's exactly why two moms across the state from each other are doing what they can to help parents like Martin.

Get our news app: Download the updated CBS Sacramento News app for iOS and Android

"If I can help in some way and just put out my expertise and offer that to other parents, maybe I could help a little bit," said Kearney.

They're not just offering their expertise. They're also handing out a lot of encouragement.

"You are your child's best advocate and their number one teacher anyway. You're their parent. You teach them all kinds of things all the time," said Wanous.