We are what, three weeks into school now? I think just about every other district in the area has at least one week in? And, my conclusion: This is hard. I knew there would be some hurdles. We got a sneak preview of them last spring, but we had a few months to work on things, so I was hopeful that we had the kinks worked out and this fall would proceed more smoothly. Like so many of my hopes and dreams, crash and burn was imminent.

One step in the right direction was that everyone (teachers, students, parents) was more well-versed in using the Google Classroom platform. Forms, docs, slides, meet. It’s a language we’ve all started speaking fairly fluently. So, of course, there has to be that one class out there that meets in Zoom instead, and you probably won’t remember that until your kid (who is definitely not going to speak up and remind you of the important things) has been staring at a blank screen for 10 minutes.

Having worked from home in some capacity for several years, I knew the importance of keeping to a schedule, and having the boys attend virtual classes in real time is the best thing going. I know it is probably a giant pain in the you know where for the teachers, but it is giving me the peace of mind of keeping my kids in their little bubble and still allowing them to participate in real classroom conversations and ask questions when they have them. Even A, the critic of the family, has conceded that online learning in this fashion hasn’t been nearly as bad as he thought it would be.

I’ve also learned how important it was to have a dedicated area to do work. While we still converge on the kitchen table, everyone has their own study corner and headphones and can isolate themselves. Having real-time classes helps keep the boys accountable, but more than once I’ve discovered E watching Netflix on her tablet instead of doing her 20 minutes of daily reading. Guess who gets called down to the table much more frequently than her brothers?

Following a routine when I do start working is something that I’ve found to be just about as critical keeping to a schedule. For some reason, when I work from home, I tend to end up spending hours going through emails, or I start working on one program, and before I know it, I’ve spent the whole day on one product line or one project and ignored half a dozen others. So, within my work schedule, I make it a point to stop working on email at a certain time and start working on a project, or I review my meeting schedule for the day and my list of things to do, and plan out how best to get them all done in a timely manner. Then, I set timers or reminders for myself, so that I don’t get completely sidetracked by one or two things. This was not a skill that I thought I would have to pass on to the kids, but by the second week of school, E’s inbox had about 100 unread emails piled up in it.

After spending an ungodly amount of time last year cleaning out and organizing all my various inboxes, the sight of “you have 100 unread messages” had me hyperventilating. Once I realized that every time an assignment is changed or updated, a new email came flying in, I calmed down a little bit. But, then as I was sorting through, I did find a few legitimate emails from various teachers. I asked E if she had read them or responded to them and she just stared at me blankly. Tip: 10-year-olds do not come with the email inbox organization skill standard.

After that, I decided that the boys’ inboxes should also be investigated. Unsurprisingly, I found 400 deleted emails in G’s mailbox, none of them read. “Mom, they’re all just autogenerated stuff from when the teachers update classroom.” (And standard eyeroll.) So, of course, I had to issue the ultimatum that if I went in there and found just one that was a legitimate email that he had deleted, there was going to be a reckoning … and I got more eyerolls. We sat and fished through them, and luckily, he was right. By the time I got around to checking up on A, he had been forewarned and had things in pretty decent shape.

So, being the office manager for three relatively unorganized office mates is now on my list of things to do daily. I recognize that each of them is going to have to find their own way eventually, but with all the other aspects of their lives being overwhelming and uncertain, it seems a little exorbitant to expect them to have office skills on top of everything else.

Not being able to type still remains the biggest impediment to all three of their homework efforts. It’s been a long time since I’ve been valued for my typing words per minute. Less attuned is my ability to decipher middle schooler handwriting. But, I hate to see what should be an enjoyable 15-20 assignment turn into an hour and a half cry fest, so here I am, typing up the bosses’ notes.

It pains me greatly to copy misspelled words and improper grammar, but after things are typed up, they have the chance to go back and proofread their material and make corrections. I fear that spelling may soon become a thing of the past as they have quickly learned the right click and “accept suggestion” method of correction. In its own odd way, though, these practices have brought us all closer together.

Like when A walks in and asks for help with homework, and then says, “oh, never mind, it’s math, I will wait till Dad gets home,” and I don’t take offense, because we all know he’s right. Or when G comes and asks me a science question and we end up going down a rabbit hole, one question leading to another, leading to another. Or, when I see E fight over starting a writing assignment and after she settles down, she ends up filling a page and a half with all her thoughts. We’re still finding our way, and no doubt we have many hills to climb ahead of us. It’s not easy, but like most things that are difficult, the reward is well worth it.

Liz Pinkey is a contributing writer to the Times News. Her column appears weekly in our Saturday feature section.