It’s Surprising My Teen Doesn’t Bring A Textbook Home

No one should miss out on hands-on learning

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I helped my teen with math homework the other night. It would have been straightforward if she had her math textbook. Instead, students access their online portal for assignments. Besides her handwritten notes, the internet is the only way to do her homework.

I have and I’m 53. Forest is 13, gifted (maybe autistic, definitely neurodivergent), and tired after a long day of school. She’s “fine” with a screen in her face at 8 pm. I am so NOT fine with it. I got agitated just looking at her iPad to read the problem.

Then we had to turn our WiFi back on to scroll up to find the interest rate chart. Why can’t the teachers or staff print it out for them? I don’t know. I used to work at a high school and would do that so students could refer to it as they worked.

Being sensory sensitive, I’m easily overstimulated, especially by nightfall, so I wasn’t as helpful as I wanted. She thought I was mad at her (a common misperception), but I was overwhelmed by how much she had to navigate to do one math problem. The screen was too bright, there were too many steps to get to the chart, and I was losing my mind five minutes in.