GALION — Shani Rush’s kitchen table has turned into a virtual classroom.

It’s heaped with textbooks and math homework. It’s the makeshift desk for her school-age daughters. And it’s become a juggling act for Rush and millions of parents nationwide as they adjust to homeschooling amid the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic.

“Being a teacher myself, I really appreciate someone else teaching my kids,” said Rush, the mother of Lexi, an eighth-grade student, and Layni and Libbi, third- and first-graders at Galion Primary School. “Having two younger ones, it’s been difficult. They’re fighting for my attention and help.”

Rush, a health and physical education teacher at Galion High School, took on her new role March 16 when Galion City Schools shut down under a state-mandated order to help slow the spread of the virus. The homeschooling experience, she said, hasn’t always been easy. But structure helps.

Layni Rush works on schoolwork at home during the government-mandated school shutdown. (Submitted photo)

The younger girls begin each day at 8:30 a.m. with breakfast, then dive into math homework by 9 a.m. They work on reading skills four days a week, but Tuesdays she said, are reserved for painting projects, walks outside, workouts in the basement and other non-core activities.

Lexi, who has a laptop and desk in her bedroom, submits her homework through Canvas, the district’s information technology program.

“She’s pretty self-sufficient. I don’t have to worry about her. She’s always working on her homework,” Rush said.

Meanwhile, Rush accesses Canvas in order to do video lessons and live conference calls for her students as well as check grades like other parents. She sent home two weeks of homework on the last day and is now getting another packet ready for week three.

Even grandparents nowadays are trading their babysitting duties for impromptu roles as classroom teachers while parents are working.

Rebecca Polsley, who watches granddaughters Marissa and Jillian Shipman three days a week, is now Marissa’s kindergarten teacher.

Marissa Shipman, a kindergarten student at Galion, does her schoolwork in her grandmother’s sun porch. (Submitted photo)

“I think everyone needs to be willing to take on these different roles,” said Polsley, who set up a plastic picnic table on her sunporch as a desk for the six-year-old. “We just have to make the best of what we’re going through. And who saw this coming?”

Polsley follows the kindergarten curriculum provided by the district, which include reading and a math corner. Daily lesson plans include practicing sight words, a Tic-Tac-Toe activity and even an online story time, available with the click of a button.

Polsley’s daughter, Andrea Shipman, created a daily schedule for Marissa from the get-go, which allows time for outside breaks and five-minute exercise videos designed for kids. Shipman works full-time as a registered nurse at Mill Creek Nursing and Rehabilitation in Galion.

Marissa Shipman works on her reading skills under the home instruction of her grandmother. (Submitted photo)

Rush, an 18-year veteran of the district, admitted she and her daughters are disappointed about missing out on spring sports, including softball, soccer and travel basketball, as well as possibly the eighth-grade field trip to Washington, D.C. But everyone is adjusting.

“We just try finding things we’re thankful for each day,” the single parent said. “Having a roof over our heads, food on the table and a job. We really do count our blessings.”

Polsley, whose husband, Chris, plans to help out in the kindergarten room too, agreed.

“We’re just doing it differently,” she said. “We’ll make it. Our faith will bring us through this. Our God is more powerful than all of this.”