For many students, attending school is an anxiety- and stress-filled experience that gets more difficult as assignments and work start piling up.  However, once schools shut down, one main concern was how students would continue their education. Many schools quickly figured out that the best way for students to continue their work was through online learning, according to The New York Times. 

For students who have gone their whole life learning in a classroom, this change can be crushing, according to Rasmussen College. 

Every student learns and understands material differently, but the stress from online school that many students currently face doesn’t exactly come from the hard switch from school to online learning. In many cases, the stress stems from personal or home life issues.

These can be severe issues, depending on who the person is and how they choose to handle it. Personally, my home life is not remotely similar to the way it was three months ago.

Not too long ago, both my parents had full time jobs and normally didn’t get home till late in the evening. But now things have changed and parents working part time at home is now the new normal.

I’m probably not the only one who isn’t used to their parents being home as often as they are now. 

A study at the University of Walden found that students tend to learn best in an environment they feel most comfortable in. 

During remote learning, many families were at home together, and being able to find a quiet place to study and focus on school became significantly more difficult. 

Although the stress that stems from school doesn’t always mean the student is struggling, in some cases that is a main factor.

Stress is formed when there is a change in everyday life that affects a person’s emotional, physical or mental state, according to the Cleveland Clinic. 

Stress during regular school wasn’t something I typically felt, other than the regular and anticipated stress during finals. But stress during remote learning became a common feeling that I would wake up to. I have a part time job that became much more full time. Doing online school in the morning then having to go straight to work so I could help my parents pay the bills became to be the new “normal,” which, to be honest brought up some stress I didn’t know existed. 

School stress and home stress are two very different things that are handled differently depending on the person, according to the Chicago Tribune. 

School stress can come in many different forms, whether it’s not understanding material, or work from different classes piling up. The more change that happens to a person’s education, the more the student feels stressed out or overwhelmed, which is never a good feeling, according to the Chicago Tribune. 

Additional stresses during these difficult times can be caused by the drastic change in home life, such as parents losing their jobs. Many parents or guardians may be out of work, which is a concerning thought that adults don’t want their children to have to think about, according to the Ministry of Social Department. 

During these times, having to stress about my home life and about school has been unanticipated. After the school closure, I never would have thought the stress I was facing would only grow. I never would have thought I would be the one returning home late from work while my parents were at home all day. 

But then again, no one ever thought we would be facing a global pandemic, either. Common things that can make us feel stressed include experiencing something new or unexpected, according to the Mental Health Foundation. When it comes to these situations, it’s completely reasonable for a student to be stressed or overwhelmed because the situation itself is not normal and can sometimes make us feel like we are unable to cope with these new situations.