ROCK SPRINGS — After schools were ordered to close due to the COVID-19 Coronavirus pandemic, parents, teachers, and students were left trying to adjust to a new way to learn.

Ana Reynolds, a Rock Springs parent, was willing to share her and her three children’s online learning experience after completing SweetwaterNOW’s online learning survey.

Reynolds has three children in Sweetwater County School District No.1. Jenifer, 12, usually attends school at the Rock Springs Junior High, while Leila, 9, and Alex, 7, attend school at Desert View Elementary School.

“In the beginning there were some difficulties,” Reynolds said.

She said they were going to work and trying to time Google meetings among other things with their schedules.

“After about a week, we just fell into a groove,” she said. “We still run into a few things because, math for instance, is not taught how it was when I was a kid.”

Even though things did get better over time, Reynolds and her family still face challenges every week.

“My youngest still struggles. I don’t think that he truly understands. Because he is home, he wants to play instead of sitting down and doing school work,” Reynolds said.

Other times her children struggle with understanding some of the school work, she said.

“Because of the way things are taught these days it has been fun teaching them ways that I did things when I was their age and learning a new way to do it,” she said.

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However, where her youngest has struggled, Jenifer has thrived.

“My oldest has loved every minute of online learning,” she said. “She doesn’t have the distractions she had in school. She can focus more on her studies. Online school is great for those struggling because of outside distractions.”

Another positive she sees with her teen is there is no drama that comes with being a teen at school.

“Yes, she misses her friends, but she is okay with it,” she said about her teen.

As for her younger children, they miss school.

“They miss their friends and teachers,” she said. “And although they might not say it, I am sure it is easier at school than at home.”

With everything that continues to happen due to the virus, Reynolds knows school, if they reopen, may look different. However, she’s already made plans on how to prepare if online learning is something she and her children must continue to do next fall.

“Looking forward and the possibility of that might happen, I have decided that I am going to make a designated area more like a school atmosphere instead of being at the kitchen table of breakfast bar,” she said.

Reynolds believes they have learned from this experience and will know what works and what doesn’t if they need to continue online learning in the future.

“This whole thing has been an adventure (and) is something that I never thought we would experience during our lifetime,” Reynolds said. “Even though we have had our difficulties, it has been fun spending more time with my family.”