Jana Kramer Says Homeschooling Daughter Jolie During Quarantine Was ‘Tough’ at First (Exclusive)

Jana Kramer is mom to two kids, 4-year-old daughter Jolie and 1-year-old son Jace, and in recent weeks, she’s been Jolie’s teacher as well due to the coronavirus pandemic. Like many parents, Kramer admitted that homeschooling wasn’t easy at first, especially combined with worrying about her son and watching the news.

“It’s been tough. In the very beginning, it was tough just because I’m like, ‘I don’t know how to homeschool,’” Kramer told PopCulture.com. “Yeah, she’s only four, but she was still learning things at her preschool. So, it was just trying to do that on top of our toddler, Jace, is teething and he’s not eating. I feel like it’s stressful, and then I’m looking at the news and I’m seeing all these things and my anxiety is getting higher.”

The 36-year-old explained that she decided to take a different approach after her first week teaching Jolie and made a conscious decision to be more present with her kids during their time at home. “That was the first week, and then the last three and a half weeks of quarantine, I’ve been like, ‘All right, no news,’ and I’m just being super present where I’m like, ‘I don’t have to have my phone on me. I’m not doing expecting. I don’t want to have work to do,’” she said. “So, it’s just putting my phone down and saying, ‘Okay, this is just what it is,’ but I’m also enjoying it, to know that I spent this much time with my kids. They’re growing up so fast. I’m never going to get this time back, so just staying as present as I have has been awesome.”

The “Untouchable” singer shares Jolie and Jace with her husband, Mike Caussin, who is also home with the family during quarantine. On an episode of their podcast earlier this month, Kramer jokingly told fans that the couple fought about a shelf during their first week of quarantine, and she explained that being at home all the time has allowed the couple to learn more about how to better navigate their relationship.

“It was just hard because we work from home and we were home a lot, but usually it’s like I’m going here with Jolie or I’m going over there and it’s not on top of each other,” she reflected. “So, I think it just boiled down to me being the nagging wife. I think just me being around him more and asking questions, I think I just really just got on his nerves. I think it was just a lesson that we had to learn. It’s like, ‘Okay, now that we’re breathing each other’s air so much more, how are we going to communicate through this time?’ We worked through it and we obviously talked about it on the podcast, and now we have better ways to communicate without yelling at each other.”