For more than a decade, John Ravalli has worked as a teacher at Lansingburgh High School. Like so many educators across the globe, he spent the first year and a half of the pandemic teaching from home.

While he is now back in the classroom, he said things aren’t completely back to normal.

“It’s been an improvement. It’s been a little bit of a struggle as we kind of progress through,” said Ravalli.

That’s true for educators, parents and students. School districts are still adjusting, but Ravalli said it’s nice to be back to full-time, in-person learning.

“I don’t think you can ever replace being in-person and being one on one with a student,” Ravalli said.

It's a struggle Ravalli understands from several different perspectives. A teacher by day, Ravalli is also a parent, balancing the education of Abigail and Madeline, his now 5- and 9-year-old daughters.

Ravalli has made things work with the help of his wife, Jen Ravalli, who is a prekindergarten teacher at Turnpike Elementary School.

“Even though we are teachers, we are not our children’s teachers. Abby, who was in nursery school at the time, wanted nothing to do with us trying to teach her,” Jen Ravalli said.

Huddled around their dining room table, the Ravalli family made it work.

When it was nice, they went outdoors. They also never shied away from how abnormal the circumstances have been.

Now that things are on track to normalcy, their best advice is to have some patience, and know that your children’s teacher perhaps understands the struggle all too well. That’s exactly what they have done, taking each twist and turn the pandemic has thrown their way, as both teachers and parents.

“You’re going to make mistakes. Things are going to happen. Be patient with your kids, too,” said Ravalli.