Finding the Peace Within (For Parents)

Written By Manisha Snoyer (co-founder of Modulo)

Take just one moment for yourself, to allow space for the silence, even if it’s for a minute. It doesn’t have to be long.

This is an especially difficult time to be a parent. Before COVID-19, parents, living far from in-laws and friends who could help with childcare, faced few options for quality care. Many companies provide little to no benefits for parents. An on-site daycare, even at a large corporation, is a scarce luxury. And then, there are parents who live in childcare deserts, with a hugely limited number of seats per child. Then, with COVID-19, companies demanded that parents complete full-time jobs while watching their children and educating them. Parents are in a double-bind, not enough time to spend with their children and few resources available when they need to be away to earn money to feed, clothe and educate them. 

We put so much on the shoulders of parents, too much for anyone. 

Even those of you who scraped by and managed to juggle it all without going over the edge are in the privileged position of having a place to sleep and food to give your children. So many parents in this country even send their children to school hungry. So many parents faced a year where they were able to provide no education to their child, because while their school attempted to do remote schooling (or worse was not able to put a plan in place at all), their child had no wifi or internet.  Imagine the shame and the pain of that. 


I can’t offer a solution to the stress and pain you’ve been under. I can’t tell you to just figure it out. 

That would be incredibly naive and presumptuous.

What I want to offer is a little piece of advice that helps me when I’ve hit rock bottom, when I have no money, no friends and no self-respect. I can’t figure out anything when I neglect to take care of myself.


So even if I think I don’t have one free second, I try to stop. 


I take one minute, and it’s ok if only one minute exists, to stop. 


To sit.


To take a walk. 


To breathe. 


To get away for one moment and give some space for silence. 


Even if you have kids you are raising on your own, you can find this moment, at the crack of dawn, when they finally all sleep, or finding a friend to give you just 30 minutes or an hour of childcare. Someone will, I promise if you open yourself to the possibilities .


And in this peace, when you’re not trying to figure it, out just sitting or walking or giving some attention to the silence, something will happen.

Maybe an insight will arise. Maybe it won’t.

But for sure, from this moment of stopping, from giving yourself just a moment in the chaos, clarity will start to emerge. 


And it will be better than before.

Maybe your mind will open to possibilities you hadn’t thought of before. Maybe you’ll just see yourself and be yourself for the first time in a long time, and get to feel how good that is, a little sweetness of life.

But for sure, you’ll be clearer from this foundation of silence and self-care, when you were just running.

So take a minute today for yourself, for the silence, to stop and breathe and give yourself a moment to just be. 


You never know what miracles can arise from that. 


Manisha Snoyer (co-founder of Modulo)

For the last 20 years, I’ve taught over 2000 children in 3 countries (of all socio-economic backgrounds). I pioneered an English language program in a conflict region in the Middle East. I’ve worked as a bilingual public school teacher at some of the highest and lowest performing public schools and in all five boroughs of NYC. I’ve tutored 18 subjects in three languages to some of the wealthiest families in NYC, San Francisco and Paris to make up for shortcomings in private schools they were paying up to $60,000 a year to attend.

Since 2015, I’ve helped hundreds of parents start microschools (way before this was a household buzzword). I founded CottageClass, the first marketplace for microschools and learning pods that was part of the Techstars 2018 class. In 2019, I created a virtual learning program to help families through the pandemic, a free online math tutoring program (masteryhour.org), and schoolclosures.org, a hotline developed in collaboration with Twilio and 80 other partners including Khan Academy, Revolution Foods and the Crisis Text Line, that served 100,000 families impacted by school closures.

I’ve climbed trees with children in forest schools in San Francisco, and tested new digital apps with kids in seven countries.

I’ve also coached dozens of families at different stages in their homeschooling journey. Most recently, I founded Modulo with homeschooling dad, best-selling author and tech entrepreneur Eric Ries, to help families curate their children’s education, social and childcare experiences drawing from a diverse array of in-person and online resources.


During the last three years, I’ve devoted much of my time to reviewing and testing secular homeschooling curriculum and other resource. I’ve spent the last three years talking to thousands of secular homeschooling families, and poring over tens of thousands of secular curriculum reviews and testing physical curriculum and digital apps for with hundreds of students to find the highest quality, most engaging, personalized learning materials for every type of learner.

I’ve spoken about homeschooling and modular learning at multiple venues including SXSW EDU, NY Tech Meetup, and on the LiberatedEd podcast.

In 2022, Modulo was one of 8 organizations who were awarded the Bridge Grant from the Vela Education Fund to expand access to homeschooling and modular learning to under-resourced communities.

My experience in education and homeschooling has led me to believe that there is no perfect education for every child, but families have an extraordinary amount of wisdom they can apply to building the perfect education for their individual child.

My goal with Modulo is to make it possible for any family to easily build a customized education that their child will love, and that will empower the whole family to thrive, taking into account, social, emotional and academic needs.

I love to answer questions from parents and receive feedback on how we can improve Modulo, so feel free to reach out anytime! I personally answer all the questions and comments readers leave on my blogs.

In my free time, I like hiking, traveling the world, tasting ceremonial grade matcha, enjoying dark chocolate.

I graduated Summa Cum Laude from Brandeis University with highest honors, with a double degree in French Literature and American Studies and minors in Environmental Studies and Peace & Conflict Studies.

And I love to learn!

https://www.linkedin.com/in/manisha-snoyer-5042298/
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