I don't know if the exclamation mark at the end of this post title is one of excitement or exasperation. I think from different perspectives different emotions apply. On the balance though, I'm glad school has been canceled for the remainder of the school year. I should clarify that the county public school system which my daughter attends school from, has canceled schools for the remainder of the year. My son's private, Montessori school has yet to make a final decision but given other mandates from the governor and decisions from other private schools, we are likely to hear a decision by Monday from his school as well.
Why am I glad about this? In part, I'm not. I would really, really like to have my weekdays back. It has been nice to participate in the education of our children, though. That's one of the benefits. It's participating without responsibility. Our children's teachers are trying to get the same level and quality of education via remote learning as they would have delivered in the classroom. There is some wide variation in how well this is being executed.
I'm not following trends or news on the schooling at home, but I have been asked to participate in several questionnaires which, from the questions being asked, leave me to believe not everyone is having the same level of success as we are at home with school. There are a lot of factors and we've got the best of all possible scenarios.
Firstly, our teachers are dedicated and driven to provide us with everything we need to continue school at home. Secondly, we have all the resources we need to complete the work. This is a combination of digital and physical resources. Some families may not have access to a computer or an internet connection at home. Others might not have materials to do art projects at home or a printer to print worksheets, for example. And lastly, we have the time to dedicate weekdays to further our children's education.
We've been told school can be completed in two hours per day. Or at least one teacher said that at one point. I think it was my daughter's main teacher. I think if she only did the minimum required that had to be turned in and didn't attend any online meetings with the classroom teacher, her daily meetings with her braillest and the weekly meeting with her VI teacher, we might be able to get everything done in two hours. But there is reading for a half-hour each day. And typing practice. And getting a little writing practice in like typing (not brailling) an email back to someone who's contacted her. If we did the absolute minimum, I think we could be done in two hours.
What would we do with my daughter for the rest of the day then? She is happiest when she's being productive, doing something interesting, or learning. So for her, school is a good thing. My son is doing well overall in school, but he benefits from completing the work. It's good for his mind.
Where was I? I've gotten interrupted writing this post about seven times and I am giving up getting back on track. The thing is, school at home is good. Aside from it taking lots of time. The schools have a challenge in that they need to grade and assess the students. There are "End of Grade" tests that my son, as a third-grader, is required to take and pass. That seems to be all out the window this year.
In the questionnaires I've responded to, there seems to be a lot of questions about the school system or teachers not being connected with the students. It leads me to believe there are families who are not getting the same level of engagement from their schools. One question that keeps coming up is if I think my child will be ready to move to the next grade. In our case I think we will be doing just as well if not better than we would have if our children had been at school, because we're doing everything we can at home, more in some cases because our school day is more efficient without all the interruptions and group transitions found in a classroom setting. The amount of time it takes my daughter's class to line up, go to the bathroom, get back in line, get to the cafeteria and then repeat in reverse order after lunch is an example.
We'll find out next year how well we did at home. For now, I'll repeat again how grateful we are for the teachers and administrators at my son and my daughter's schools for helping us keep learning going during COVID-19.
The Big Boy Update (from my son): My dad took away screens at the end of the day so I couldn't watch a movie. So I went into a closet and stayed there until nine o'clock because I was upset and my dad said there were no second chances.
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: My daughter doesn't like her desk. She thinks her brother had more space than she does. Her desk and his desks are very different in space and layout. Tomorrow she wants to go through her desk getting rid of things she doesn't want and rearrange the things she wants to keep.
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