2020-2021 School year

[aussiegirl]

What are your school's doing? How is it being handled? Does it seem to be going well? Are there lots of tears (both from you and your kids?) Does it seem well organized and you are being kept informed?

My oldest college has gone to all online. She only has 2 zoom meetings, the rest is all independent learning. We will see how this goes. None of my girls like online learning, they all would have preferred in person learning this year.

The school district decided on all online until the end of Oct when they will "reevaluate". The schedule looks weird, 3 classes M and R and 3 classes T and F. They are using weird terminology but not explaining it to us so we have no idea what any of it means. It currently looks like they do not have class on Wed. The information seems to keep changing, I dont' know if it's them reevaluating already and changing things up, or if it's just being worded weird each time messing it up. Noone is answering any questions we have, even when we were told to e-mail a specific person to submit our questions. Noone at the schools answer the phones, so we can't ask someone a question "in person".

My 8th grader has a small 30 min meeting with each teacher on the 1st official day of school. However, my High School students are scheduled to pick up material on their first official day of school.

I'm just trying to wrap my mind around it all and keep everyone's schedules figured out. Praying this year goes well for everyone, and for all you mama's out there!

 

[LynnZant]

I just went today to the drive thru the school set up to pick up books and supplies. I came home with a super heavy block of clay for a ceramics class. That class in my house is going to be a mess! lol I'll get my other daughter's stuff tomorrow.


We start remote learning on Sept. 1. They have adjusted the schedule also to have 16 periods in a day. That way if they go back in person, there will be more bells during the day but less kids in the hallways at a time. Unfortunately we are one of two counties in Ohio with crazy numbers. They will reevaluate after first quarter.


Although it's not safe for in school learning, I guess it's safe for sports and band. Go figure. I went to the first cross country meet of the season yesterday, and I'm going to the first football game to see the band. At least it wasn't a total wash for my senior.


Hang in there!

 

[aussiegirl]

I just went today to the drive thru the school set up to pick up books and supplies. I came home with a super heavy block of clay for a ceramics class. That class in my house is going to be a mess! lol I'll get my other daughter's stuff tomorrow.


We start remote learning on Sept. 1. They have adjusted the schedule also to have 16 periods in a day. That way if they go back in person, there will be more bells during the day but less kids in the hallways at a time. Unfortunately we are one of two counties in Ohio with crazy numbers. They will reevaluate after first quarter.


Although it's not safe for in school learning, I guess it's safe for sports and band. Go figure. I went to the first cross country meet of the season yesterday, and I'm going to the first football game to see the band. At least it wasn't a total wash for my senior.


Hang in there!

Oh my! 2 of my girls have Art classes too (one is drawing and painting). Thankfully we do have art supplies all over our house, but I agree, it will be crazy! Praying you find a good spot for her clay projects (I recommend saving newspapers to cover the table before she works).

Our sports schedule is crazy. Football has been moved to the spring apparently, and a daughter's friend was doing track (but I thought that was a Spring sport?) Who knows.

A friend said their choirs are only allowed to hum to the songs, not sing outloud.

 

[Kiana]

Our district decided to give parents/kids a choice for the first semester.
My daughter is a Junior and hates school anyway, she's a good learner and did well with virtual when COVID hit earlier this year, so we let her do virutal this semester.

My son needs the structure and instruction of in-person. He's a sophomore and he's doing in-person.

They started school Tuesday and the district has been crazy ...they haven't had any thing in order. I don't even think my daughter has her online courses yet.

 

[knittingbec]

We started last Thursday & are online only until at least October. When the city of Anchorage is below 30 cases (not sure if that means "new" or "active" cases?), then they'll have half of the students go 2 days & the other half the other 2, with everyone doing online the 5th day.

My kids' classes/teachers seem organized, but the school itself seems to be operating at the last minute.

Both of my kids' teachers are very sweet & I can see the effort they're putting in to make this work. But...my son's teacher was doing a lesson on feelings & asked them to name & describe a feeling & my son unmuted & said "Bored. It's basically how I'm feeling in this class." Not my proudest mom moment....... There is now a sign in his workspace with big bold letters reading: Pleasant. Polite. Positive.

 

[aussiegirl]

Our district decided to give parents/kids a choice for the first semester.
My daughter is a Junior and hates school anyway, she's a good learner and did well with virtual when COVID hit earlier this year, so we let her do virutal this semester.

My son needs the structure and instruction of in-person. He's a sophomore and he's doing in-person.

They started school Tuesday and the district has been crazy ...they haven't had any thing in order. I don't even think my daughter has her online courses yet.

I'm glad they got the chance to chose! That is what we were hoping/fighting for too, but it didn't work! Praying your daughter's classes get figured out and that your son does well this year!

 

[aussiegirl]

We started last Thursday & are online only until at least October. When the city of Anchorage is below 30 cases (not sure if that means "new" or "active" cases?), then they'll have half of the students go 2 days & the other half the other 2, with everyone doing online the 5th day.

My kids' classes/teachers seem organized, but the school itself seems to be operating at the last minute.

Both of my kids' teachers are very sweet & I can see the effort they're putting in to make this work. But...my son's teacher was doing a lesson on feelings & asked them to name & describe a feeling & my son unmuted & said "Bored. It's basically how I'm feeling in this class." Not my proudest mom moment....... There is now a sign in his workspace with big bold letters reading: Pleasant. Polite. Positive.

LOL! That is too funny! But I'm sure it's true of many kids! My oldest college student jumped right into a lesson, no review or anything. I told her you had 5 months off, there's no time for review! It's just start learning now!

Praying your son can find parts of his classes that are entertaining and educational and that he isn't "bored" any longer! I didn't realize you were in Alaska! That's so cool! That is one of my achievable bucket list places! I have a friend from college who lives in Glennallen (not that I know where that is, but I feel "connected" to Alaska having a friend there!)

 

[cherrygutz]

Our school has a full remote learning until further notice. I am very grateful for all the teachers and staff from our school because they really did everything and just sent us parents all the pdfs and all we have to do was print them all out. Schedule, checklist of how we will know if our kid/s were done for the day, kids' own checklist, links and mirror of what the kids are doing in each subject.

Two weeks ago, we also had a drive by to pick up books and some art supplies. Since I ordered early on the school box supplies, I just kept it here for when they get to go back to school or for the next year.

Although the class starts at 8 till 3pm and my daughter was on the laptop that whole schedule, we try our best to be sure she wears her glasses and when it's break time, to have a screen break as well. That's the only thing I'm concerned about.

I'm feeling sad reading through the district's fb page where some parents are blaming the system and geting angry, you know. So I just avoid rading the comment section and just go straight to the announcements.

 

[carrie1977]

Our District is online (with Zoom instruction) because we live in a county on the watch list in Cali. My kids are in 7th and 8th grade. Their schedule looks like this:

So far, all is going well. My daughter is our introvert and she is totally living her best life right now. I think she will have to go back once we can because she is taking a CTE course that most likely requires her to be on campus for instruction and job shadowing. My son is our social butterfly and will want to go back to see his friends. I don't know when that will be though. It all depends on the governor.

I work in the tech dept for our school district. It has been a hellish two weeks. We are all running on fumes here.

 

[joelsgirl]

Both of my kids' teachers are very sweet & I can see the effort they're putting in to make this work. But...my son's teacher was doing a lesson on feelings & asked them to name & describe a feeling & my son unmuted & said "Bored. It's basically how I'm feeling in this class." Not my proudest mom moment....... There is now a sign in his workspace with big bold letters reading: Pleasant. Polite. Positive.

I FEEL YOU! Ariana's PE teacher sent me an email with all the comments she posted in the chat during their first class Zoom.
"Bored."
"Oh glory stop."
"Will this ever end????"
And she's in third grade. So much to look forward to with this one! :crying:

 

[3BluEyedBabies]

Our kids' school gave us 3 choices. They can go to school 5 days a week (face-to face), do 'virtual school' which they subconctracted out to some IU13 program, or they can go all homeschool. My kids are all doing face to face. They miss their friends, teachers, and a sense of normalcy. I think its so very important for their physical and mental health to be among their peers again. My kids are in 11th, 8th, and 5th. My oldest is going to our county's career and technology center for culinary arts. She just started on Tuesday. It's only for two hours and then she'll go back to her high school. She hasn't been able to ger her driver's liscense yer (thanks, COVID!), so we have been taking her to that every morning, but once school offically starts, I don't know how I'm going to get her to school and be home to get my youngest on the bus. She only has 5 kids in her class and she made a new girl friend that she's excited about and she really likes her teacher/chef. She has to wear a full chef's uniform and everything! I'm so glad that the CTC is open. She lost so many opportunities last year that she really needed this. The first day was a bit chaotic, but she managed. Their school district starts on Sept 1, and we don't even know what time the school day is starting or when they are to get the bus. Still a bit to figure out...

 

[3BluEyedBabies]

I just went today to the drive thru the school set up to pick up books and supplies. I came home with a super heavy block of clay for a ceramics class. That class in my house is going to be a mess! lol I'll get my other daughter's stuff tomorrow.


We start remote learning on Sept. 1. They have adjusted the schedule also to have 16 periods in a day. That way if they go back in person, there will be more bells during the day but less kids in the hallways at a time. Unfortunately we are one of two counties in Ohio with crazy numbers. They will reevaluate after first quarter.


Although it's not safe for in school learning, I guess it's safe for sports and band. Go figure. I went to the first cross country meet of the season yesterday, and I'm going to the first football game to see the band. At least it wasn't a total wash for my senior.


Hang in there!

That's strange that they are doing sports & band and not in person schooling. My kids (11th & 8th) have been doing voluntary cross country practice 2-3 days a week for the last month. They are LOVING being with friends again, even if they have to wear a mask at times (when not actually running or working out).

 

[3BluEyedBabies]

We started last Thursday & are online only until at least October. When the city of Anchorage is below 30 cases (not sure if that means "new" or "active" cases?), then they'll have half of the students go 2 days & the other half the other 2, with everyone doing online the 5th day.

My kids' classes/teachers seem organized, but the school itself seems to be operating at the last minute.

Both of my kids' teachers are very sweet & I can see the effort they're putting in to make this work. But...my son's teacher was doing a lesson on feelings & asked them to name & describe a feeling & my son unmuted & said "Bored. It's basically how I'm feeling in this class." Not my proudest mom moment....... There is now a sign in his workspace with big bold letters reading: Pleasant. Polite. Positive.

LOL! My son had such a hard time with the virtual stuff last year. He's only 10 and he was so bored! I really don't think he learned ANYTHING. The few assignments he was given were things he did in maybe 2nd or 3rd grade and Half the time, only 5-6 kids would show up in their group zoom meetings. His teacher never corrected them if they had a wrong answer and by the end of the school year, she just kept telling them to "do your best" and "stop if you get frustrated!" which didn't teach them anything and most kids just stopped participating at all. It was really just a complete waste of a year. I feel like they have SO much to catch up on now. Love the "pleasant, polite, positive!"

 

[farrijc]

We started Monday online... but only made it to Tuesday at noon before school got cancelled because of Hurricane Laura. We had the choice of 100 % online or going back in person. My junior chose in person and my freshman and 7th grader chose online. But for now, everyone is online - I think the intention is for everyone to get comfortable online for if/when we have to shut down because of too many positive cases. My junior will physically go back on 9/14 if nothing changes. We are able to change our decision at the end of a grading period, so there is some flexibility. And while it is online, they still have to check in for each period - much more organized and more face time than what happened in the spring.

 

[aussiegirl]

Our school has a full remote learning until further notice. I am very grateful for all the teachers and staff from our school because they really did everything and just sent us parents all the pdfs and all we have to do was print them all out. Schedule, checklist of how we will know if our kid/s were done for the day, kids' own checklist, links and mirror of what the kids are doing in each subject.

Two weeks ago, we also had a drive by to pick up books and some art supplies. Since I ordered early on the school box supplies, I just kept it here for when they get to go back to school or for the next year.

Although the class starts at 8 till 3pm and my daughter was on the laptop that whole schedule, we try our best to be sure she wears her glasses and when it's break time, to have a screen break as well. That's the only thing I'm concerned about.

I'm feeling sad reading through the district's fb page where some parents are blaming the system and geting angry, you know. So I just avoid rading the comment section and just go straight to the announcements.

This sounds very organized, I'm glad! While we are frustrated, we are trying not to be mad. We know this is new for all of us and they are doing their best, they just need to keep us more informed than they are!

 

[aussiegirl]

Our District is online (with Zoom instruction) because we live in a county on the watch list in Cali. My kids are in 7th and 8th grade. Their schedule looks like this:

So far, all is going well. My daughter is our introvert and she is totally living her best life right now. I think she will have to go back once we can because she is taking a CTE course that most likely requires her to be on campus for instruction and job shadowing. My son is our social butterfly and will want to go back to see his friends. I don't know when that will be though. It all depends on the governor.

I work in the tech dept for our school district. It has been a hellish two weeks. We are all running on fumes here.

What is a CTE course? Sounds interesting! It's going to be hard keeping track of these weird schedules! Good luck to you all! Praying all the work you have put in will prove well and you can relax some!

 

[aussiegirl]

Our kids' school gave us 3 choices. They can go to school 5 days a week (face-to face), do 'virtual school' which they subconctracted out to some IU13 program, or they can go all homeschool. My kids are all doing face to face. They miss their friends, teachers, and a sense of normalcy. I think its so very important for their physical and mental health to be among their peers again. My kids are in 11th, 8th, and 5th. My oldest is going to our county's career and technology center for culinary arts. She just started on Tuesday. It's only for two hours and then she'll go back to her high school. She hasn't been able to ger her driver's liscense yer (thanks, COVID!), so we have been taking her to that every morning, but once school offically starts, I don't know how I'm going to get her to school and be home to get my youngest on the bus. She only has 5 kids in her class and she made a new girl friend that she's excited about and she really likes her teacher/chef. She has to wear a full chef's uniform and everything! I'm so glad that the CTC is open. She lost so many opportunities last year that she really needed this. The first day was a bit chaotic, but she managed. Their school district starts on Sept 1, and we don't even know what time the school day is starting or when they are to get the bus. Still a bit to figure out...

Ooh fun! Have you scrapped any of her creations? I'm sure she'll be amazing if she choses that as a career!
Driver's Ed has been crazy! My daughter had to finish classes online, then go to a park with lawn chairs to take the test. We are waiting to find out how they will do the actual driving test. Here they use OUR car and the instructor rides with us. Not sure if they will do that, or require her to wear a mask (which I don't believe anyone should while driving). Once we can figure out the driver's test....she is set!

 

[aussiegirl]

We started Monday online... but only made it to Tuesday at noon before school got cancelled because of Hurricane Laura. We had the choice of 100 % online or going back in person. My junior chose in person and my freshman and 7th grader chose online. But for now, everyone is online - I think the intention is for everyone to get comfortable online for if/when we have to shut down because of too many positive cases. My junior will physically go back on 9/14 if nothing changes. We are able to change our decision at the end of a grading period, so there is some flexibility. And while it is online, they still have to check in for each period - much more organized and more face time than what happened in the spring.

Oh no! Be safe! I think being informed of how online learning will work is a positive. Especially if schools end up shutting down again (praying that doesn't happen, but only God knows). It's good that this Fall will be more organized than the spring, only time will tell if it actually works for everyone I guess.

 

[LeeAndra]

My kids went back to school August 12. Their district had originally offered in-person, live virtual, and self-paced but then the county health officer shut all the schools (4 different districts) in the county down at the beginning of August so everyone is virtual until late September or early October. I had signed both of my kids up for self-paced knowing how bored they were with remote learning over the spring but I was strongly discouraged by the district to do that "unless absolutely necessary."

My daughter is in sixth grade & has an incredible teacher with most of the same classmates she had last year so she's a non-issue. She doesn't enjoy being online for school but she manages. My son is in first grade & we are still working on keeping him focused and not frustrated though he has gotten better each day. His teacher is an absolute saint to put up with twenty 6-year-olds constantly asking her to repeat herself, if they can go to the bathroom, if it's time for lunch yet, etc. let alone having to constantly remind them to mute themselves, face the camera, and pay attention. I still think he would do better being self-paced and if they go back to in-person instruction before I'm comfortable with it, I might push for that for him.

They both start at 8:45 am, have a break from 10:15-10:30 am, and eat lunch from 11:30 am - 12:30 pm. My son has another half hour of class after that and then is supposed to do the online reading program or online math program for 20-30 minutes. My daughter has another 1 1/2 hours of school after lunch. With the shortened class day, my daughter gets live "specials" (art, gym, music, & library) but my son does not. I guess he's supposed to do those on his own time? I haven't bothered to look at them yet.

After they're both done for the day, I make them go outside for "recess" for 60-90 minutes (depending on the weather) before they read for awhile and then can do what they want as long as they are not playing video games or watching YouTube videos. I do allow my daughter to chat with her best friend on Google Chat (neither has a cell phone) and I do allow my son to watch lyric videos on YouTube on the TV. They can watch shows/movies and play Roblox on the weekend.

 

[joelsgirl]

The president of the Philippines said nobody will be back in the classroom until there is a vaccine...how long will it take for a usable vaccine to be available & purchased by the Philippines and then for all of the millions of school aged children to receive it? It's such a mess. They've postponed school from the first of June to Oct 5 to give teachers time to prepare; most schools will be using "Modules", which is a fancy way of saying Worksheet Packets. Our school & other private schools have already started and are online.
The hardest thing for me is teaching 3 classes AND supervising my easily-distracted 3rd grader at the same time. I'm calling it "The year our kids learned nothing but at least we didn't kill them." That is literally the best outcome i can hope for at this point.

 

[jacinda]

I'm glad my girls are teenagers and that their school has been well organised for distance learning. Not all High Schools here have been so lucky. Lots of senior students at other schools have had to leave to get a job and help their families, so I'm feeling for them.

We started the year off normal, then went into a 7-8 week lockdown where the kids did all online learning. The teachers would set tasks each Monday, and my girls just worked away at it during the week. After lockdown everything returned to normal for 102 days. Kids went back to school full time, with very little learning missed.

Then we got another wave of Covid in the country, and our city went into lockdown again for 3 weeks. We come out of it this weekend, and the kids go back to school Monday. As far as we've been told, nothing changes with their school schedules. Regular classes as normal, but with an emphasis on helping those seniors who will be sitting exams at the end of the year.

The overall impact of online learning on my 13yr old has been nil. The 16yr old however, has 3 practical classes. While they've managed to work on the theoretical aspects of those classes over lockdown, catching up on the practical elements will be interesting. I think she's still in a good space to do well in her exams though. Fingers crossed we don't have anymore lockdowns between now and end of year. Highly likely to happen though.

 

[knittingbec]

I FEEL YOU! Ariana's PE teacher sent me an email with all the comments she posted in the chat during their first class Zoom.
"Bored."
"Oh glory stop."
"Will this ever end????"
And she's in third grade. So much to look forward to with this one! :crying:

Well, I must say it's a relief to know I'm not the only one! Mine is also in 3rd grade...going on 17, apparently

 

[knittingbec]

LOL! That is too funny! But I'm sure it's true of many kids! My oldest college student jumped right into a lesson, no review or anything. I told her you had 5 months off, there's no time for review! It's just start learning now!

Praying your son can find parts of his classes that are entertaining and educational and that he isn't "bored" any longer! I didn't realize you were in Alaska! That's so cool! That is one of my achievable bucket list places! I have a friend from college who lives in Glennallen (not that I know where that is, but I feel "connected" to Alaska having a friend there!)

We've been in Alaska for just a month now. We passed Glennallen on our drive here. It's a beautiful area! I was just looking tonight at a campground there for next weekend, but opted for a different area/activity set...definitely have to spend some time there next camping season though!

 

[knittingbec]

A friend said their choirs are only allowed to hum to the songs, not sing outloud.

:blink: I'm so intrigued by this. I mean, I guess I can understand the rationale for not singing. But is choir without singing still choir? But at the same time... I wouldn't miss the chance to see their "concert"

 

[Neverland Scraps]

Oldest - taking a semester off of college while the school tried to figure out education.

On post school children had a choice of going to school 5 days a week (no altered schedule), virtual or homeschool.
11th grade - We opted for virtual schooling with her. School "technically" started on Monday, but due to the overwhelming amount of students enrolled virtually, it's taking longer to get the kids in their classes. Today she just got three of her five class assignments and has a meeting with her teachers for a "get to know me" session. But school "technically" starts on Monday now.

2nd grade - Because of his immunity, he's not going to school and I was not dealing with the whole virtual aspect with him again this semester, so we took him out of school is now being homeschooled. He will start on Monday with me.

 

[stephc777]

My college age daughter starts Monday in-person. The school is being very aggressive in their campaign to get the students to stay masked and well. She is really hoping to be able to complete this year (her senior year) in person. She is a leader in one of the choirs at her school and she says that they are masking & social distancing while they sing in practice and if they are having individual sectional rehearsals, they are also required to use face shields - very challenging environment.

My high school sophomore son did not do well in quarantine caused online school in the spring. He needs a lot of structure and in person school is much better for him. He started in person with masks last week (he attends private school). Most schools in our area are either delayed start or online for at least the first 2-4 weeks. He is doing marching band for the first time and there are very specific requirements related to social distancing for band rehearsal time. He is loving seeing his friends, but he says that the school part is hard with all the masking and the teachers with so many more requirements on them (being videotaped every class for kids who miss school because of sickness, cleaning between every class, social distancing, harder to assess engagement of the students with the material presented because of masks, etc.) I think it would be very hard to be a teacher right now. They are my heroes!

 

[nesser1981]

We haven't started in this part of Michigan yet. They were suppose to start the 31st, but a few weeks ago, they pushed the start back to a our traditional first day of school, Tuesday after Labor Day.

My kids are all going back in person, but I think it's only a matter of time before all the kids are back at home again. I'm still working from home, but should that change, I didn't have to worry about the kids school stuff. Plus, they will do better at school, than distance learning.

We have less than 500 cases in our whole county and for the most part its pretty rural here.

 

[Robin Carlton]

We just finished week two of distance learning here in Charlotte with my two high schoolers and it's been super smooth. I have a parent account on Canvas and can observe their assignments / lectures if I want. Our district sent home chromebooks for every student in the district so the kids all had the same materials / access. You can tell they've been working on this for months and it's looking good over here in NC!

We initially were given the option of opting in to remote learning vs. in person classes (we opted in because I just cant see sending the kids back to school as being safe), but within a week of giving parents the option, the district had said that ALL students would be remote for the first part of the year, so that was that. Since we opted in to remote learning, they don't have the option of switching back to in person classes until after the first semester ends, so we'll re-evaluate things in Dec/Jan and see what we're going to do for second semester. Its not an issue for my senior because she's graduating early and is done in Jan, but for my 10th grader... we shall see. A LOT will have to change for me to feel comfortable sending him back frankly.

All of that said, I feel incredibly grateful that I have older kids who are independent learners. I think I would lose my mind if I had 3 elementary school kids that I had to suddenly teach or keep focused on computers for classes all day or do ceramics with... good lord, you girls doing that are heroic!

 

[Kimberly27]

We are finishing up week 1 of virtual learning...We are 100% virtual here for first 2 weeks then we have the option to go in person but I have a feeling that won't happen. The cases have been too high so I think it will be the lower income kids, special needs, kids that have lower grades that will go back first then our kids. My 5th grader will hopefully go back in person soon, maybe October hopefully sooner or I may loose my mind. We have the option to bring him home if we want and he can go virtual. They are online with the teacher for about 30 mins or so for 4 or 5 times during the day then they have assignments. We are using an app called Schoology and then Zoom. It SUCKS to be 100% honest. I am constantly having to make sure he is logged on to his class, make sure he focusing. Thankfully they aren't piling homework on top of this.
My 11th grader is live the first 20mins of each class but he is almost 16 and he is major OCD so he is doing fine. IF we go back to in person the high school will do a hybrid schedule, alternating days home vs days in person to cut down on the number of kids on campus since the schools are so large here.
My 5th grader needs to be in person...he doesn't focus well or learn well on his own. I have also noticed that since we have been stuck in the house since MARCH he has developed some serious attachment to me. We left him in Virginia with his grandparents for about 2 weeks and he was calling me every day for no reason. They go every year and have since he was about 3 so this was crazy that he was wanting me. I am not a helicopter type parent so this clingy kid thing is driving me bonkers LOL We never go anywhere since everything closed down in March...A lot of restaurants are still closed or just barely opened...we have gotten in habit of not eating out or just doing take out. I order groceries now and have them delivered. The only time we have to leave is his gymnastics class or if we have to go to a doc appointment....We are becoming hermits! LOL COVID needs to go away!

 

[LynnZant]

Good luck homeschooling, Wendy! You have a strength that I do not possess.


Robin, I too feel blessed to have older kids. I'm not a great teacher and don't want to try and be one now.

 

[aussiegirl]

We've been in Alaska for just a month now. We passed Glennallen on our drive here. It's a beautiful area! I was just looking tonight at a campground there for next weekend, but opted for a different area/activity set...definitely have to spend some time there next camping season though!

Her and her husband actually run a campground and water center? Something along those lines! Too funny if it was her's! I hope you get to go! She's constantly talking about wildlife and their adventures!

 

[aussiegirl]

I'm also very thankful my girls are all older and can kind of manage on their own! I feel sorry for the littles that are expected to be on the computers for so long each day. I think many will opt for Homeschooling them!

I feel so badly for all the kids during this! So many who will fall behind, not get the personal/individual help they need. Those who really WANT to learn, but just don't do well in the learning environment they are now faced with. This will be another hard year. Praying things improve quickly, for these kids sakes!

 

[Tree City]

My kids' district delayed their start date. They start a couple weeks from now. (It feels SO LATE!) It will be virtual for at least the first 1.5 months.

So, I don't yet have any info on my own children's BTS, but I wanted to pop in and say HANG IN THERE to everyone in this thread. We are all doing the best we can for our children, and thankfully so are their teachers. Keeping everyone safe is the top priority, and kids are resilient...they're also better with tech than most adults lol, so they'll figure out this e-learning.

 

[rach3975]

I have a feeling this is going to turn into a novel--sorry in advance! We were first given the option of all virtual or hybrid with 2 in-person days a week. Unfortunately, they said that our choice had to be for the entire year and there would be no changes allowed. So even though I didn't really feel safe sending my kids back, I also couldn't see declaring in July 2020 that they wouldn't be back in a classroom until September 2021. So we chose hybrid. A few weeks later the district reversed course and decided we'd all be 100% virtual until further notice, which I'm glad about (at least for now).

Thankfully our district has been very organized about distance learning. (Which is also why they made people commit to a full year, since students would have been in either a hybrid class or a 100% virtual class.) This should have been our first week, but they postponed 2 weeks to give themselves more time to prepare. Teachers came back as originally scheduled, so they'll have 3 weeks of prep and training instead of the usual 1. Our district was already in the middle of a multi-year plan to provide each student with a laptop. Last year (pre-Covid) it was all the high schoolers, and they'd already planned to expand to all middle schoolers this year. In light of Covid they've added the older elementary grades, so all students from 5th grade on got a school-provided laptop. (And anyone younger than that who needed one got one, too.)

Our virtual schedule will mimic the regular day. Kids will be online during their regular school hours (ie, 8:30-3:15), but teachers have been instructed to spend part of each class period doing live teaching and interactive groups and the rest in independent work, some of which will be screen-free. Mondays are for small groups (pulling kids in as needed for extra help), special ed services, and teacher planning/student independent work. I already know my 9th grader will have his speech therapy on Mondays, and the rest we'll see about later.

So as far as virtual goes, I feel like our district is doing the best they can with it, at least according to what they've told us. They're in the middle of making plans to bring back certain populations in person (the youngest kids, kids with the most significant special needs, etc.). But to be honest, I'm skeptical that the rest of the kids will get any in person teaching at all this year. They've already decided that their previously planned hybrid approach is not happening since schools elsewhere that started with that model have had outbreaks. They have a long list of metrics that have to happen in order to reopen in person (beyond the few priority populations), and some are conditions I don't think they'll be able to meet, like having enough substitute teachers available. They've already said that they only have a fraction of their usual subs available since many are retired teachers and at high risk.

My 11th and 6th graders are self-directed and responsible (and in honors classes), so they did well with distance learning last year. They complain that it's the worst parts of school without the best parts (friends, etc.) but they'll manage. It's my 9th grader who I'm concerned about. He participates in the online lessons without a problem and learns the content, but he needs SO MUCH HELP from me to complete work. He's on the autism spectrum and has ADHD, plus he has a writing disability and fine motor issues that make it very difficult for him to complete anything close to the same volume of written work as the other kids. Essentially, the only way we can get through it all is for him to dictate and me to type. (Because of his speech disorder he can't just use speech to text software or record answers.) He did okay last year when he already knew his teachers and classmates, but I don't know how he'll do when he doesn't already have connections. I'm crossing my fingers that he'll end up knowing at least a few kids in each class. The one thing I disapprove of in our district's handling of all of this is that kids like Ben (who are in special ed for most academics but spend some of their time in gen ed classes or electives) aren't one of the priority groups who might get in person schooling at some point.

 

[TraceyM]

My daughter is at the University of Oregon. Go Ducks! She is entering her 3rd year there actually as a senior. (She is in a special accelerated program and next year will do her masters!) Last year, she and friends moved into an apartment across the street from the university. Until a couple of days ago, UO was going to try to do some actual classes but have just switched to almost all online after watching what is happening at other universities. Because her school is on the quarter system, they don't start until the end of September and we were able to watch what happened elsewhere. But she is an introvert and as someone else in the thread said, is living her best life right now. LOL. She enjoys plenty of zoom fun with her friends and does have all sorts of volunteer/paid work with the school that has also moved online. I so hope they eventually start getting real in person classes again as for her, learning to talk with people face-to-face is very important before she hits the work world.

We are going to take her back to her college apartment towards the end of September and I guess unless something changes, the only reason she'll have to leave her apartment will be to go to the grocery store!! I'm glad that she has felt comfortable with the online learning and is still rocking her grades.

I feel so bad for the parents of young kids, the single parents, the parents of kids who have trouble with learning online, the special needs students, the kids who are going nuts not being able to just hang with their friends. But we'll all continue to do this and we are all in it though some have it far harder than I do, heck, even my husband is about to retire and not have to be around people. Not knowing if we would have the random child that dies from this virus, not knowing if we will have the random child that has longterm symptoms and after effects from this virus, and not knowing if they will also infect us and others, makes the choice to bravely keep up our 'suffering' easy for me.