Are you sending your kids to school next month?

[sk!mom]

I'm actually the exact opposite, I sent my elementary kid back with confidence, middle and high schoolers would be a much more difficult decision for me due to the class changes. My 2nd grader has 6 kids in his cohort and 5 in his latchkey program.

My decision would have been based on not wanting an elementary student to have this weird experience- tiny group/ maybe friends/ maybe not/ lunch behind a divider/ masks worn all day. Plus, I’m confident that I could keep an elementary student on track, probably ahead of where they need to be.

Middle school we probably also would have been good virtually. By high school, my kids were taking AP and dual credit and I’d have had tough decisions about whether the virtual was keeping them on track. I would not have felt confident that I/we could have supplemented if necessary. Plus, my kids were self sufficient educationally by middle and high school. I’m not sure that I would have even known if they were falling behind.

 

[mom2rtk]

Wouldn't it be more damaging to have Grandma, Grampy, or even Dad or Mom die from COVID that the kid brought home from school?

My parents would be mortified to think they stood in the way of their grandkids' educations. They know enough about how the virus is transmitted and would have happily stayed away if it meant they could go back to school. We're in uncharted territory now in terms of the damage this is going to do. It will be real, and it will be lasting.

 

[godisney14]

Or perhaps they understand just how damaging this all is to the students’ educations.

Well, more than half of our population still prefers remote learning for now. So,......

 

[mom2rtk]

Well, more than half of our population still prefers remote learning for now. So,......

That doesn't mean it's what's best for the kids.

 

[godisney14]

That doesn't mean it's what's best for the kids.

Before all of this, I used to be one of those that were not even remotely open to homeschooling. But, this situation has definitely opened up my mind. As I did more research into options, there are many homeschool children who go onto very good colleges and careers. Just as there are many students who fail in traditional school settings.

What exactly makes you believe that in-person learning is the best for everyone, even against what most parents here prefer for now?

Let’s just agree that there’s no single solution that works best for everyone.

With so many families (at least in my area) wanting to continue remote learning at the moment, I would hope the schools will equally support both forms of learning if they ever decide to allow students back in a limited form. Although, that seems to not be possible as is.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

I also agree that as a society, in modern times, we've gotten used to having others spend a lot of time taking care of our kids. We expect schools to feed them, teach them how to be nice, take care of them when they are sick (physically and emotionally), teach them manners, etc, on top of academics. That's why some parents are so lost now having to take care of their own kids. And the fact that some parents supposedly can't teach their kids how to read and write and do basic math?

I'll retract my earlier statement. I think you know exactly how you're coming off. Please do continue insulting people, it doesn't make your point though like you think it does. Have a good rest of your evening

 

[mom2rtk]

Before all of this, I used to be one of those that were not even remotely open to homeschooling. But, this situation has definitely opened up my mind. As I did more research into options, there are many homeschool children who go onto very good colleges and careers. Just as there are many students who fail in traditional school settings.

What exactly makes you believe that in-person learning is the best for everyone, even against what most parents here prefer for now?

Let’s just agree that there’s no single solution that works best for everyone.

With so many families (at least in my area) wanting to continue remote learning at the moment, I would hope the schools will equally support both forms of learning if they ever decide to allow students back in a limited form. Although, that seems to not be possible as is.

I think remote learning can be great for some kids. Each person answering the poll only had to answer based on what's best for their own kids. Your school board members had to consider what was best for the full range of kids, including the ones that don't have the support at home to make a success of it.

I don't disagree with what you're saying. But I do disagree with you jumping to the conclusion that the school board members must have had some ulterior motive in wanting in person instruction. It's entirely possible they are considering the interests of the full range of students and came to a different conclusion from you.

 

[SamFaniam]

One reason why it can’t be done yet (besides the important county’s coronavirus cases count) is more teachers would be needed to teach both in-person and remote students. I can’t imagine any, even remote, scenario that remote learning is dissolved for this school year. Hard to do both with just the existing pool of teachers, and not enough money to somehow double the teacher headcount.

Where my niece goes to school, they haven’t hired any additional teachers, the regular classroom teachers are also expected to do the students that are remote. The remote kids are assigned to their class just like that in person kids are and they use zoom, I think, to look in on the class. My niece is frustrated because she doesn’t think most people are being safe enough at school, and she’s not allowed to switch to remote at this point in time, and the teachers spend a lot of class time trying to help the kids who are not in class. I think that the thought was when this was chosen as her option, that the virtual kids would have their own separate class. That was the information that was distributed by the district. Evidently, however, that was never actually going to happen. So, at least from her point of view, this isn’t working for in person or remote. Other kids might have a different opinion of course.

 

[godisney14]

Where my niece goes to school, they haven’t hired any additional teachers, the regular classroom teachers are also expected to do the students that are remote. The remote kids are assigned to their class just like that in person kids are and they use zoom, I think, to look in on the class. My niece is frustrated because she doesn’t think most people are being safe enough at school, and she’s not allowed to switch to remote at this point in time, and the teachers spend a lot of class time trying to help the kids who are not in class. I think that the thought was when this was chosen as her option, that the virtual kids would have their own separate class. That was the information that was distributed by the district. Evidently, however, that was never actually going to happen. So, at least from her point of view, this isn’t working for in person or remote. Other kids might have a different opinion of course.

Yea, I think requiring the same teacher to try instruct both groups, in-person and online, at the same time is a disservice to both the teacher and the students.

 

[firefly_ris]

So far so good. My older two kids are doing hybrid at the public school (which just started this week) so they are attending in person on Thurs, Fri and every other Wed. My youngest is attending a private school 5 days per week, that starts next week so we'll see what she thinks.

We had less than 100 students in the entire district opt for fully remote learning.

 

[MomOfDisneyPrincess]

Is your work close to home so she can go there when she’s done with school? I don’t expect my seniors to spend more that a few hours a day in school.

Not close enough to walk, but close enough that I could drive her home and come back, if necessary.

 

[VandVsmama]

We received notification this evening from our school that in-person instruction will be an option starting 9/28. We need to inform the school of our decision (all online or all in person) by the end of next week. There's no hybrid option. Over the summer, 70% of parents said they wanted their kids to remain with online instruction. If you want to switch, you'll be able to do so at the end of each grading period. We are going with the in-person option.

 

[godisney14]

We received notification this evening from our school that in-person instruction will be an option starting 9/28. We need to inform the school of our decision (all online or all in person) by the end of next week. There's no hybrid option. Over the summer, 70% of parents said they wanted their kids to remain with online instruction. If you want to switch, you'll be able to do so at the end of each grading period. We are going with the in-person option.

How is your school going to handle teaching two separate groups (students online and students in class)?

 

[VandVsmama]

How is your school going to handle teaching two separate groups (students online and students in class)?

They developed a staffing plan and got it set up over the summer. Teachers who are primarily doing the online instruction were given additional training over the summer. They basically took what worked well between March and May and improved upon it and then scrapped the things from that same time period which didn't work well.

Each class/subject has 2 'synchronous' days per week and 3 'asynchronous' days. Students have to 'sign in' online at the start of each class...this is how they take attendance. For the 'synchronous' class days, there's an online 'live' interactive lecture between the teacher and the students. Teacher does video, students usually not on video. Some classes like English or History will have break-out sessions on the synchronous days where they break out into smaller groups for, let's say, 10 min, to discuss a history or english topic and then everybody rejoins the original 'meeting' on Microsoft Teams. That's worked out well so far.

On the 'asynchronous' days, the teacher has a pre-recorded lesson & an assignment is explained. The teacher is required to be online and available to talk with students during the class period on asynchronous days. Students can send messages via MS Teams to the teacher. In addition, the teacher has the option to do on-the-fly voice sessions with students who are struggling or need extra time in class to have things explained to them.

The school is still arranging online student hours. Normally, this school has 1 or 2 dedicated times before and/or after school for each subject in each grade for students to go get extra help from the teacher. Appointments are not required. You just show up. Very similar to professors' office hours in college. So, for example, my 9th grader's math teacher is already doing this. His student hours are Tues & Thurs 4-5 pm. For the class on that day, when student hours for his class begin, he posts the link for the student hours "meeting" in the appropriate "channel" in MS Teams. You click on the link and join the conference call. My daughter attends these regularly and it's helped immensely.

 

[godisney14]

Each class/subject has 2 'synchronous' days per week and 3 'asynchronous' days. Students have to 'sign in' online at the start of each class...this is how they take attendance.

On the 'asynchronous' days, the teacher has a pre-recorded lesson & an assignment is explained. The teacher is required to be online and available to talk with students during the class period on asynchronous days. Students can send messages via MS Teams to the teacher. In addition, the teacher has the option to do on-the-fly voice sessions with students who are struggling or need extra time in class to have things explained to them.

I don’t get it. So, why do they have to separate the week into synchronous days and asynchronous days when the teacher is required to still be online for on-demand audio help on the asynchronous days. Might as well just include a video feed in addition to the audio feed on those 3 asynchronous days, no? What is limiting them to not have a video feed for 3 of the days?

 

[we"reofftoneverland]

ours are in full time school already! Time to get back to normal.

 

[VandVsmama]

I don’t get it. So, why do they have to separate the week into synchronous days and asynchronous days when the teacher is required to still be online for on-demand audio help on the asynchronous days. Might as well just include a video feed in addition to the audio feed on those 3 asynchronous days, no? What is limiting them to not have a video feed for 3 of the days?

I don't know the answer to those questions. What I do know, however, is that my kids have been at it with this method for a month now and it's going fine so far. It's WAY better than how they did online instruction from March to May of this year. It's SO much better.

 

[Mrs. Ciz]

Where my niece goes to school, they haven’t hired any additional teachers, the regular classroom teachers are also expected to do the students that are remote. The remote kids are assigned to their class just like that in person kids are and they use zoom, I think, to look in on the class. My niece is frustrated because she doesn’t think most people are being safe enough at school, and she’s not allowed to switch to remote at this point in time, and the teachers spend a lot of class time trying to help the kids who are not in class. I think that the thought was when this was chosen as her option, that the virtual kids would have their own separate class. That was the information that was distributed by the district. Evidently, however, that was never actually going to happen. So, at least from her point of view, this isn’t working for in person or remote. Other kids might have a different opinion of course.

Yea, I think requiring the same teacher to try instruct both groups, in-person and online, at the same time is a disservice to both the teacher and the students.

The small private school where I teach is making the classroom teachers do both online and in person instruction. To do the online well takes a ton of time, so the kids who opted for online are really getting shafted at this point. Teachers can’t do 2 things at once, and there are only so many hours in a day. The kids in front of you, which is the bulk of the school, come first. Sad but true.

 

[Renarr]

I don’t get it. So, why do they have to separate the week into synchronous days and asynchronous days when the teacher is required to still be online for on-demand audio help on the asynchronous days. Might as well just include a video feed in addition to the audio feed on those 3 asynchronous days, no? What is limiting them to not have a video feed for 3 of the days?

At least in my district, the asynchronous is for the students, recognizing that some of them have difficulty with maintaining the constant synchronous schedule.

 

[mousefan73]

so we just got our information for how school will start next Tuesday.. Keep in mind we are in Germany and how relatively low numbers,, Our county's number this week is 1 in 100.000.

Here is how the year will start.
1. Class resume as normal. Here a classroom is one entity that stays together 90% of the time. Like grade school though my kids are "high school" Its not like in the US where each hour has a new class make-up.
2. Sport will begin again, but with a new concept. ( I assume less contact sport)
3. Masks are required also during instruction. Before the summer break when we were on a hybrid model with classes being split in two, masks were only required in public areas, once at the desk - off.. same for teachers.
4. The 100% mask is for all grade levels.. I assume that they want to do this for the first few weeks as many students are coming back from vacations in hot spots... so they figure lets cover ourselves for a possible break out. After 3 weeks most likely just in public areas.
5. for main subjects a classroom will be assigned one room , where they stay put. Math, languages, german etc... Sciences and labs they move.. Before the classroom would rotate classrooms based on teacher.
6. During breaks classrooms are assigned areas outside or inside.. before they all converged in the courtyard.. Now there are 4 areas.
7. For new students there is a separate assembly as a staggered time to allow distancing for parents etc.... on the first day of school.

So lets hope this works out.. I do know one teacher and during the summer break they had special training for online learning so they did work on a plan to improve on the virtual learning from last year...

School in Germany has started in other states end of July and Beginnning of August, there have been limited outbreaks, nothing major where politicans and parents are saying we need to stop inschool learning.. So wish us luck!!! My kids and I are so happy to get one thing back to somewhat normal.