The First Week: Scrambling

We survived. . . and in some ways I can say even thrived during The First Week of mandated distance learning.

It was a scramble to figure out and set a “new normal” schedule. We were all – teachers and students alike – figuring things out as we went along with lots of hiccups along the way. Learning a bunch of new programs, or new aspects of familiar ones, made for a tech-heavy week. The need for reliable devices, iPads or Chromebooks or laptops, became immediately apparent. So many different user names and passwords and Google Classroom and Meet codes to figure out. But, the flexibility offered by the relative chaos meant neither I nor the kids felt a lot of pressure to perform. Which was good considering the million other things related to work, household, and family that also needed to be done without any outside help.

The Second Week: Hitting a Groove

The Second Week we hit a groove. After a few initial fails on the technology front, I borrowed iPads for the twins to supplement the home laptop that was unreliable the first week. My son quickly adjusted to his distance learning on a Chromebook. We worked out most of the kinks in logging in and being where we needed to be online for three different classroom schedules at three different workspaces in the house. In the morning, a later start to the schoolwork period gave us a chance to get outside before everyone focused on school work and classroom Meets. Then we had a busy couple of hours when everyone was mostly online and I moved between the kids to keep monitor and assist. Afterwords, we ate lunch together and enjoyed a midday break outside with walks, scootering/bicycling or backyard playtime before returning home for an afternoon learning session and dinner. All in all, a workable schedule.

The Third Week (and beyond): Reality Bites

Now, the Governor announced schools would not reopen before April 24th and anyone who can read between the lines can see that they are unlikely to reopen before the school year ends.

The school sent home a new schedule for the Third Week (and beyond). Gone was the feeling of flexibility and understanding, replaced by what felt like the equivalent of the school schedule at home. All Meets pushed an hour earlier and the “Daily Schedule” ending at the regular school time of 2:30pm or 3:00pm. Sure, the document referred to being understanding and showing “grace” toward parents. But, you are basically supposed to run a school schedule at home. Never mind what else is going on. For my fourth grader, this should be doable, but for the Kindergarteners in two different classes – if done in full – it means our kids officially control our lives and schedule now.

I responded by sharing my concerns about the new schedules and the ongoing distance learning – both general concerns and additional concerns for parents of multiple children (possibly in different schools) and parents with a rigorous work schedule without childcare options due to the social distancing and other impacts of this pandemic:

  • Overall. We are getting the worst of both worlds – homeschooling and regular schooling – in this ever-changing distance learning experiment. We have been forced to educate our kids at home, but are being pushed to follow a very detailed school-based curriculum not of our making AND we are being pushed to try to use an in-school length schedule. If we homeschooled by choice, we would have had the freedom of curriculum and schedule. While my 4th grader is pretty much able to keep up with a full schedule, it’s still a lot of moving parts for him, and a lot of screen time. For the Kindergarteners, it is a very heavy lift as every activity requires supervision and guidance, and the schedule contemplates a full school day despite a stated”two hours” of instruction. They are not able to complete assignments without supervsion or engage in independent work time without guidance. And, overall, it is too much screen time (meets, assigned videos and computer programs).
  • Schedules are not synchronized. According to the new schedules, the kids will be eating at separate times starting at three separate times, 11am, 11:30am and noon. This is not realistic for home-based learning under any circumstances, but especially not when working parents are doing it all alone. Because my twins are in two different classrooms, they have special classes (art, music, PE, and technology) on different days which creates an extra burden to run three different programs for the kids rather than allowing for the flexibility of doing at least some of the activities together on a weekly basis (especially, for example, PE).
  • Screentime. While it may be easier to monitor computer learning program work (and videos watched when logged into the school system or Google Classroom), the practical impact is that computer work is prioritized over other types of learning opportunities. I appreciate that for some parents this is also easier, but for those who prefer less screen time for their kids – and those who do not have the teaching and technology skills, computer access, or reliable enough internet – it would be appropriate to offer low-tech options (e.g., specify the skill and a way for the kids to demonstrate it) as an alternative to computer program “Must Do” assignments. And, especially for young learners, this is a unique opportunity to encourage parents/older siblings to teach something new and special that the kids might not otherwise learn – taking an asset-based approach to skill building. It would be great if there was a way to get credit for that type of family learning which is one of the main silver linings of so much “together time.” Perhaps a catch-all could be offered, “Skills and Knowledge That My Child Learned During Our Social Distancing Time Together” (e.g., famliy history; hobbies such as rock-collecting or knitting; skills such as carpentry or home repair; housework such as cooking or laundry; etc.). For my 4th grader, screentime is somewhat less of a concern since he has been assigned a lot of low-tech problem-solving, reading and writing assignments appropriate for his grade level in addition to computer-based learning.

    Due dates. In these times and under these circumstances, deadlines should have built-in flexibility rather than requiring special consideration or requests for “grace”. Many parents don’t feel comfortable asking for this and may be concerned it will adversely affect their child – or perception of their family.

    Privacy concerns and recording sessions. With all the distance learning, the schools are now in our homes – with cameras recording our children in their surroundings without any permissions asked. Busy parents have to find appropriate spaces for their kids with an adequate writing area and an electrical outlet nearby, and be present (or at least accessible) despite other work and household obligations that may intrude (and be witnessed/heard/recorded). This is an unprecented intrusion into the privacy of our lives and personal space. With multiple children in one home, this becomes even more challenging as it is impossible to monitor everyone at once in three different spaces. 

    In this category are concerns about computers being left on by young learners who do not yet understand or appreciate privacy concerns. More needs to be done to educate the kids to protect themselves and their families by only turning on cameras and microphones at designated times with parental permission. And, they should be regularly reminded to fully turn off the computers when class-time is over or the parent-designated computer time has ended. Recently, there have been some very disturbing reports about hacking into teleconferencing programs and concerns about children’s online safety needs to be updated to reflect our new reality of home-based remote learning.

We are all in this together – schools and families, teachers and students. It going to be a marathon – not a sprint to recreate school at home in addition to all of our other responsibilites. We need to stay safe, healthy, and resilient enough to make it through these difficult times ahead. We need to pace ourselves accordingly, to avoid burning out. For there is no one to pick up the pieces if we do.