I have always sent my children to public school. I love that there have always been so many options for my friends, though --some homeschool, some do private school, some have chosen charter schools and a hybrid of all of the above. I don't think I've ever met a parent that didn't carefully choose what was best for their family and their children. Education is important to most people, and it's evident by how they oversee their children's schooling. And public school just works well for our family! We've found great success and our children have all thrived.
But man, this Pandemic is rough!
My kids are in a hybrid model for public schooling. Monday-Wednesday, they are at home, learning online. Thursday and Friday, they are in school, learning in-person. It was quite the adjustment at first, but gratefully, the kinks have been worked out pretty well.
Here's what I love about this model of learning:
1. My kids only get up earlier than 7:30AM twice a week
2. The state of Kansas finally changed the requirements for remote learning days! For the first several weeks, we had to submit 6 forms (6 kids in school!) listing the 390 minutes of schoolwork they did every day. Then I had to sign it. Granted, most teachers (especially Elementary) made sure we understood that some of that time could be filled with playtime, recess, lunch, music lessons, reading books together, etc. But it was still such a pain in the rear! But if we didn't submit these forms, the kids would be seen as absent. SO DUMB. The push-back was rough, and now the kids just have to attend Zoom meetings with their teachers twice a day on remote days. 2 meetings, each day, for 20 minutes each, versus these forms? I'll take it!!
3. Some of my kids work quickly and some work slowly. It's nice having this extra time to get assignments finished and not feeling the pressure of in-person.
4. I still get two days with just me and baby boy! When he's napping, that means I get ALONE TIME! Wha!? It's awesome and I cherish it. I deserve it, too.
5. They've given every child in the school district iPads to use for their schooling. We couldn't have done any of this if it wasn't for this!
6. When my kids are sick (three of my sons have had mono, this month!), the kids don't miss school! They can still do some work and attend zoom meetings.
Here's what I don't like:
1. Inconsistency in the schedule because we think we have free time. Ha! Honestly, it's hard to adjust to being at-home because I've never homeschooled. I've never really adopted this model of education and keeping us all on task is sometimes difficult. I'm trying to be flexible and just make it work as best as I can.
2. The constant fear of covid. Not just getting the disease, but it coming into full-force and shutting everything down, again. My kids are finally back in music lessons, sports, activities, etc. and I would hate for everything to be shut down. So, we do our best to keep ourselves healthy. But it's been hard!
3. Not having more days to myself. I know that sounds selfish, but it is what it is. *shrug*
How are you doing school during this Pandemic? What's working? What's really difficult?
2 comments:
This is a crazy time. I relate so much to the fear of covid coming in and shutting everything down, and adjusting to everyone at home more. We are doing 2 days a week with the middle and high school and I am doing online school with the k12 curriculum for my 3rd, 5th, and kindergartner. I have to say the k12 curriculum is so much better than what the teachers were able to do in the spring and even than what they are doing now. It's already designed for online learning so it's well laid out and easy to navigate (after you figure it out).
It is hard to not have that quieter time with my little ones, but we are adapting.
Handsfullmom, I'm glad you got something worked out! It's been interesting to me to see the difference between states and how each school district is trying to implement school. I've heard that a lot of moms who have just opted for homeschool are much happier with the result.
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