how is online schooling going?
 

Our district has decided to do 7 weeks (was 3, initially) of online schooling and its been interesting to watch as an outsider. Most of the time, our grand-daughter, grade 3, has scheduled meetings with her teacher and class with a mix of zoom and google rooms. There is a lunch break at their normal school time - 11.10am to 11.40 Mon, Tues, Thurs and Friday. Today is freeform time where assignments are given that they do on their own while the teacher gets on with admin stuff. Most days she seems to be finished by 2.30 at the latest but today she had completed all her assignments by 1.30. Most days she and her Mum are OK but there have been a few bust ups with frustration about something. She does seem pretty focus when she is doing assignments which is an issue she has in real-time classroom. Only 1 week down, so will be interesting to see how it works out. Being an only child, she is desperate for company other than grumpy adults :rofl: After school, Nana is on Roblox duty!

Re: how is online schooling going?
 

My 11 year old is struggling to get motivated. She’s already falling behind. My 5 year old is fine for a bit but by the end of the hour, she’s done. Should be interesting when her classes are upped to 4 hours a day LOL. Feel sorry for them, it’s no way to learn. My eldest has transitioned from elementary to middle school, so doubly hard for her.

Re: how is online schooling going?
 

Based on my sisters complaints, ha ha not very well.

Re: how is online schooling going?
 

Bit of a struggle to get google classroom setup, the teacher didn't send us the code. We start next week, I have to find access to a color printer for Monday, so probably off to Staples this weekend.

Re: how is online schooling going?
 

All 3 of my counties schools are back to in person classes.... with the associated school buses clogging up the roads again.

Re: how is online schooling going?
 

You must have a male Governor

Re: how is online schooling going?
 

We don't start for another month. Our district is currently going hybrid, so 2 days in school, 3 days remote. Two cohorts on opposite ends of the week and a third cohort for all in school, but that's limited to English not first language, the homeless kids and IEP. There was a option for full remote, but that was being outsourced.

Re: how is online schooling going?
 

Brian Kemp. He's male, white, and useless.

Re: how is online schooling going?
 

All well with little Miss P - the setup at home is good, with broadband internet, and a private office with desk for her.

There are minor teething problems with the school's end, so the camera tracking doesn't seem to function in all classes. The only apparently insurmountable problem is the sound quality for music so while the teacher can see LMP, she can't hear her playing, as the sound is so distorted. We might have to look into getting a proper microphone and better set up. The school thinks it might be data restrictions leading to packet delay or loss, but I am not sure if that is the case.

The schools across NC have a variety of opening plans, some full in-person, some remote only with delayed in-person, and some hybrid.

Re: how is online schooling going?
 

Serious question, what has his ethnicity got to do with his ability to do the job? Or is it a bandwagon you jumped on with the Duke of Sussex?

Re: how is online schooling going?
 

Ditto gender.

Re: how is online schooling going?
 

Er yes - Duke of Sussex & Brian Kemp are two of the people in the world who are of European ancestry. Not sure what conceivable link you are making between the two of them? Or what bandwagon you’re thinking of?

Re: how is online schooling going?
 

It's a recent news topic, may or may not be relevant

https://www.businessinsider.com/coro...n-study-2020-8

Re: how is online schooling going?
 

200 days estimated until schools go back to "in classroom" here. In the meantime schools in Scotland and Berlin have seen increases in cases.

Re: how is online schooling going?
 

Sorry, I may have been unclear, there is absolutely no link between the two. My first question was about the perceived impact of ethnicity to ability, the other was meant to be a lighthearted reference to a woke perceived wisdom, to which the Duke is reported to subscribe to. Unless you misread for deflection? In which case Er no.....

Re: how is online schooling going?
 

The two teachers in my family are back to working ridiculously long hours for little money.

Re: how is online schooling going?
 

My mother was a high school teacher, and from being a small child, whenever anyone asked what I want to be when I grew up, my usual answer was "I'm not sure, but I don't want to be a teacher." I think I would take just about any career option off Mike Rowe's CV before I'd consider taking a teaching job.

Re: how is online schooling going?
 

Anchorage school district started on Thursday. This year we have one in 6th grade (elementary school here), 8th (middle) and 11th (high). At least none of them have changed schools.

The school district has four threat levels that control attendance, and we're in "high" right now, the highest. All teaching is done online, with synchronous teaching from classroom teachers for part of the day, four days a week. Some teachers are in schools, socially distancing, some are teaching from home, and there are limited sports practices. The school district were hoping for the next level down, "medium-high", which splits the student body into two groups, and each group gets two days a week at school and two learning from home. There are separate options for virtual schooling, where kids study from home with help from their neighbourhood school at all threat levels, and also for home school. Many have moved to home school or private school or relocated after oil industry layoffs, and school district enrollment is well down. Our elementary school has two classes of only about 20 each in 6th grade last year, whereas 5th grade last year consisted of two and a half classes of about 30 kids each.

Our kids have plenty of zoom classes, and it's going to be much better organised than in the spring, but things are still going to be difficult at times. All three of our kids are dyslexic, and the extra time and effort required for reading and writing will be harder still without the structure brought by in-person schooling. We're lucky that my wife and I can both be at home, though - there must be millions of families struggling to work during the day while their children are supposed to be working at home.

Re: how is online schooling going?
 

Mine is at home until December (by choice, although the School Board then pushed everyone home until September). It's a daily tip toe at the moment - sometimes it all goes well, other days the teachers are a bit all over the place and every so often we realise he's probably half asleep while watching the teacher and not taking any notes (moved up to Middle School). Overall, it's a fair compromise. We know it won;t be like being in class, but we also live in an area Governed by Kemp, so it's every person for themselves. That's without referencing his gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation or anything - you only have to see his Ad during the Primary to get a handle on him, where had a rifle in his hands while subtly threatening some young lad who was/wanted to date his daughter.

Re: how is online schooling going?
 

The public online school has been overwhelmed by parents opting for the online option. We have our soft start next week and will see how it goes.
We are looking at other options at the moment. For my 7 yo we just started using a language school based in CA and have been using Outschool a lot over the summer.
This one looks interesting
FSI GO is built upon the wealth of expertise ofFinnish Schools International,one of the most innovative international school networks globally. Please read our story in thisForbes article.

Re: how is online schooling going?
 

My step sister with elementary age kids, yeah its not going well. She had to quit her job because she has nobody who can stay home all day and "attend" school online, they only have 1 computer and the school is having a fit because they require all students to be online for their classes but providing no assistance to families with multiple kids who don't have multiple computers. It sounds like a total nightmare, and the kids don't want to sit at the computer for 7 hours a day.

I think for a lot of students this year may lead to little learning, I can see why here in BC they are just risking it and going back to school, not all parents work from home.

Re: how is online schooling going?
 

How is everyone's Math? I'll be teaching it online next week, which brings me to this wonderful Math meme. I checked the Math, the answer is 5!
https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/british...af73691864.png

Re: how is online schooling going?
 

At least he got the math righ.

Unlike this tweet, even Brian Williams and a NYT editor missed on live TV that the math was incorrect. I did watch a video on why this mistake happens to often.

https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/british...d862b32075.jpg






The more I learn about math, the more I realize why its not something the human brain is wired for, and like anything, some people will excel better than others at math, problem really boils down to we end up creating math phobias in people at a young age, really should admit not everyone can learn upper level math and stop forcing people to try and holding them back in things.

Re: how is online schooling going?
 

I haven't clue where your step-sister lives but here in MS and in NY, they provide chrome books to each student. The parent can refuse one if they want to use their own computers but the offer is there for the taking for each student regardless of the number of children per household. My daughter in MS got 2 because she has 3 kids in varying grades and two computers of her own so one kid can use that one.

Yes, it is a problem if the children are younger and without discipline and computer knowledge to benefit from online classes without adult supervision.

As for sitting for 7 hours, they have to if they were in school so the issue is the parent has little control over their children.

Re: how is online schooling going?
 

I am picking up my son's chromebook this week. We also had the option of turning it down. In March we suffered because we were using a pc and other kids and the teachers were using chromebooks. I guess that's the difference between low and high property taxes.

Re: how is online schooling going?
 

According to my step sister the district has a lack of laptops and don't have enough to go around, so they are starting with homes that have 0 computers.

Re: how is online schooling going?
 

Florida - the average teacher in our county has normally 6 classes and fewer than 150 kids. My missus usually picks up 7 classes because the county is tight and several staff are expected to pick up the slack. This semester she is teaching in person, hybrid and online classes. The state upped the number of kids allowed in each class at the end of the summer semester and the school was forced to lay off two English teachers for this new semester despite a larger school roll. Most of my wife's school's elective subjects have been withdrawn as it's too costly to split resources three ways.
My good lady who is a veteran teacher with 30 years under her belt is struggling to keep up. She has 14 classes, over 200 kids which, besides running the department, teaching, making videos for e-learners, etc, etc, means with each child doing a mandated three differing assignments per week that she is grading over 600 assignments per week. It's doing her head in because she's a perfectionist who likes to push the kids to get the best out of them and feels like her work is sub par.

Parents, if you think your kids are getting the education they need you are sorely mistaken. the system is at breaking point and most counties, while having accounted for this year's school budgets, will be hard pushed to maintain current budgets for the 2021/2022 year.

Re: how is online schooling going?
 

We were due to go back with a hybrid plan of a/b days, well condensed half days as they wanted everyone home for lunch then 2 full length classes in the afternoon virtually. Then the teachers all started having childcare issues as more districts went online and some had health concerns so they had to switch to fully virtual for the high school. We also just had budget cuts so electives were limited. I have 2 freshmen and a junior and one of the freshmen has 3 periods with no class the first semester... 4 days in and its better than spring as they follow the regular school day and schedule. Its probably better like this than trying to squeeze everything into 29 min periods and then have transition time and cleaning so I don't mind if it stays like this for a while, although I'm not sure the kids would agree...

Re: how is online schooling going?
 

First half week of online teaching under my belt, and it wasn't too terrible. Clearly there are going to be winners and losers here. I am still trying to get some students access, they have been provided all the links and information needed, but it is not straight forward for families without the internet scaffolding already in place, the absence of easy face to face contact is making it difficult. On the other hand, some students who have struggled with in person, classes because of social issues, such as not wanting to be seen to ask questions or receive help, are gaining from the private chat provided in Zoom, and the ability of other programs to allow for renaming of users, so that anonymity of their work is achieved, but that work can still be discussed as group. Its early days, and it could all fall apart, but I have a SPED math class that is chalk and cheese compared to in person, I had assumed SPED would be a big loser in online, and it is for some, but others are going to thrive in this new way of interacting with anonymity.

I did an online class at a local universality this summer and it taught me some things to do and some to avoid.

Re: how is online schooling going?
 

It may not give the kids in person social interaction, but I think it gives more consistency. I thing change and the unknown is more stressful. I am concerned about my kids making new friends, but I'm sure it will be fine. I hear in England so many classes being sent home to quarantine already. So now they are probably back to similar situation to April/May which was not good.

Re: how is online schooling going?
 

I now know why the American school system is broken. Just had this email from my kids teacher, take into account their education is 100% online. I don't think an hour of education is sufficient for an 8 year old. I have attached a 2nd grade Pacing Guide for the first quarter. Again, these are “soft” due dates.



A general guideline for scheduling your learning time:

An upper limit of 1 hour computer time per day! Make sure to be taking breaks in that hour--don’t do it all at once.

Do ELA and Math every day (20 minutes each)

Rotate Science and Social Studies every other day (20 minutes), leaving one day for “catch up.”



Attendance: If your child has logged on and worked on lessons, assignments, or quizzes, they will be marked “Present.” If you know you won’t be able to log on for that day, email me and let me know. I will mark your child “Present!”

Re: how is online schooling going?
 

One kid seems to be doing okay. The other has been a little on the hiccups. She had a class meet, logged on when the teacher said he was going to be there...Turns out the teacher turned up an hour later, so most of the class had buggered off to do the next class in their timetable.

First day of in person today. Seemed to go a little smoother. There's only about 6 kids in the youngest class, a couple more in the other kids. There was only a few kids on the school bus too.

Re: how is online schooling going?
 

So, Anchorage School District have now changed their minds. They plan to have the kids go back to full-time in-person school with masks and social distancing (can't imagine how that will work) with staggered timing. Elementary kids mid-October, Middle mid-November and High beginning of January. The 14-day rolling average of positive cases has not dropped below their criterion for the high risk level, but they say that "guidance has changed". The fact that they're starting with the age range least able to maintain social distancing but with the biggest impact on parents' ability to work likely indicates what is driving this change. We'll just have to wait and see how it goes next month.

Our kids are actually doing pretty well with online schooling, after some difficulties at the start. The schools and school district are doing a much better job than in the spring, both of teaching and of motivating students to learn and complete their work. But we are also lucky we have high speed internet, plus a big house that allows everyone their own space, enough that our middle kid can play trumpet while the other two are on zoom calls.

Re: how is online schooling going?
 

That reminds me of the communications we had from our district in spring, not wanting to put too much extra stress on students and parents, though the "you don't need to bother" message that sent was even worse. Thankfully, they learned from that, and the structure provided is now much better.\

Re: how is online schooling going?
 

My 15 year old is back to in person 5 days per week in NJ. However, it is a private Catholic HS so they have more leeway than public schools. He misses the alternate days of remote and in person, which they had for the first 2 weeks. With in person he has to get up earlier so that is his reason. I personally much prefer the in person as I don't think remote cuts it. Overall, his school has done a great job with everything.
My 4 year old just missed the Kindergarten cut off by 13 days. I was initially upset about that before the pandemic, but now, I realize it was a blessing in disguise. I am lucky if he sits still for 15 minutes.

Re: how is online schooling going?
 

The town I where I used to live in Oklahoma has just sent the kiddies back in-person entirely due to parental pressure. The infections are sky-high and growing, and the pitchforks come out if any parent dare breathe a word of dissent.

It's one of the college towns where testing is low and the students have simply been asked to "take personal responsibility". The university remains completely silent :sneaky:

Re: how is online schooling going?
 

Two neighbouring towns have switched from hybrid to remote learning because kids had tested positive at one of them, another had a bunch of kids caught having a huge party and they couldn't verify everyone who was partying.

Re: how is online schooling going?
 

We have a first grader and it's 9 - 3 online every day for us. The earliest we could go back to in person school is January.

They have one hour for lunch, and they log in at the top of every hour to get a lesson that's anywhere from 10 - 60 minutes. When the lesson is over for the hour, we're supposed to supplement with reading or maths apps that don't work properly. I'm basically chained to the living room to help with iPad issues, as it's hard for children this age to be patient with technology.

It's already such an enormous amount of screen time that we don't even use the reading apps, we use real books. We play board games during lunchtime. Spouse was coming down at lunch to relieve me, but his job changed and now he's in meetings all day. It reminds me of the isolation and boredom of maternity leave. Neverending.

Re: how is online schooling going?
 

I've got a first and third grader; between them they have eight online appointments throughout the coures of the day, and they're also meant to be doing a plethora of other learning platforms (iReady, Raz Kids, Epic, Lexis, ABC Mouse, Khan Academy Kids etc.). Frankly,it's exhausting. I'm meant to be working myself, but most of my day is spent reminding them to get online, doing tech support, and the weekends are now filled with homework catchup that we couldn't do mid week because I was working.

Such is life in 2020!

Re: how is online schooling going?
 

Sounds like we're in much the same boat, except you've got double the workload. This year has made me glad we stopped at one, I suppose.

I'm frustrated every day by the lack of work out there, but at the same time, not the worst time to have no job, as this online school this IS my job. My SIL quit her job to manage her kids' online schooling.