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.