Public Education during a (never ending) Pandemic
They’re. Still. Here. (the kids, that is.)
In all seriousness, if you’re like me, you’ve been stressed, worried, confused, and annoyed by the options presented for 20-21 public school year. This is not a comment on the “schools are not childcare for working parents” debacle that seems to come up every time there is a change in public education (snow days, summer vacation, pandemic education, etc.). We, as a collective group of parents, had children. We know we are to care for them. We also know that in caring for them we are often required to work (because kids have to eat, and live, and thrive) and that throws a giant wrench into things some days. But that’s a discussion for later/another time.
For our county in Northern Virginia, we were presented with two options of which we have about 10 days to make a binding first semester decision. That’s to say that whatever decision we make can not be changed and is expected to be in effect from September 2020 until mid-January 2021. If that isn’t enough to put you off your breakfast, I don’t know what is.
Our options in a nutshell are as follows:
1. Hybrid Learning, 2 in-school days with three distance learning days.
2. 100% Distance Learning, at home
The details of each are:
note:
Asynchronous: without a teacher/self study
Synchronous: with a teacher/guided.
Hybrid:
• Monday Morning Meeting & Small Groups as necessary online, synchronous learning and the remainder of the day is asynchronous.
• Tuesday/Thursday in class with the teacher to include one special (art, music, PE, etc) Lunch and recess alongside synchronous learning. The other two days of the week include a 30 minute synchronous morning meeting and then asynchronous learning for the rest of the day.
100% DL (distance learning) all online
• Monday Morning Meeting & Small Groups as necessary online, synchronous learning and the remainder of the day is asynchronous.
• Tuesday - Friday:
30 minute morning meeting, synchronous
100-145 minutes synchronous learning*
60-90 minutes asynchronous
*this was a change from the original plan of 8-11:30, 12L30-1:15 synchronous learning online
Here are the pieces I, and many parents, have to consider.
My child is 6, which puts him in first grade after an insane Kindergarten year. We, in all honesty, did not succeed with distance learning as it was done at the end of the 19-20 school year. At that point, like many, we were just trying to survive a complicated, and unknown, situation. My son also thrives, and I mean, thrives, on face-to-face contact with his peers. He, unlike his mother, is a textbook extrovert. With this also comes the knowledge that he can be a little “much” with his peers. He likes to hug, high five, and roughhouse. He likes to be loud, rowdy, and funny. He also enjoys seeing, talking to, and learning from new people. He is empathetic, caring, and excitable. All of these are positives and have the potential to be negatives in a classroom with 17-25 other students.
For this decision, we need to take the big four into consideration: safety, education, sanity, and socializing. It came down to a good ‘ole pro/con list for me, and I know these may not match yours but here’s how the thought process went.
Hybrid Pros:
• Teacher Face-Time for learning
• Educationally Focused Environment
• Friends/Conversations/Social Growth
• Specials (Music/Art/PE/Guidance/SEARCH)
• Currently Trained Educator to assess him in person
Hybrid Cons:
• Increased exposure to virus
• Limited social interaction for non-structured times (Lunch/Recess)
• 3 days, asynchronous learning, mom-lead
• Volatility of schedule if someone in the class is exposed/exposes other
• Increased mask-wearing time
• Inability to keep his space to himself
• Potential for him to be “labeled” as a kid who has a hard time following directions and thus the potential for him to not enjoy school at such a young age.
• Required change in schedule for working parents
Distance Learning Pros:
• Limits virus exposure
• Daily extended synchronous learning time
• No mask during learning
• Less potential to be reprimanded when not following “new school rules”
• Mom is a former K & 1st Grade teacher
• Potential to get together for social time with select families following similar socially distancing protocols.
• Schedule remains standard
• Helps him to “enjoy” the concept of school during a time of heightened stress
Distance Learning Cons:
• Limited social interaction with peers
• Mom/parent attention is necessary to aid in attention/completion of tasks
• No 1:1 time with teacher
• No/limited specials
• Space/materials need to be parent-provided
• Required change in schedule for working parents
• Moms sanity spiral
In the end, we made our choice for 100% Distance Learning knowing that it will force a change in behaviors, routine, schedules, and attention, for. everyone. We also know that no choice would have been “easy” for us. Above all, our 6 year old has MANY years ahead of him in the schools system, and I have training and experience teaching the age at which he is right now. That has to count for something. That also means that I’m going to have to adjust my schedule as I do work out of our home, full-time, often without “extra time” for non-work activities.
Everyone is worried, stressed, and unsure about what the future holds for educating our kids this year. I know for a fact that we are in this together, we’ll work with each other to provide, cover the gaps, and make this a positive memorable year that our kids will tell stories of to their children one day.
If you’d like to chat about this further regarding your specific set of circumstances, DM me on Instagram and let’s chat!
