During the summers, we maintain \u201csummer enrichment\u201d activities for our daughters. With schooling forced online in March 2020, we\u2019ve done all we can to simply remain steady and consistent throughout this summer. When the official school year ended, we maintained the daily routine of lessons, worksheets, reading, and activities. To transition to what was basically homeschooling, we had to set our expectations higher than that of the school system.<\/p>\n
To be fair, the school system was rushed into an impossible situation. Now, despite a summer to prepare for a new school year starting online, it seems the public schools still are not ready. That\u2019s why we have opted to officially become homeschooling parents.<\/p>\n
The coronavirus pandemic exposes how poorly prepared many schools are for emergencies. Places with hurricanes or blizzards need to be prepared. Most places don\u2019t have plans for what happens when students cannot be on campus.<\/p>\n
The school system seems to be treading water, struggling to implement online education for students and families unenthusiastic about the concept. It doesn\u2019t help that nobody agreed on what online education was or should be. Is it distance learning? Remote instruction? Should courses be synchronous or asynchronous? How much self-guided work should there be?<\/p>\n
For 2020\u201321, the plan seems jumbled, at best.<\/p>\n
The local schools have decided to adopt asynchronous for grades K-2, meaning work will be posted online in Google Classroom. Students will work with parents and guardians at their own paces, with work due on Fridays. This was the approach from last year, and it wasn\u2019t much fun for our youngest. Basically, it was worksheet style work and a lot of YouTube videos.<\/p>\n
For the third through eighth grades, some instruction will be delivered as live, synchronous, class lectures. Three hours of lecture and Zoom-style interactions per day. I cannot even manage an hour of Zoom or Google Meet without feeling exhausted. I cannot imagine children staring at screens for three hours.<\/p>\n
My wife works from home, telecommuting, so the girls cannot be in her office on Zoom or Meet for three hours. That\u2019s not feasible for many other families, either.<\/p>\n
I don\u2019t understand colleges or K12 expecting students to attend any online video chat for longer than 50 minutes. That should be the outer limit for synchronous video. Stop at 50 minutes and supplement with online discussion forums and additional content.<\/p>\n
School days start too early and end too late.<\/strong><\/p>\n My exceptions are that our daughters will be \u201cin school\u201d for five hours per day. That\u2019s it. They are only in first and third grades. They don\u2019t need more than five hours of semi-formal school. Most days, I hope they complete lessons early and have time to play.<\/p>\n Locally, they were catching the bus at 7 a.m. to be at school. They started the formal school day by 7:40 a.m., following breakfast and free time. We are not starting until 9 a.m. because that\u2019s when the girls are ready to start academic work.<\/p>\n We have been maintaining the schedule of English language arts, mathematics, and social studies in the mornings. After lunch at noon, the girls have free time and then physical education, science, and we end the day with art.<\/p>\n For the year, our primary expectation is grade-level performance. That\u2019s it. We\u2019re not trying to rush ahead, nor are we going to take it easy because of the situation.\u00a0At the end of this year, our expectation is to have the girls ready for the second and fourth grades. Nothing more and nothing less.<\/p>\n Sticking to state and national standards matters.<\/strong><\/p>\n The Texas Education Agency adopts the state standards, known as the \u201cTEKS\u201d (long E sound), the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills<\/a> for students. Though the state officially doesn\u2019t embrace the Common Core standard, the TEKS magically align with the Common Core. Of course they do, since parents want their children prepared for college.<\/p>\n I\u2019ve spent many evenings reading through the TEKS for K\u20135, making sure our daughters have learned what they should have (they have not) and are prepared for what comes next. The gaps in their knowledge and skills are mostly within science and history, two subjects my wife and I love.<\/p>\n With the TEKS converted to checklists, we\u2019re taking the standards seriously. At the same time, we will supplement those minimum standards to meet the needs of our daughters.<\/p>\n We\u2019ve made progress since March.<\/strong><\/p>\n The youngest wasn\u2019t able to read when we had to take over her lessons. She wasn\u2019t able to write much more than her name, either. As we begin her first-grade work, she can read early readers well. She\u2019s fond of reading Mo Willems<\/a>\u2019 books, too.\u00a0Her math skills are solid and she loves counting money.<\/p>\n The elder daughter has always done well in school and seems to be right on track. She reads a lot, especially books about nature. We are confident she\u2019ll be okay with a year of homeschooling. Right now, she\u2019s learning the basic multiplication table and division. She\u2019s not too bad with fractions and decimals.<\/p>\n We do yoga three days per week and strength work with weights for two days. The girls have each improved movement, coordination, and strength.<\/p>\n It won\u2019t be an easy year, but we are as prepared as parents can be.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" During the summers, we maintain \u201csummer enrichment\u201d activities for our daughters. With schooling forced online in March 2020, we\u2019ve done all we can to simply…<\/p>\n