Parents: how is homeschooling going?

A Hungry, Violent Mob wrote:

Just received a huge packet of work from my kid's teacher but no share of her paycheck. That birds not going to fly.

Stick them in the yard.

I am sure they can catch up at some other time in their life

I think you missed a lot.

In fact, just the opposite.

EVERYONE should have the opportunity to learn. Many do not. Students cannot be penalized (grades, etc) for not having that opportunity. Students that do not have that opportunity fall even further behind peers. This is an extremely real, very serious problem.

current teacher wrote:

Many of the people on this board have no clue what goes into teaching young children on a daily basis. As a current 6th grade teacher, I work 11 hours per day Monday through Friday. Additionally, I spend 3 to 4 hours working each weekend.

I don't know how this is even possible.

I essentially write my curriculum AND create all of my own learning resources for my middle school students and I still don't spend over 55 hours a week doing that, and I 100% don't plan on doing that next year now that I've gotten this year under my belt and have a lot of my curriculum written.

If this is even remotely true, you really need to step way, way back and take care of yourself. That's completely unsustainable.

A Hungry, Violent Mob wrote:

Just received a huge packet of work from my kid's teacher but no share of her paycheck. That birds not going to fly.

What does that even mean? You’re going to let your kids be dumba$$es like their parents?

real life teacher wrote:

I'm a middle school teacher with two sons. Neither of them are doing any schoolwork. This isn't a time for schoolwork, in my opinion. This is history in the making, and things they would be learning now will just be learned next fall.

As a teacher, you have to understand that a 6 month break from all educational activities will put your sons well behind where they should be. You can educate without stress. A few flipgrid videos, a couple goofy activities, and some legit learning as well... It's an unbelievably healthy distraction if done correctly. You can only go on so many walks and watch so much TV.

As far as I know, in Illinois (at least at my school), none of the online and e-learning work can be taken for a grade. We send home a few hours of work everyday with the expectation that kids give it a shot, ask questions, learn, and take a step back if they aren't feeling it. Only want to do 10 or 20 problems? Great. Only want to do Art and LA work today? Great.

Now, my district is rich AF so all students already have chromebooks, and any student who doesn't have internet gets it for free from comcast or a hot spot from our district. Any student with food or technology issues can receive immediately help for that too. All IEP minutes and accommodations are being provided (504s are not, but I think that's fine). It would be silly for us to pause learning - we can do it and no one is being left out. We have a 95% attendance rate so far - higher than our normal attendance rate.

Just my two sense... I know many students don't have these opportunities, but to say that all learning should be cancelled for 6 months is an irresponsible decision. Creative minds can find a way to balance academics and mental health. Hopefully your district and school figures it out.

As a teacher, I understand that education and learning =/= schoolwork. My boys read for pleasure, they think critically, they think creatively, they communicate effectively, they work on tech skills (my high school student is practicing typing, etc). We discuss, we debate, we collaborate on various things.

They do not sit down and do mindless busy work. They don't do packets. I wouldn't even ask them, too. I'd email their teachers if they asked them to, too, and I'd explain why they're not going to do that. Random online assignments are in the same area. Retention of stuff like that is near zero. Asking a freshman to log on and do a bunch of math work on their own with no connection to much of anything else, and then expecting that to be retained over the summer anyway... we all know what occurs in those first 4-6 weeks of school in August...

I'm an NBCT with a masters and an Ed.S. I understand learning and instruction. I understand the situation that's been placed on everyone, and I understand the calls of parents to get work, and the attempts at teachers to provide it. I've seen some do that well with engaging, authentic work, but they are extremely few and far between. Most of what I'm seeing is lots of stuff on IXLor IReady or imagine learning or any one of half a dozen platforms, random reading/writing/math work, and maybe some work packets for those that weren't locked out of their schools at a moment's notice. Maybe your district is the exception and is creating authentic learning experiences fo all of your students. I doubt it, but I don't know everything.

I seriously question the assertion that IEPs and ILPs are being met. How are your ELs being accommodated for? How are your below grade level students accessing grade-level material on their own? How are SPED students getting their support?

I'll reiterate that learning and education do not exist solely in the realm of school work, and I reemphasize the point that our most vulnerable students are also those that will fall further behind without access to the learning. Widening the achievement gap during a pandemic is the absolute last thing that should be done, but I'm not naive enough to think it won't.

Again, I'm just thankful my district (and a very large metropolitan one at that) is recognizing this and not allowing teachers to assign or grade any type of schoolwork. Not all districts are the same, granted, but I posit that many large metropolitan ones are, and the issues my district faces are also issues faced by others across the country. I see a few flags of concern for our vulnerable students, but not nearly enough.

real life teacher wrote:

Retention of stuff like that is near zero. Asking a freshman to log on and do a bunch of math work on their own with no connection to much of anything else, and then expecting that to be retained over the summer anyway... we all know what occurs in those first 4-6 weeks of school in August...

Math should be done on the daily. There's no reason they go on IXL or some other site and do an 1hour and half of Algebra or higher, per day.

Wuhan-398 wrote:

Math should be done on the daily. There's no reason they [can't] go on IXL or some other site and do an 1hour and half of Algebra or higher, per day.

Wuhan-398 wrote:

real life teacher wrote:

Retention of stuff like that is near zero. Asking a freshman to log on and do a bunch of math work on their own with no connection to much of anything else, and then expecting that to be retained over the summer anyway... we all know what occurs in those first 4-6 weeks of school in August...

Math should be done on the daily. There's no reason they go on IXL or some other site and do an 1hour and half of Algebra or higher, per day.

Not around kids very much?

SlowAFRunnrMom wrote:

I'm ecstatic my kids are home. If they could stay at home while still being involved in band and athletics at the school I'd be forever grateful.

Is this a joke or do you not realize that you could have already been doing that before this happened?

It is clear that these are not the best times, and it is very important for me to get good advice. Now, for example, I need to prepare an impressive historical essay for сollege, and from all the information I received, I realized that the best way to solve this problem is as written in this article https://www.veteranstoday.com/2020/02/20/how-to-write-an-impressive-history-essay/

My school has a 6 hour online schedule for each kid. We have 1 computer. I'm quite pissed they decided to make it a schedule like that.

Good times are killing me wrote:

SlowAFRunnrMom wrote:

I'm ecstatic my kids are home. If they could stay at home while still being involved in band and athletics at the school I'd be forever grateful.

Is this a joke or do you not realize that you could have already been doing that before this happened?

Sorry, I meant in the public school's band and athletics.

Let me make sure I get this right. If some kids are falling behind then all of them should?

I'm a SPED teacher(mild/moderate) and also wonder how IEP minutes and services are being met??? I question that claim.

After Spring Break we will move to distance learning with Google Classroom as the platform. I co-teach and have no training in online education. I'll do my best for the kids. I suspect I'll be creating graphic organizers and will be advising teachers how to modify assignments and working on ways to present material in multiple modalities( written, video). Ideal? No. It's a band-aid approach but us only temporary.

I've been told student grades can't be lowered after the closure. Work from distance learning can only raise grades. But really, who cares about grades at this point for middle school. It should be about learning.

My biggest concern is how the heck I'm going to get any work done with my kids home and my wife also working from home.

SlowAFRunnrMom wrote:

Let me make sure I get this right. If some kids are falling behind then all of them should?

Falling behind, what? There's no state testing, there are no EOC exams.

The content will have to be taught at the beginning of next school year in order to build up to current grade-level content.

Like I said, widening an achievement gap is the last thing that should be occurring.

Put yourself in the shoes of someone without access.

My district just doubled down on the mandate that no teacher is allowed to give a lesson or assignment or take a grade.

They specifically mentioned that this is because teachers are not trained to provide accommodations for students with IEPs and ILPs (ELs get ILPS).

I'm really struggling to understand how my district is working to comply with federal law but all of these other districts are apparently ignoring it with virtual learning. If I was a parent of a student with an IEP or ILP in one of those districts I'd be livid and going to the school board.

Why should I put myself in their shoes? This isn't socialist America. Some people get behind. We don't hold back the faster runners for the ones that got a late start. This is ludicrous thinking.

SlowAFRunnrMom wrote:

Why should I put myself in their shoes? This isn't socialist America. Some people get behind. We don't hold back the faster runners for the ones that got a late start. This is ludicrous thinking.

I don't think you fully understand the concept of public education.

But that's okay. Hopefully your kids will get some SEL lessons and can share those with you.