virtual schooling, non political

[The Wiz]

Last week I got a taste of what parents are going through when my daughter's Wi Fi and internet crashed. She works at home and she has three kids that are virtual learning. Her husband is a stay at home dad and takes care of the learning. She asked if the kids and hubby could come over and use ours. No problem. At 8:00 AM the two boys plus dad showed up.The oldest went over to a friends house to do her schooling. She is in HS. Dad made three trips from the car basically setting two class rooms. Wife was gone for the day. I went fishing for a couple hrs. I came back to a 6 year old who did not want to do the work and was throwing a fit. Dad was patiently telling him that he had to . Mind you the teacher is monitoring this. He gets the boy settled and goes and checks on the 10 year old who is goofing off. Straightens him out and go back to other boy to monitor his progress. This goes on until about 4:30 after two more melt downs by the 6 year old. About 12:00 , I asked him if want a beer or glass of wine because I sure did. He laughed and said if he started drinking he would not stop. He also said what every we are paying teachers it is not enough. So when every you are thinking of the hero's of Covid remember the parents. They are hero's too.

I would appreciate we keep this thread non-political. Thanks!

[Grunt67]

Wiz, I never thought I'd say this, as much as I hated High School, but I'm just not fond of the virtual thing. And it has zero to do with politics. The issues you mentioned, plus I can only see this as limited. There is just so much a kid will miss, not being in person.
Hope I'm wrong, for their sake, just don't see it.
Plus, not all parents are qualified for the job.

[Sir Henry]

That was funny!

When I’m gone next week my 14 year old neighbor girl will be watching my cat. Before Covid19 she would do her homework in the evening in my house while Little Girl (my cat) would sit in her lap.

This time she asked if she could do it in the mornings while doing online classes. She is always reading or studying.

Now her 12 year old brother is a different story.

[North Country Gal]

As a former middle school and high school science teacher, but especially a middle school science teacher, I can tell you that online teaching is very challenging and most career teachers considered as a backup, alternative or emergency way to teach and I've yet to meet a teacher that prefers it to regular classroom teaching. On the other hand, I've never met a teacher who would put their preferred way of teaching ahead of their student's safety. There are so many unknowns with teaching in a pandemic and everyone is trying to cope with it. It's been tough for students and teachers and administrators. Everyone is doing their best to cope with it. It's new territory for all concerned. if you want to help your local schools, try to keep politics out of it.

[JEBar]

as a disclaimer, my wife has a master's degree and national board certification worked 43 years (10 in Minnesota and the rest in North Carolina) teaching high school chemistry and physics .... I taught for 30+ years in NC, I was certified to teach all grades K through 12 .... a large majority of my career was spent teaching in NC's prison system .... we have 3 grandchildren currently involved in distance education .... a couple of observations, due to COVID many parents are learning for the first time just how demanding teaching can be and I think that's a good thing .... we believe that there is no substitute for direct instruction in a classroom setting and we hope that our schools will be able to return to it as soon as is possible .... as a long term consequence, I do believe that the experience gained in virtual teaching may drastically reduce the number of days schools are closed for weather (snow) .... for this to take place there will have to be innovations which allow teachers to broad cast from home

[Sir Henry]

Sixty years ago I dreamed of a pandemic like this.

[Grunt67]

Sixty years ago I dreamed of a pandemic like this.

And they said dreams don't come true.

[RanchRoper]

School...yuck.

[daytime dave]

No more snow days, say it ain't so!