This is officially the second week of virtual school. Technically, it’s been longer than two weeks, because we started mid week, three weeks ago. However, after a full cycle, I am beginning to understand this form of education delivery. I thought, half for myself, that I need to record this because, this is going to pan out to be the most different year in my son’s education. Here are some of my observations and feelings as we navigate online leaning through virtual school.
Why we chose to Virtual School our Child
The shortest answer to this question is – consistency.
My husband and I both work for companies that have allotted us work-from-home days for a portion of the week. We decided that it would work for our family to tag team virtual schooling with our senior kindergartener. We would split up the week and “co-work” with him at home to ensure that we would be able to maintain a semblance of a routine. This was solution that worked for us because, with Covid cases so unpredictable, I knew that this was one way to maintain some sort of control over the situation. I know that if I keep him home, we are lessening the load on the schools and hopefully doing our part to help keep the cases to a minimum. I would also lower my chances of needing to take emergency leave if somewhere isolation is required.
We told our employers that we would be virtual schooling our son and proposed a modified work schedule to meet the demands of supporting our SK child through technical difficulties and running asynchronous activities. By doing this, we helped our employers manage expectations of when we would be working and when we would not be at 100% productivity. Which meant that for me, I would multi-task as much as I could in between his off -screen activities and break times and then supplement after his online sessions end. My husband and I split responsibilities so that he would do 2-3 days a week and I would do 2-3 days a week.
So far, it’s been working for us.
What does Virtual School look like in Senior Kindergarten?
Azu is a very rambunctious child. He cant sit still for very long, so a schedule that had free time, or a lot of asynchronous (independent work time) would suit him. Now I realize that most parents will cringe at the thought of a lot of independent time, but I went in mentally prepared that I would have to keep him on task and engaged. I was right.
Here is a basic outline of the school day:
| TIME | ACTIVITY |
| 8:45-8:50am | Greetings |
| 8:50-9:15am | Morning class meeting with whole group discussions (circle time) |
| 9:25-9:55am | Small group break out meeting / Asynchronous activities |
| 9:55-10:00am | Transition |
| 10:00-10:30am | Small group break out meeting / Asynchronous activities |
| 10:30-11:10am | Nutrition Break |
| 11:10 – 11:45am | Whole group learning |
| 11:45 – 12:15am | Small group break out meeting / Asynchronous activities |
| 12:15-12:20pm | Transition |
| 12:20-12:50pm | Small group break out meeting / Asynchronous activities |
| 12:50-1:30pm | Nutrition Break |
| 1:30-2:15pm | Whole group learning |
| 2:15 – 3:00pm | Asynchronous activities |
| 3:00-3:05pm | Goodbye |
How does a 5 year old handle this schedule?
Again, the shortest answer to this question – He doesn’t.
Every day it’s a constant challenge to keep him engaged. He does not do well in the large group learning. I don’t think most kids do. They spend a lot of time waiting for their turn to speak. By the time their turn comes around, they forgot their train of thought. It’s hilarious. However, the small group sessions and the one one connection he gets to make with the teacher is a joy to watch. He loves asynchronous activities and working with me. It is painfully obvious that he prefers the physical contact of a teacher, even if that person in me. For the most part of the schedule, they are doing a list of pre-determined activities from a deck. they choose and complete the assignments and we are there to support him and help him communicate his answers in digital form.
We break it up with a ton of breaks. The advantage to doing all this online is that we can take our time to do the tasks. Everything is collected at the end of the week, so we have a lot of flexibility in doing each task. He can complete as many activities as he would like one day, and if he’s struggling, or his attention is not there, I don’t force it.
Having a dedicated work space proved to be very beneficial because the lines are not blurred for him. There is a work space and then when he is done, he can play down stairs. It has done wonders for his attention span as there aren’t imminent distractions.
Why so much Asyncronous time?
I had this question too. I mean they only spend 45 minutes to an hour in the meeting combined in a day. How on earth are they learning?
Common misconception: virtual school is babysitting.
It is not. The primary school program is not virtual babysitting. The teachers are well aware that the kids are not engaged, they are bored and completely trying to hold their cool because moms like us are sitting beside them poking them to pay attention while the teacher speaks. It’s for their benefit that the teachers speak for the shortest possible time so as to maintain 5 year old sanities.
Common misconception: Asynchronous time is going to have them goof off.
This couldn’t e farther from the truth. While yes, there is a degree of goofing off, kids need time away from screens. They are not used to this much screen time. It’s also detrimental to their health in the long run. Giving them this time allows them time to run around and be kids along with giving them ample time to complete activities.
Common misconception: the parent can be hands off.
I wish there was a better answer to this, but no. Parents, especially those with kids at this level, will also need to be actively listening and working to support the kids in the activities that the kids must complete. There are various tasks that kids can do on their own, but there are a handful in each week that we will need to help them complete. What I will say is that a lot of the aided activities can happen off the clock around the home. In my opinion, it’s manageable, you just really have to give yourself up to the process.
If we have to do everything, what are the teachers doing?
Honestly, I want to hug these souls that are teaching our children the best way they can given the extreme measures they are having to take. They are used to caring for our kids in a nurturing way, they are usually hands on and have the patience of saints. They have to still deliver education to a bunch of little squares on the screen that shouldn’t even be on the screen. Just think about everything they value and realizing they cannot practice their vocation at all the way they would have wanted to.
However, they still put on a smile, work late into the night to populate google classroom with a whole whack of resources that they wouldn’t have had to digitize, and make available to our kids, in a way that they can still benefit from those resources being delivered to them in such a different way then their brains are ready to accept.
What I have seen in the last few days is a solid commitment to teaching. To provide a welcoming environment to kids, who let’s face it would rater not be there, and a level of patience that I cannot fathom a person would have in these circumstances.
Final Thoughts
I am not going to sit here and say that virtual school is going swimmingly. I think there are many shortcomings, but I can’t really fault the teachers. I can’t even fault ourselves. What I will say is that, we are swimming. We – and by we, I mean my son, his teachers and my husband and I are making the absolute best of a really crappy situation. No one in this group wants what is happening, but I do know that we are all learning. We are learning something larger then what is an academic education.
We are learning “Life Education”.
We are being schooled on the importance of resilience. We are learning to be resourceful and we are learning that we all need to worry a little less about ourselves a little more about our surroundings. And that is an education, I am willing to help my child receive.
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