San Francisco's public schools are closed for two weeks leading into Spring Break. I wouldn't be surprised if they remain closed into April and beyond. Originally my 10th grader's baseball team planned small-group workouts to stay in shape, but those were cancelled as well.
The city has also closed all rec centers and libraries to use them to care for kids whos families depend on the schools for childcare and meals. Elementary school kids are in the rec centers, while middle & high school kids are in the libraries where they have internet access to complete their school work.
My 10th grader has already received assignments for the next two weeks through Google Classroom. For actual instruction his math class is mostly using Khan Academy while Spanish is using Duolingo. Art has given him drawing assignments that he can do on any paper available and email a photo. Biology has sent worksheets and PDF files. Humanities is the most complicated: he and two other kids have to collaborative on a Google Doc to answer a set of questions after reading teacher-assigned links, then they have to each record 5-minute presentations and upload them to YouTube. All together he has 2-3 hours a day of work.
My 6th grader has received a couple of assignments using Google Classroom, but not a full schedule like his brother.
As for how I feel about it, I'm happy that the teachers are trying their best to keep the education going, but I can already see it won't be a replacement for actual in-person instruction. My younger one is auto-didactic enough that he will do fine. My older one really needs direct adult supervision. He can't sit at a computer for more than 20 minutes without getting distracted, and he's not detail-oriented enough to keep track of the enormous amount of information that was just thrown his way. It's going to be a lot of work for the teachers to make sure that the kids whose parents aren't as involved in their education don't get left behind.
I wish I were able to take these two weeks off work and home-school the kids. I actually think it'd be a lot of fun to do some work outside and get away from the regular classroom experience.
The kids themselves are slightly miffed they don't actually have an extra two weeks of vacation but they are resigned to their fate.
The city has also closed all rec centers and libraries to use them to care for kids whos families depend on the schools for childcare and meals. Elementary school kids are in the rec centers, while middle & high school kids are in the libraries where they have internet access to complete their school work.
My 10th grader has already received assignments for the next two weeks through Google Classroom. For actual instruction his math class is mostly using Khan Academy while Spanish is using Duolingo. Art has given him drawing assignments that he can do on any paper available and email a photo. Biology has sent worksheets and PDF files. Humanities is the most complicated: he and two other kids have to collaborative on a Google Doc to answer a set of questions after reading teacher-assigned links, then they have to each record 5-minute presentations and upload them to YouTube. All together he has 2-3 hours a day of work.
My 6th grader has received a couple of assignments using Google Classroom, but not a full schedule like his brother.
As for how I feel about it, I'm happy that the teachers are trying their best to keep the education going, but I can already see it won't be a replacement for actual in-person instruction. My younger one is auto-didactic enough that he will do fine. My older one really needs direct adult supervision. He can't sit at a computer for more than 20 minutes without getting distracted, and he's not detail-oriented enough to keep track of the enormous amount of information that was just thrown his way. It's going to be a lot of work for the teachers to make sure that the kids whose parents aren't as involved in their education don't get left behind.
I wish I were able to take these two weeks off work and home-school the kids. I actually think it'd be a lot of fun to do some work outside and get away from the regular classroom experience.
The kids themselves are slightly miffed they don't actually have an extra two weeks of vacation but they are resigned to their fate.