09-25-2020, 02:42 PM
My kids' personal experience:
Oldest (son), sophomore in high school, will do fine. The biggest impact of the lockdown was on the social aspect, not the educational ones. And while the second semester of his freshman year was a bit of a wash, he can adjust for it. It helps that all his teachers are younger millennials, who can manage the technology relatively well.
Middle (daughter), 8th grader, will also do fine. She is very much an introvert and actually prefers the format. I think she would benefit from being forced into more social situations, but that will come with time. However, the school took an abbreviated schedule with less instruction time (because they were originally going to try to make a hybrid system), and so a lot of the learning is on her own. Thankfully, she is the most diligent of my three kids.
Youngest (daughter), 3rd grader... it's been a disaster. She is in a Spanish immersion program, which is challenging enough when you are trying to learn two languages in a face-to-face environment, let alone online. Her teacher is nice, but communication has been abysmal. As in my daughter has no idea what she is supposed to be doing in class, let alone at home. And it's not just us, other parents have come to my wife asking her what's going on. And she has both of us working at home and able to check in on her.
I can't imagine what it would be like for a working class, non-English speaking family where parents are essential workers.
BC
Oldest (son), sophomore in high school, will do fine. The biggest impact of the lockdown was on the social aspect, not the educational ones. And while the second semester of his freshman year was a bit of a wash, he can adjust for it. It helps that all his teachers are younger millennials, who can manage the technology relatively well.
Middle (daughter), 8th grader, will also do fine. She is very much an introvert and actually prefers the format. I think she would benefit from being forced into more social situations, but that will come with time. However, the school took an abbreviated schedule with less instruction time (because they were originally going to try to make a hybrid system), and so a lot of the learning is on her own. Thankfully, she is the most diligent of my three kids.
Youngest (daughter), 3rd grader... it's been a disaster. She is in a Spanish immersion program, which is challenging enough when you are trying to learn two languages in a face-to-face environment, let alone online. Her teacher is nice, but communication has been abysmal. As in my daughter has no idea what she is supposed to be doing in class, let alone at home. And it's not just us, other parents have come to my wife asking her what's going on. And she has both of us working at home and able to check in on her.
I can't imagine what it would be like for a working class, non-English speaking family where parents are essential workers.
BC