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It gets really complicated because at home learning is not equitable and accessible for a wide variety of students (learning disabilities, poverty, etc). And that is the national law. Everyone has to have equitable access. We are doing a light schedule that varies day by day.

That's sort of the broader issue.

In our house, we have a 1st grader (and an infant, but he's unaffected). The teacher has sent home suggestions but everything is optional and nothing is due back.

@PinkElephant: so we got notice our schools were closing at 4 pm last Sunday, this week was supposed to be a school week and then spring break next week. This means there has been no plan.

The teachers send us some ideas and suggestions via remind and the district sent some links for options for online learning but it is all optional so far. Things may change after the break which would be 3/30.

So far I have been managing kids while working from home (with frequent online meetings) so I have decided to aim for “good enough” learning activities mixed with time outside, art, baking, educational “screen time” etc. it has been “good enough” but some days are better than others.

I am curious to see how online learning actually works for my 2nd grader once we jump that hoop. Yours sounds intense!!

@PinkElephant: It sounds like our school's expectations are similar to yours except we haven't started real time discussions yet. The packets were presented as required. Parents are to sign off daily and retain the work for proof of completion later.

DD, a 1st grader, completed her day 1 packet Tuesday but it took us the better part of 6 hours and we were both overwhelmed. She was sick yesterday and today so we skipped it entirely. I don't think we're going to keep up with the school because keeping my job is more important than 1st grade in this economy. Hopefully when the live classroom chats start it will take some pressure off me as 'teacher' but I know my preschooler will be all up in her screen and they'll be fighting. I also expect we'll do some work on the weekend like our regular homework strategy... and that we'll find a way to middle through. What's the 1st grade version of 'D is for Done'?

DS is in SK and this week is our March Break. We found out Thursday afternoon that schools would close Friday aft onwards for 3 weeks (we are in Ontario). We have a commutation app and the teacher said she may figure out some online stuff for the next 2 weeks but this week we have nothing. Now I hear rumours they may not go back to school until September sooooo I really have no clue what to do with that info at this point 🤷‍♀️

@PinkElephant: you’re in NJ right? I am too (public school - btw) and my kindergartener has an entire google classroom set up, a packet of materials and a schedule. They take attendance, we upload assignments online and to hold the completed paper packet materials at home for now, but to be returned to school at the end of this. So yeah, we’re doing the work too!

We got notice just a few days ago that at the end of the month when students would be returning from spring break we will start online learning. Apparently the DoE has said that daily virtual class attendance is mandatory, but I don't yet know what that means. I am REALLY hoping that this is going to be more of a self-paced thing where we can view recorded lessons, complete online learning, and send photos or videos between ourselves and the teachers rather than something scheduled where we are expected to have our 1st grader sit in front of a screen with a 'class' at a certain time each day.

DH is now fully SAH (his part-time jobs are now closed per state mandate for at least 30-days). So while he *can* help make that happen we also have a 15-month old who we expect will be home with them and I will likely start working from home after this week. I am still waiting to find out the details of what this virtual school really means, so I am trying not to stress until there is actually something to stress about.

We want to keep a loose schedule to stay sane, but we planned to base that around the naps of the little one and when our daughter is naturally high energy or has a better attention span vs. a time that is scheduled for us to be on a web call. Her school/class is very project-oriented and they want to stay that way, which is great! They're brainstorming a way for them to provide activity and supply kits for parents to pick up so families have what we need for the kids... but at the same time that's a lot of hands-on setup, guidance, and clean up being asked of families who are also trying to work from home, provide childcare to siblings, and save businesses that are threatened.

My oldest goes to private school (1st grade) and they just emailed saying next they are expecting kids to “do school” via webex and assignments from 9-3 each day. I think that is insane and am not sure what we’ll do, as I’m also trying to work full time from home and entertain my 5 and 2 year olds. I do think since it’s private school and we already paid they are doing it so we don’t need to be refunded tuition, but in my opinion it’s way too much to ask.

@HappyBaker: Yeah basically this is what I am hoping we are NOT walking into next week. That sounds completely unachievable for even the most dedicated full-time SAH parent, let alone in the situation we are all in. Maybe things will shift when they see what can actually be done or how kids can or cannot keep this kind of schedule while at home - especially in first grade!? Definitely keep your family and your sanity first priority, and give yourself grace in all this.

@HappyBaker: 9-3 is crazy. If you regularly homeschooled you wouldn’t be doing that. And because it’s just one child, even if the workload was the same it would take less time than in the classroom.

We received a very reasonable amount of schoolwork for our 1st grader. It’s all through a Google Classroom and packets. I’d say it takes 2 hours tops per day, not including “specials” like PE and art which they just do on their own anyway. Next week I’ll re-introduce spelling, which isn’t required but I want to keep up and it takes 5 minutes. The school encouraged us to keep reading so we have our own household imposed requirement for that but usually DD just does it without being asked so it doesn’t feel like schoolwork. DH and I work FT but Tues-Fri we have childcare (grandparents) so it’s not a problem to get it done. I was able to do everything on Monday when I was home with her alone while still getting all my work done.

Nothing is required and I don’t think it can be by law? At least in NY they’ve waived the 180 school day requirement so our schools don’t need to worry about documenting instruction was provided on 180 days in order to get reimbursed. No way would our school ask first graders to be logged into a Zoom or other live classroom—what if the parents are working? High schoolers in local districts are expected to in some situations but they know how to do it on their own.

@PinkElephant: We haven’t heard anything about promotion at this point. My kindergartener is struggling slightly with reading, so I hear you on keeping up. What I’m doing is making reading a focus for her. For example, she wasn’t assigned to read any books today or yesterday as they were easing into this, but I had her read me 5 of her leveled readers each day and we started a bookshelf challenge where we are going to read every single picture book in our house together.
We are also going to write a letter a couple days a week to grandparents so she can practice her writing.

I also messaged her teacher for ideas on how to reinforce certain things I know she’s struggling with (for her it’s phonics).

I don’t want to overwhelm either of us so I’m not spending a ton of time doing this each day, but I am making sure I keep up with this to make sure she continues progressing.

@PinkElephant: Yes, so we do the required work but I don't do the "optional" work. Homeschoolers only do 1-2 hours of direct instruction until 4th or 5th grade, then they go do 3-4 hours. I'm not at all worried about retention for my particular kids. They are both above grade level (my 1st grader's last tests in Jan had her at 3rd grade reading and math level). I'm not worried about a backslide either, because they are so busy creating. When they make a show, they create signs (and write them), she's been reading a frozen Jr script and memorizing the main parts. They make props by cutting/gluing/stapling (fine motor skills). She literally doing everything she would be doing with the optional work, but it's more fun for her and it keeps her busy and out of my hair. Her optional work is all worksheets, on top of the worksheets/assignments that are the required work. A 6-7 year old doesn't need 12 worksheets a day. Even a middle schooler doesn't need 12 work sheets a day.

On top of all that, my kiddos have done 1 cosmis yoga, 1 virtual dance class, and yesterday and additional virtial voice lesson, on top of exercise outside. Their day is packed full, just not with worksheets.

If it gives you some hope, my husband grew up in a country that had a brutal civil war his entire childhood. He wasn't able to go to school for 2 years because all the schools were being bombed, and just did work at home (with none of the resources we have now). Then, they had to move into a neighborhood bomb shelter with no electricity and obviously no internet or TV for several months. They survived on only rice for many, many weeks. He played a lot of chess with his dad by candlelight.

Eventually, they escaped their area (with only 2 suitcases) and moved to the capital city where the fighting wasn't happening---he was able to test right back into his grade level, no issue. He graduated top of his class.

@Anagram: Your attendance point really got me thinking. We aren’t asked to communicate with our district unless we have a question. If our child was absent from school on a regular day, we would get a phone call so there was a record of the absence and they could be sure the child was accounted for. Any idea how districts are keeping track of children who may fall through the cracks? It is a really scary thought.

@Becky: maybe they are still scrambling to get procedures in place. But it can’t hurt for you to reach out and suggest an attendance procedure.

My district is extremely concerned with CYA at this point, and making sure we get credit from the state and aren’t making up days later. And our attendance people (secretaries and school nurse) are still working from home, so they are handling all the attendance. Teachers and counselors are just comparing the checked attendance to which kids have actually turned in assignments each day; then the counselor is responsible for reaching out to students missing work. So everyone is still working, just at home.

It’s been cool to see it all come together.

@meganmp: It sounds like you are doing a wonderfully amazing job staying connected to the kids in your class while balancing what is expected and putting real thought and effort into making it fun and engaging. All while parenting and teaching your own. It must be so incredibly hard, so thank you for everything you're doing, and doing it on absolutely no notice. What you've described seems very reasonable for 4th grade, and if my DD was in an online learning setup like your class I think it would be just the right mix of accountability, instruction, and flexibility.

I hope I can help support my daughter's teachers as we navigate this new normal in any way I can - both in trying to comply as much as possible to what they're designing and in whatever other way we can think.

My daughter has been begging me to come volunteer to teach a science lesson/experiment all year. I was non-stop traveling for work from November to mid-February and now I am so afraid I missed my chance. Makes me feel like crying just thinking about it now and how disappointed she will be if they do not return to school this year.

@lindseykaye: OK, just that comment made me feel better. Thank you!

Our spring break is next week. DS is in grade 1. This week the teacher emailed what would have been their spelling list. We’ve been doing that, some reading of his choosing and his math app from school. He maybe is doing 20 min a day.

Ed got an email and they are setting up seesaw for after spring break. Grade ones will be getting about an hour a day of work. That seems manageable to me.

@Becky: I think one reality is two parents who have very intense jobs, who are now forced to work from home and are supposed to also get their kids (of different ages) to do 2-3 different curriculums simultaneously while doing their own work.

I am essentially working part time from home because I’m a school media specialist. I do teach electives but it’s just sheer luck that 3rd trimester, where we are now, I only teach 2 electives and the rest of my day is “open library time”, so right now I’m posting work/grading work for only 2 classes. Now, those two classes happen to be stop-motion animation (HUGE pita to be trying to teach from home and it’s a brand new trimester, so these new kids know nothing about how to do it, basically), and I teach a class for gifted students only called “history on trial”. Both of these classes are requiring me to post assignments and then babysit the inevitable panic messages I get from kids who don’t understand something. I am literally answering 50 messages a day from kids just from those 2 classes. Plus all the faculty and admin emails and messages. My admin can see how much time I spend on Canvas (our online course platform) and I can see how much time each students spends on my particular course page, so I also have to send emails like, “I noticed you didn’t log in today to your stop-motion course. Is everything okay? How are things at home? Are you struggling with work load?) bottom line—it takes time. And somehow I am supposed to homeschool my kids literally simultaneously because then THEIR teachers send check in emails around 2-3pm asking what they completed, asking specific questions about specific lessons, like “Hi A——-! What did you learn from the assigned science experiment today? Which objects floated and which sank to the bottom?” And I’m like....we’re doing that after nap time lady!

Anyway, meanwhile, my husband’s job is so demanding he goes to the bedroom where he’s now set up an entire desk, 2 new monitors and his laptop and a New desk chair, and he is in work calls and coding literally all day long. He’s so busy he doesn’t even take a lunch break and he’s working from 8 am to 6pm (sometimes later).

So me, working part time from home and being a teacher myself, I am struggling a little. I literally cannot be creating assignments and moderating online discussions about the Salem Witch Trials AND doing a science experiment with my 4 year old AND teaching my 1st grader 2 digit subtraction with regrouping simultaneously. I have to spend 1 hour working, then I have to ignore my students for an hour while I quickly get my kids through 1-2 of their lessons, then I have to ignore my kids for an hour while I go back to my students, all day long. I would be insane right now if I were teaching a full load and my husband had the job he had.

And many of my friends here are in that position—2 demanding jobs where they are on conference calls or video meetings most of the day, but they are supposed to now be homeschooling multiple children at different grade levels while working. And many jobs here are not being at all sympathetic. I don’t know what my husband would do if he were married to someone that did what he does! Would the kids be feral and tearing the house apart while both parents were on conference calls all day? Probably.

My point is, there are some very valid reasons why some parents are struggling right now to suddenly transform into homeschooling their children. If there’s not a SAH parent on the picture, or at least like me where I’m basically doing a part time load, it would be impossible to School the kids from 9-3 when those are also mandatory working hours.

Al the daycares here have been closed all week. People are getting shamed if they still have their nanny come. It’s crazy right now in the NYC area in two-working-Family houses. So I feel for all of the parents saying “calm down, the kids will be alright”. What other choice do they have, realistically?

And one thing that’s been really getting under my skin this last week is the nanny shaming. I live in a fairly privileged area and there are a lot of SAH moms who still have nannies (usually part time but sometimes full time) and there’s a lot of self congratulatory patting on the back because they’ve temporarily told their nannies to stay home (paid) for social distancing and they are telling everyone else to do the same. But it is not the same for two parents working intense jobs. Karen needing me-time to go to yoga and getting her nails done is not the same as Susie needing childcare while she is a partner in a law firm and her spouse is a managing director at a hedge fund that is now a-hands-on-deck because of the stock market. And I’m hating that people are preaching to other people when circumstances are very, very different.

And my last rant—I live in a very urban area. People live in apartments, many have no outside space (I have never been so happy I have my own balcony and outside stoop), but we have this contingent of women—it’s a moms group I’m talking about here—who have moved to the suburbs and keep chiming in on our group threads and lecturing about social distancing, and I’m tired of that too. They are like “just stay in your own house, don’t even go outside for walks—why risk it”, and I get so mad because I know they’ve moved to the suburbs or to an entirely different state and have backyards and empty sidewalks. Ahhhhhhngjhhh .

I just needed to rant a little. I feel better now!

@Anagram: I just wanted to send hugs and love your way after hearing how you are juggling all this! We are behind in terms of only having school closed a week so we haven’t gotten into the real deal yet. Take good care of yourselves!!