How is online learning going?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In our house, it's the long-awaited mashup of Lord of the Flies and the Shining.

God there is only so much algebra I can google. I hear the restaurants are delivering booze.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In our house, it's the long-awaited mashup of Lord of the Flies and the Shining.

Our 6th grader (private) is doing great. Was a little nervous going into Monday and not knowing what it would be like but it's been great. Some live classes, some pre-recorded classes, homework is uploading cell phone/scanned images into google drives to teachers - it's been pretty seamless. We lost WiFi overnight but thankfully it popped back on this AM before school started (we are not in DC BTW - I don't want my wifi comment to freak people out).

[Anonymous]

Our school is lame. Packets and one-morning meeting video. No google hangouts meetups, no zoom meetups, just worksheets and links that don't work. Lame.

[Anonymous]

Not in the DC area. Kid in private HS is doing well: seamless transition to Zoom class meetings, regularly counselor check-ins, clear homework and expectations. Clubs are meeting via Zoom. School has held regular Zoom meetings for parents too.

My kids in public elementary/middle were given two weeks of review paper packets that they were told is optional. I have to homeschool, because the school has largely done nothing. I understand why they can't due to equity issues, but it's not good for my kid with an IEP at all.

The public schools did set up lunch/breakfast programs quickly though, which was good.

[Anonymous]

I have two kids - K and 2nd - and it’s been fantastic so far. I think it’ll get better as the teachers get more used to the functionality options too - we are using google classroom and the 4-8th grade already had it - our school rolled it out fast to our lower school teachers two weeks ago and they are ramping up -

[Anonymous]

Our K-8 is doing reasonably well at it, but I'm finding that it takes a fair bit of parent involvement to keep things on track. My 8th grader is pretty much fine -- he's managing it all without much from us. But for our 4th grader who isn't particularly excited about remote schooling, it's really challenging to keep her on task and provide IT support throughout the day while both of us try to keep our heads above water in our own jobs. The portal for the remote work is a bit counterintuitive, and there's no way she can manage all the assignments and transitions without heavy assistance.

I think families in which at least one parent can devote a large chunk of the day to these issues are doing much better.

Ultimately, I've decided that if we can get her to do some work each day, I'm not going to stress about every assignment and deadline. For us, this is something to be gotten through, however long that takes.

[Anonymous]

High school parents: how is your school handling grades? How much homework- more or less than usual?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:High school parents: how is your school handling grades? How much homework- more or less than usual?

It looks like grading is no different than usual. Maybe more work but it is probably the same since classwork is usually done at school and it never shows up on the list of assignments. Tests and quizzes are online.

[Anonymous]

Awesome for our son who is at a k-8 and not great for our daughter who is at a PreK -12.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Awesome for our son who is at a k-8 and not great for our daughter who is at a PreK -12.

We are at Sheridan and I was super impressed with they handled distance learning last week. This week is spring break so they are using it to further refine the distance learning planning and delivery. They also sent a parent survey out for feedback on how last week went. The plans were well organized. Many of the teachers made their own videos and taught just like they do in class. Even the PE teacher provided workouts! They also sent the kids home with folder of work and it was really easy for the kids to dive in to the work. I was really impressed with both the level of detail and the care they took in planning the lessons on such short notice. I really feel they deserve a shout out on this one.

[Anonymous]

Sidwell's distance learning for Middle Schoolers is abysmal.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sidwell's distance learning for Middle Schoolers is abysmal.

Not so great for the high school either

[Anonymous]

We are at Congressional and they are doing a great job... 3rd grade on up were sent home with a month's worth of supplies and laptops for remote learning. The teachers are rallying and the initial feedback I have heard has been good. Oh, and the teachers are available by phone for questions so I do not have to figure out Singapore math!

[Anonymous]

I am really happy with our little k-8 school. Daily schedule from 9am to 2pm. Full curriculum including specials. The google meet and hangouts worked really well. They practiced using the chromebook to do this at school the day before school closed. My 5th grader was engaged and didn't need any help from parents.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kids school (Catholic) is doing an excellent job with elearning. I have been impressed with the communication, organization, content, and the detail in the lessons. The videos are helpful and personal as well, which adds a human aspect. It is obvious the teachers worked very hard, very quickly, to get this up and running so students could continue to learn.

This is also our experience with our K-8 Catholic school in McLean. In addition to everything noted above, our school is using Zoom for lessons throughout the day and several teachers are using Google Classroom. It's helped add to the structure and we've gotten back into school mode pretty quickly. They have some things to sort out with the specials teachers -- language, PE, music, technology -- but this thread makes me appreciate what our administration and teachers are doing.