PK parents: two months in, what does DL look like for you?

[Anonymous]

So we're barely doing DL with our PK3 kid. It's not for lack of trying. The first month was a total mess with a teacher shuffle and we hardly had any live sessions offered. Now we are in another class and it's like constant live sessions -- morning meeting, small group, art, read-along, 1:1s with the teacher.

We make it to maybe 3-4 live sessions a week. Usually a few of the morning meeting and then one or two read-alongs. Some days our kid just goes into full revolt regarding school. If we tried to force her to sit down in front of the iPad, she'd go full exorcist. Instead we just try to supplement at home with some literacy stuff and incorporate letters and numbers into our day.

Honestly, my main focus has been making sure she gets plenty of exercise. We'll do a little DL in the morning, and then when she's had it, one of us will take her out on her bike or to a playground for an hour. She's so much calmer when she can do this -- I think moving around and being outside just helps her regulate her feelings. Whenever we try to do DL, I see the stress and tension starting to build. I don't want her to associate school with that feeling.

How are others doing? What's working, what isn't? I have considered unenrolling but we are holding on in the hopes of some in-person at some point this school year. But I don't know if we can do it -- participating at this low level feels almost pointless (we just miss so much and I never really know what is going on), but I just don't think it's feasible to do more via DL. Anyone else feel similarly?

[Anonymous]

nothing works. it's stupid. these kids should be in class.

[Anonymous]

Great, My child enjoys morning meeting and 1:1 time the best.

She also likes small group depending on the topics, the props the teacher sent home really helps her engage.

Story time is also great for her most of the time as well, it's a little more difficult for her personally.

NOTHING beats in person though, I can do this til term 3 but after DCPS better have a REAL hybrid plan.

[Anonymous]

DD is having an amazing year because I send her my to day care with the younger kids. SHe plays with other kids, engages in meaningful learning and does the minimal DL required to hold our charter spot.

[Anonymous]

we sent our son back to daycare. DL was pointless.

[Anonymous]

Are you at a DCPS or a charter? At DCPS you literally just have to login to canvas one time per day and that's it. They can't kick you out for doing any less. Not sure about charters though. Our DCPS teacher said about 40% of kids in her PK class are at some other form of childcare and not doing live sessions daily.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:we sent our son back to daycare. DL was pointless.

+1 I assume we aren't alone and can get another spot next year. It wasn't worth it.

[Anonymous]

My older PK4 kid is doing fine. It’s not in person school, but it’s definitely not a waste of time. However, she has the same teachers and classmates as last year, so it’s not a totally new routine or set of expectations. We’re working with her outside of DL, so Zoom is complimenting what we’re doing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Are you at a DCPS or a charter? At DCPS you literally just have to login to canvas one time per day and that's it. They can't kick you out for doing any less. Not sure about charters though. Our DCPS teacher said about 40% of kids in her PK class are at some other form of childcare and not doing live sessions daily.

OP here. We are in DCPS, and we are aware. Honestly, for PK, I'm not even sure they'd kick you out if you didn't log into Canvas. I'm not really worried about being kicked out. It's more that I feel like we barely participating and I feel a little guilty using a school-provided device and potentially being a drag on the sessions we do manage to make it to. I wonder if it would just be better to unenroll and forget about it until next year (we're in our IB and had no problem getting a spot so I don't think we need to worry about that). I'm not worried about academics at all -- I think my kid already hits all the year-end targets for PK3 based on the goals list we were given. I do think she could get a ton out of an actual PK experience, as she's super interested in writing letters and de-coding words. She just can't/won't do it via DL because she hates it so much.

So yeah, we are definitely considering unenrolling and either homeschooling or trying to find an in-person private PK with an open spot. I looked a little over the summer but everything was already full because of the reduced class sizes. But it sounds like some places have been adding classrooms. If we could find a half-day program, that would be ideal (other than the part where we have to pay for PK which basically put us back financially where we were with daycare, but at least our kid would get what she needs).

[Anonymous]

I sent DD back to daycare and we are doing the bare minimum at our charter to hold the spot. I was surprised that we made it for a month of morning meetings but then she told me she didn’t like school and started resist so I gave up. We still do the weekly one on ones with her teacher. I’m grateful for our school’s flexible attendance policy and that we have the option of doing apps for “classwork”.

[Anonymous]

We also sent our PK3 to daycare. We're checking in to the morning meeting to be able to keep our spot. I don't think PK3 is at all valuable online, especially since all the teachers and kids are new to him. We're now considering moving to parochial school for more of a learning environment.

[Anonymous]

We’re doing a nanny share/ PK pod with our PKer. I log into canvas daily to hold the spot on the off chance we get an in person spot or they all
Go back at some point.

[Anonymous]

It's useless. None of the other kids seem engaged. I hear a lot of crying and experience a lot on my end too.

Honestly, what are these teachers being paid to do? They're not providing any useful service. No one likes this. Yeah, they're working really hard, but the kids are suffering and not learning. The majority of 4 year olds just cannot learn this way.

[Anonymous]

PK4 parent. It's a mess at our school. We also don't have the best teacher. I'm considering one of the less expensive religious schools if we don't get an in-person spot. Also if the in-person spot looks like a viable alternative. We're still waiting for details regarding what that would look like if we even get an offer.

[Anonymous]

I will respond as an outlier. It’s going truly fine for my prek3 child. She’s excited about logging in to her live sessions each day and is engaged in the content even though she’s never met her teachers or classmates in person. From what I can tell about 80% of her classmates are also logging in regularly to both the large group and small group sessions, which is much higher than I anticipated. Some of the other kids are pretty disengaged but most are good at participating.

It’s not a substitute for actual school and I cannot wait until she is actually back full time, but I have been pleasantly surprised by the experience.