When we found out school would begin virtually this fall I was filled with dread.

I imagined myself jumping between laptops to help with links that lead to nowhere and trying to complete “online worksheets” that don’t allow the kids to edit.

Based on our spring experience, I believed the primary instructor would be me.

I had very low expectations.

But I am here at the end of week 1 to say it is going SO much better than I expected. I would even say it is going really well. (gasp!)

Here is why:

Live Teaching

The teachers are primarily doing live teaching this fall through Zoom. This is more engaging for my kids and feels more like school. They can also have “real time” conversations with their classmates and teachers and feel more connected.

My son’s teacher is even allowing them to use the “chat” feature on Zoom to talk with each other during lessons and ask questions.

Also, the teachers have the ability to mute all the students while they are teaching, so there seem to be few distractions during lessons.

Physical Workbooks

This fall we have REAL worksheets and workbooks that the kids can hold in their hands and work on during the lessons.

I compare this to reading a real book vs. an electronic book. I personally think it is so much easier to hold something in my hand and write on it with a pencil than try to scroll and type.

Schedule

In the Spring the students got their assignments at the start of the week and had until the end of the week to finish them. This may work well for some parents and students, but it did not work for us.

Now we have a daily schedule where we get started at 8:45am and have classes, specials, and breaks throughout the day.

This has helped all of us pace our day and week.

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I am so grateful for all the staff at the kids’ school.

They have made amazing changes since the spring and really listened to parent feedback.

I know they had to learn new programs and skills and probably spent much of their summer preparing for virtual learning.

Although I dislike my kids plugged into screens all day with headphones on, I know they are in good hands.

At least they are seeing familiar faces (my son) and meeting new faces (my daughter).

Overall, I am happy to say online learning will work for us…for now.

-Brittany