going digital
I swore I would never do it and yet here we are.
Today was the first day of school. I said several weeks back that if we were not able to have face to face learning our family would be homeschooling or going private. Our digital learning experience in the spring was not great academically or emotionally. If you get caught in a hurricane you have to hunker down and wait it out. If you know a hurricane is coming you don’t head toward it….with your kids. You evacuate! That was my feeling about digital learning for this 2020-2021 school year, get the heck out of that storm. But, as Justin Bieber and Henri the Pigeon from the classic animated film “An American Tail” says….never say never.
The decision to go digital was not an easy one. Our school district was originally given a choice to attend school face to face (F2F as the interwebs likes to say) or opt for digital learning (DL) but the county was forced to shift to digital learning only in response to rising cases in COVID-19….or political reasons….or social pressure….or who knows. No matter the reason the outcome was out of my control (as many things in life are) and we had to make some tough decisions. So why go digital?
Changes to digital learning - we were assured the experience would be much better this year than at the end of last year. There would be more live instruction (we had none in the spring) and strategies were being developed to engage kids in learning. The schedule is structured similar to a regular school day with required online attendance from 8:30am-3pm (pros and cons to this schedule…another post for another day).
A plan to return to face to face learning within a month - I’m choosing to be optimistic that we will be able to stick to the plan to return to face to face learning by September. I know there are no guarantees but I’m choosing to be hopeful.
Private school drawbacks - we looked into private school but ultimately decided that was not a fit for our family for a variety of reasons; location/commute, financial, social, etc. We did choose to send our rising kindergartner to private school. More on that later.
Not ready to quit my job - selfish? Perhaps. In light of #1-3 above leaving my job and moving to a single income family in the middle of a pandemic and the #defundthepolice campaign (when your husband is a police officer) didn’t feel like the wisest choice.
WINS
I’ve got to say that today was a great day! The day started off a little rocky with some technical difficulties but all things considered I would say it was a huge success! If you are stressed out about your kids going digital I just want to encourage you that it might not be all that bad. Of course every school, teacher, grade and student is different and will have a different experience. Learning is not a one size fits all and I think that is especially true for digital learning. Having said that there may be some advantages for some with digital learning.
No getting in trouble for talking. My son struggles in school because he is a chatterbox. Digital learning - can’t talk to his friends so he can’t get in trouble!
Lessons via zoom created much needed connection with peers. Even though my son couldn’t interact in the same ways he would through in person learning being able to see his teachers and other students in real time was awesome. He misses being in school so much and this was the next best thing until that is possible. Yes, we are only a day into this but so far I’m very optimistic.
More structured digital learning days and lessons via zoom meant less questions and distractions for me and more work getting done.
Keeping track of a schedule and getting to zoom sessions on time fosters independence and time management skills. Yes my son is in third grade but it’s never too early to create good habits.
Yes, there were some technical difficulties. Yes the school servers crashed but things were up and running pretty quickly and I don’t think much instruction was planned for the first day of school anyway.
Pods are game changers
If you haven’t heard the term a “learning pod” or “pandemic pod” is a group of students that meet in person for learning with a parent, tutor or someone helping to facilitate learning.
My 3rd grader is in a pod for the first half of his day. His friend’s mom is a former 3rd grade teacher and offered to facilitate the first half of the day. Yes! There are a total of 5 kids in the pod so there is a little social interaction for the kids and I am able to focus on work. The second half of the day my son is with me but doesn’t need much assistance from me so I’m still able to focus on work. Again, only one day in but I’m very optimistic that this will be a positive experience for both of us.
If you are someone who works full time and has a child preparing for digital learning I would strongly encourage you to coordinate a pod or find a pod you can join.
No regrets for private kindergarten…yet
My kindergartner hasn’t started school yet. She will be attending a private kindergarten starting next week in person. In the state of Georgia many private schools are starting the year with face to face learning. Although I think my 3rd grader will make it through the next few weeks of digital learning (and possible spurts of digital learning throughout the year if cases fluctuate) I do not see this working for my kindergartner. More accurately I should say I don’t see digital learning for a kindergartner working for me. I just can’t imagine how I could possibly work and facilitate a kindergartner in digital learning because:
she can’t read
she can’t write
she can’t type
she can’t tell time
A kindergartner would just need more from me to get the most out of digital learning. I don’t think I would be able to work and facilitate digital learning. Shout out to the working moms and dads making digital learning work with your kindergartner! Not an easy task for sure. Did I mention how wonderful pods are?
Personal Takeaways
Give grace to yourself, your kids, your teachers, your school. Everyone is doing their best and that is all anyone can do. Don’t think everyone is giving their best? Choose to believe they are. It’s not easy, but it is possible and you will feel better.
Choose encouragement over judgement. I have been through many moments of deep frustration (read rage) over the last few weeks because of school related issues (poor communication, technology fails, perceived bad decisions). Getting mad has not served me or anyone around me. What has made me feel the most peace is choosing to be a cheerleader instead of a critic. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve had some serious moments of weakness and zero chill. Instead of directing that negative energy at teachers or administration or…cough, social media, cough….encourage. Encouraging instead of criticizing releases the steam in my internal pressure cooker. The more I vent my negative feelings the more the emotional pressure builds. It’s counterintuitive. In the moment I think venting my frustration will make me feel better but it often just makes me feel more angry and more out of control. Choosing to encourage makes me feel in control and making someone else feel better in turn makes me feel better.
Ask for help and accept help. Connect with friends, family, neighbors. Ask what is working for others and implement things that could work for you too. If you are able to hire someone to help you, even 1 day a week, do it! If you can’t afford to hire help find some friends who might be willing to swap some hours or days. If you can get in a pod to share the responsibility of digital learning with other parents do it.
Help where you can. This is a challenging season for so many. If you have a little extra breathing room try to help others who don’t. I have a little more breathing room with only 1/2 days of digital learning for one child. I am busy too but I can bake someone some cookies to brighten someone’s day or offer my house for a play date so a friend can get some personal time over the weekend. These are my personal takeaways and I want to do more.
God is still in control. He loves our kids more than we do. He has big plans for them! God’s plans are not on hold because our plans are on hold. That’s not how He works. Everything is going to be ok. Accept that you can’t control the outcomes or the circumstances. Take a breath, light a candle, diffuse something relaxing, say a prayer and don’t worry about this!