Distance Learning Musings

• We've now been at this distance learning thing for three weeks, and I can say without doubt that the "distance learning fatigue" has set in. It's frustrating for all of us.
• After a few meltdowns this week, it is clear that I need to do a better job organizing and managing all of the boys' assignments. It's just too big of a job for them to do themselves, especially considering the circumstances. (It might be too big of a job for them to do themselves in general at this stage of their development on a good day.) The problem is that for the most part, the way that distance learning is set up for the boys, the only ones who have access to their assignments are the boys themselves through their Google Classroom platform. As the parent, I don't really have access to them. Unless the teacher is sending out regular emails or texts about the assignments and when they are due, it falls on the kids to manage.
• But frankly, I am over all the emails and texts from teachers. The big boys have 6 teachers. Jack has 1. Add to that specialty teachers, and well, that is a whole lot of communication that comes to me. There needs to be a systematic way of communicating expectations to parents without bombarding them with message after message.
• It's hard for kids to focus on what they need to do at home. It's not their routine. There's no one to look at for visual reminders on what should be happening. There's not a board or overhead or a peer to ask questions when they get stuck. It's hard for kids, even when the task itself isn't necessarily hard.
• There is inconsistency over what kids are doing for their distance learning. Jack's school has the entire third grade team planning together to decide what should be accomplished each week. They've decided that anywhere between 2-3 hours of schoolwork each day is appropriate. Jack's teacher has also decided the kids should do Zoom lessons for an hour three times a week. I've checked what fourth and second grades are doing, and it seems third grade is doing much more overall. Why? Shawn's sixth grade teachers have assigned less daily work than Jack's by far. We can usually get through his work in under an hour and a half. Jason's classes are considered GATE, and I would say that I see him doing the least amount of work of all of them, although he has a Zoom meeting every single day. His biggest time consuming assignment is reading a novel, one that he has already read. He enjoys reading, so this isn't that horrible of a prospect for him. 
• The local high school district posted today that there is the idea of a "blended learning model" happening at least at the start of next year. The governor has suggested all schools will need to follow this type of model. We don't yet know how that might look, but some form of distance learning will likely happen.
• That means that education in our area has to do some serious problem solving. I understand that our current situation was not planned, but it is time for some serious discussions to happen within the district because this situation isn't going to go away any time soon. No one grade should get any more or any less than the others. Communication needs to be streamlined. It needs to be re-vamped so kids don't hit the wall three weeks in and want to stop.