Sunday, March 29, 2020
It is a beautiful, sunny day in Colorado; however, it is also chilly (29 degrees at 8:30 a.m.). My seven-year-old, Mika, will probably play in our backyard at some point today, but it will be too cold for me to want to go outside. The temperature has been forecast to reach 60 degrees on Tuesday and Wednesday, so Mika and I can take a walk on those days in the afternoon.
Tomorrow was supposed to be the end of Spring break. Instead, our children will probably stay home until school starts back in August. I was disappointed to discover my school district did not use their three-week break from teaching our children to set up online learning starting April 6th as was promised. On April 7th, the school district will be providing a packet of worksheets for each day of the week, one worksheet for language arts and one for math. We can download the worksheets online or pick up a packet at the school.
Mika does not like school and would love to have an online option. I do not think Mika is ready for online school and plan to let her test it when she starts 6th grade. This stay-at-home order was a perfect opportunity for us to give online schooling a try. If Mika could stay on task and seem to be learning, she might never go back to a traditional school. I feel cheated by my school district for not giving us this one little benefit the coronavirus gods were gifting us.
I plan to switch Mika to online school when she starts 6th grade because her older sister, Megan, struggled so much with teasing and bullying in middle school, and Mika complains about teasing and bullying frequently already. I lucked out with Megan because her elementary school included 6th grade, but she asked me at least weekly to home school her during 7th and 8th grades. I did not think I could successfully home school Megan because she did not like to learn from me. I feel the same way about Mika.
When Megan was in middle school, there were not many online schools, if any, to choose from. Now, there are several accredited online schools in Colorado. I feel that reading is probably best learned in a personal setting, such as a traditional school, rather than online. I could be wrong; I have never seen how any of the online schools operate. I may start shopping the online schools for 3rd grade if my school district does not step up to actually teach Mika any new material before the end of the school year. Now is the time for my school district to embrace creating an online learning portal to keep students in their district long term.
I let Mika take a break from homework this past week since it was her actual Spring break. Tomorrow Mika and I are going to start the three-week educational course Scholastic offers online. The course has five daily videos and activities to do each week. Mika will also read 30 minutes each day and do a few math worksheets. On April 7th we will add the school worksheets to the mix also. The teachers will be available to contact online Tuesdays through Fridays, so we might ask Mika’s teacher for other suggestions, but the school district has obviously decided they have taught our children enough this year.
I will be watching the Scholastic videos with Mika so we can have a little bonding experience each day. I do not think it will take more than half an hour to watch the video, complete the worksheet, and do an activity. I can certainly focus on Mika for 30 minutes. Who knows, we might discover we like learning together and I could possibly home school her going forward, if necessary. My friend’s daughter is one year older than Mika and my friend homeschools, so she could give me tips.
My piece of advice to you is to embrace the good parts of unexpected change. Mika likely has a 20-week Spring/Summer break and some days I am sure I will wish Mika was in school to give me a break, but I am planning to take advantage of the chance to bond with her a little more before the chance is gone forever.
Until next time,
Susanne
Please check out my GoFundMe page.
It is a beautiful, sunny day in Colorado; however, it is also chilly (29 degrees at 8:30 a.m.). My seven-year-old, Mika, will probably play in our backyard at some point today, but it will be too cold for me to want to go outside. The temperature has been forecast to reach 60 degrees on Tuesday and Wednesday, so Mika and I can take a walk on those days in the afternoon.
Tomorrow was supposed to be the end of Spring break. Instead, our children will probably stay home until school starts back in August. I was disappointed to discover my school district did not use their three-week break from teaching our children to set up online learning starting April 6th as was promised. On April 7th, the school district will be providing a packet of worksheets for each day of the week, one worksheet for language arts and one for math. We can download the worksheets online or pick up a packet at the school.
Mika does not like school and would love to have an online option. I do not think Mika is ready for online school and plan to let her test it when she starts 6th grade. This stay-at-home order was a perfect opportunity for us to give online schooling a try. If Mika could stay on task and seem to be learning, she might never go back to a traditional school. I feel cheated by my school district for not giving us this one little benefit the coronavirus gods were gifting us.
I plan to switch Mika to online school when she starts 6th grade because her older sister, Megan, struggled so much with teasing and bullying in middle school, and Mika complains about teasing and bullying frequently already. I lucked out with Megan because her elementary school included 6th grade, but she asked me at least weekly to home school her during 7th and 8th grades. I did not think I could successfully home school Megan because she did not like to learn from me. I feel the same way about Mika.
When Megan was in middle school, there were not many online schools, if any, to choose from. Now, there are several accredited online schools in Colorado. I feel that reading is probably best learned in a personal setting, such as a traditional school, rather than online. I could be wrong; I have never seen how any of the online schools operate. I may start shopping the online schools for 3rd grade if my school district does not step up to actually teach Mika any new material before the end of the school year. Now is the time for my school district to embrace creating an online learning portal to keep students in their district long term.
I let Mika take a break from homework this past week since it was her actual Spring break. Tomorrow Mika and I are going to start the three-week educational course Scholastic offers online. The course has five daily videos and activities to do each week. Mika will also read 30 minutes each day and do a few math worksheets. On April 7th we will add the school worksheets to the mix also. The teachers will be available to contact online Tuesdays through Fridays, so we might ask Mika’s teacher for other suggestions, but the school district has obviously decided they have taught our children enough this year.
I will be watching the Scholastic videos with Mika so we can have a little bonding experience each day. I do not think it will take more than half an hour to watch the video, complete the worksheet, and do an activity. I can certainly focus on Mika for 30 minutes. Who knows, we might discover we like learning together and I could possibly home school her going forward, if necessary. My friend’s daughter is one year older than Mika and my friend homeschools, so she could give me tips.
My piece of advice to you is to embrace the good parts of unexpected change. Mika likely has a 20-week Spring/Summer break and some days I am sure I will wish Mika was in school to give me a break, but I am planning to take advantage of the chance to bond with her a little more before the chance is gone forever.
Until next time,
Susanne
Please check out my GoFundMe page.