Hon. Band concert cancelled, then Shakespeare play cancelled, now classes moved to on-line. DS’23 is not a happy camper.
I am getting confused with the years - are we sticking with HS grad years or do we move on to college grad years? 
My daughter (class of '21 - college) is back at her school - they are moving online starting next week, but she is an integral part of her research lab (she is involved in the research but also splits her time with working there too). She was devastated when she learned they moved online, but hopes to establish a core group of students to meet for classes on campus (the classes are smaller than 50). My son (class of '23 - college) went back yesterday as he also has a job working at a garden center - he also has a group of friends (which is also his study group) that he will convene with. His classes went online, starting next week. Finally, my youngest son (class of '23 - HS) - his school is canceled through 4/10!! They will offer “optional” enrichment materials which I fully plan on enforcing. My office moved to working remotely, and my husband was classified as an “essential” and has to set up a temporary location at the office (long story).
Tumultuous times which I pray we can recover from financially and economically as well as maintain/restore order.
@jaceyk - I think all of this website refers to their kids on their HS graduating class.
– eg; my D16 is still in college; and my D23 graduates HS in 23. You are right. these are tumultuous times. I’ve been feeling very anxious the last week.
as school is cancelled indefinitely our way, we are going to have a family meeting and set up a schedule for the HS kids in my house.
My S23’s school district can’t grade online work by law. I signed him up for Algebra 2 online via Art of Problem Solving - it started last night and last 16 weeks. I’ll see what else I can find him to keep him occupied.
My S23 and D25 survived their first week of virtual school. I am still happy with the school district’s response as it could have been so much worse. Spring break this week and trying to find some fun at home things for the kids as I still have to work.
Mostly my S23 is sad about not seeing friends but I admit I have been letting some of the online gaming to extend beyond my “acceptable amount” after schoolwork is completed. My S23 is worried about the continued impact on track season (indoor is cancelled and outdoor is uncertain). However, he knows as a freshman he has time but he does feel bad for the juniors and seniors. This situation just really stinks.
Packed up S19 officially from his dorm. Im helping him with his online school transition. He’s done 2 online courses before but converting to all online is a bit of a challenge for him-he has true learning disabilities and learns best in small in person classes which allow him some real hands on applications such as a labs, etc. So this challenges his brain for sure but Im glad hes home so I can help guide him. (Now if only he could find a temp job here as the jobs he applied for at school he cant do as we are 3 hours away).
Me, I went to work at the second job and let’s just say that working in the ED in the middle of a pandemic has me contemplating seriously why I continue to work 2 jobs. I know that everyone is anxious right now and many I was working with were just plain tired. However, being stranded in a highly probable COVID patient room with no staff to hand me items leaving me to go in and out (and waste PPE and increase risk of spread) just left me angry. I used to love my second job and the people there but my buddies are few and far between there nowadays and there are way too many lazy people just using the job to fluff their resume.
My full time university job has been an interesting challenge that I’ve actually enjoyed. Having to work with students from home with virtual assignments has been fun for me. I have taught online courses before but they were set and created by others and I mostly was only allowed to facilitate preset assignments and discussions. Being given a bit of freedom in an online virtual environment allowed me to show a bit of my creative side. And the fact that many in the college are using what I have created to share with their own students has made me feel like maybe I am useful after all. As a very low level non tenured faculty person I have been feeling quite undervalued for quite some time and this was good to help fluff my very deflated sense of work self.
I hope everyone else is hanging in there and remaining sane!
My S23 hosted his first Dungeon and Dragons campaign on Friday. He has another scheduled for Wednesday. So he has his online Algebra 2 class via AoPS. Some of his teachers are posting assignments and he has D&D as his main activities. I like the D&D for various reasons but here’s an article expressing some the benefits:
S23 has been keeping himself busy with a research project that he usually only gets to work on during the summer and robotics had a virtual meeting last night to plan for next year’s FRC season. Those meetings might become a weekly occurrence as the students strive to remain productive and connected.
Online classes start Monday and S23 has heard from one teacher about the format. It seems pretty straightforward. Kids in our district are used to using online resources like Google Classroom and Schoology so the transition shouldn’t be too difficult. This week, the district distributed Chromebooks to families who don’t have computers in their homes and students with no internet access also received printers and paper to print assignments for submission. The school closure is only expected to last through April 17. We shall see. Hang in there, everyone!
Really struggling with S23 taking online school seriously. He’s acting like he’s still on Spring Break. Had it out with him last night, and he admitted he realizes that he’s struggling and will try harder to stick to the schedule that the school district recommended. We will see.
Moved S19 out of dorm last weekend, I believe he is also struggling coming to terms with all that is going on.
D17 seems to be doing okay - she misses her schedule and also admits to sleeping more than she should. This girl had a schedule that kept her busy from 7:30 a.m. until 7 p.m. every night. She just committed to EMT training this summer, so we will see how that pans out (with the pandemic going on).
We all have to remember that this is all unchartered territory for all of us - none of us have experienced what is going on in our lifetime. I need to find materials on how to handle/cope with this better than I have (with myself and with the kids). So hard to plan or look forward to anything when the month of April has pretty much been canceled. With California canceling the rest of the school year, I have no idea what to expect for Texas - latest is schools are closed through May 4th. Although I anticipate that to be extended even further with the peak not expected to be reached until early May for Houston.
@JaceyK I feel your pain with the lack of motivation for this new world of online schooling. All of Alabama schools have been cancelled for the rest of the school year, but they gave the teachers 3 weeks to develop online lessons and administrators time to get wifi to those who do not have it at home (fortunately all students in our county have a school issues Chromebook). Since the 18th they have only been giving non-graded review assignments or reading assignments, but nothing required to turn in. Semester will resume on the 13th for us and continue into June (we usually are done Memorial Day weekend). My S23 and D25 have been under the impression they were on a 3 week Spring Break (we don’t have ‘real’ spring break until next week) even though I make them log in and do all the work (which according to them ‘no one else’ has to do!). Just told them I got an email and they were going to get to go back to the classroom starting Monday - they thought they were going to miss ‘real’ break (which will consist of not having to check google classroom and maybe taking a drive to stare at the closed beaches) - still they were devastated … best April Fool’s joke!
As of today, the decision is being made for Georgia to close all public schools for the remainder of the schoolyear (late May)…online learning will continue. As of now I haven’t seen any specifics on what the grading policy is going to be. They were supposed to have midterms the first week the kids were home, and they cancelled those. I suppose that will be the case with finals and state end-of-course tests (required in some classes to get credit)…I haven’t heard any talk yet of Credit/No Credit or Pass/Fall options, and so far teachers are grading everything that gets turned in, but so far it’s been a short term plan, so now that they know it’s going all year, I’m hoping for some decisions and clarity around the grading.
I think our D23 will be fine for this phase. We have a S20 so he is doing his senior last semester online along with his sister. Their classes are online via google classroom. They have to turn their cameras on. And they interact with the teacher and class. They have classes at the normal time as their regular bell schedule, including their short day. So, they are in class in our dining room from 8:15-3:30. If their class online doesn’t last the full time then they do homework or read. We also have a D17 in college home now with us doing her online classes. We live abroad and are 7 hours ahead of her college. Her classes have been starting around 9 pm and go until 2 or 3 in the morning with “small groups”. Her classes are online via Zoom. So we really only have between 3:30 and 9 where no one is doing school work. The rhythm of the house is so off. My college daughter wakes around noon. But, stays up until 5 am or 6 am. My S20 also is trying to do all the “virtual” admitted student events at the schools he was accepted at. And, they are all over the place time-wise, especially with us in Europe. There are virtual events with the deans, with departments, to talk about dorm life, clubs, etc. There are also google hangout groups with existing students and accepted students. All these virtual events are an hour or two. And, they are nice and I am so thankful for them. But, we must have over 30 different ones scattered throughout our 24 hour days over a few weeks. I am honestly a little worried about getting them back to the states for Fall though. But, thinking of our D23, I think AP classes and their final test won’t matter that much. I think many colleges already do not look heavily at Freshman grades and will do so even less for the 2023 class. I am a little concerned she will be ready for the Fall sophomore math class. But, I am hoping the sophomore teachers will review the material that was taught online.
Virtual schooling is going well so far for D23. They meet on their bell schedule for video calls/instruction on M/W/F and T/Th is just for any extra help needed and self paced work. She likes being able to see everyone on her class days and being able to sleep in and relax a bit on the others.
She just signed up for her courses for next year. She’s excited and I think she’s found a good balance between challenging and fun. She’s decided to take:
English 3H
Pre-Calc H
AP US
AP Spanish
AP Biology
Law Education (w/ Mock Trial built in)
Theatre
Ceramics
My DD23 is nervous that all of this online learning will have one more very negative side effect in the future: the end of the SNOW day. Does anyone else think she is right?
We never had many snow days anyways. But yes, I think schools will be more prepared and not really have many truly “off” days.
My S23 is currently in a foul mood. Thinking he can stay up playing video games until 2am yelling and swearing at his friends and now Im the horrible parent because he “just doesnt care and its no big deal”. Meanwhile I have shared custody with my ex and our son tries to manipulate the situation by threatening to live with whatever parent he thinks will give him the path of least resistance and since at his dads hes the golden child you can imagine that I get the brunt of his broodiness. Thing that is hardest to deal with is that when S23 simply refuses to complete a homework assignment, I am the one getting emails from his dad yelling at me that its my responsibility to ensure the kid does all his work and when I say talk to your son not me, my ex tells me “lets not put our kid in the middle.” Um, our son is neurotypical and has a GT plan and hes choosing to not do or turn in work. That is NOT my problem. I can make consequences but son is turning quite apathetic right now as this quarantine goes on and it isnt easy.
Our county did away with snow days a few years ago - so I think you’re D23 is likely onto something. We usually have 1 or 2 snow/ice days a year…but due to a large number of days off a few years ago (Atlanta “snowmageddon”) that led to students having to go an extra 30 minutes at the end of the day every day for several months (ugh - that extra time wasn’t really easily used efficiently, kids were tired by that time of day, it impacted childcare for teachers, extracurriculars for kids, etc. - it was a mess), the county put a digital learning system in place which we’ve used instead of snow days since then. The benefit was that the switch to digital classes a few weeks ago was fairly straightforward for my kids’ school - in comparison to what happened for some others. But, alas, we said goodbye to snow days a few years ago (except when there’s a widespread electrical/internet outage as a result of a storm).
I hope so. As a spouse of a HS science teacher, there is nothing more annoying than trying to schedule a family trip and see a snow day eat up one or more of our vacation days. She’s stuck having to use her limited supply of personal days, while “normal” families just go anyway. Selfish, yes, but I don’t care. 
Bah Humbug @roper1313! There is nothing more joyous than getting that early morning phone call that lets you stay in bed a little longer on a snowy day.
@Happy4u, the problem we had was that on our ice (not snow—snow itself does not close schools up here) days, the notification didn’t go out until everyone had started getting ready for the day! And at least for us, once you’re up, going back to sleep just isn’t gonna happen, so it feels like wasted effort.
What’s a snow day? {says the family living 30 minutes from the Gulf} Now if you had said a Hurricane Day… know all about those! And they definitely do not illicit a ‘joyous’ response regardless of what time they call to tell us. Just means you have to drag out your board up marterial and clean up all potential projectiles out of the yard… usually in the rain. Not good times. I’ll gladly trade you for a snow day!
My D23’s school is semi-urban and low SES. This means that the school can’t hold online classes in fairness to all. So, the grade after the 3rd quarter, right when this started is the grade for the whole semester.
And this policy is bringing around huge issues.
How do you motivate a kid to do the assignments given out for each class weekly for no grade? Its been hard motivating her; I find myself sitting by her and going over the lessons with her.
She does have one of the cool teachers of the school, and I keep telling her how she wants that teacher on her side and proud of her for consistently doing her work.