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A snapshot into learning at home during COVID-19

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A snapshot into learning at home during COVID-19

COVID-19 has led to the necessity of finishing the school year at home. This is definitely not desirable but our teachers are doing their best to make it work.

Obviously, nothing can replace the value of face-to-face interaction and there have been some initial challenges with logging into sites and signing up for different platforms.

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My kids’ teachers have been very good about helping to walk their students though troubleshooting problems and getting them up and going — when we reach out for help we have always received a reply almost instantaneously.

My kids are slightly older (5th grade, 8th grade, 11th grade and 12th grade), so they are self-sufficient enough to manage most online tasks by themselves.

We start our “school day” a little later than normal, around 9:30 a.m., and my elementary age kids are usually able to finish up most assignments by lunch time.

I appreciate the teachers have taken the time to put together real schedules and assignments for the kids to follow so each day we have specific objectives to focus on — it helps make it feel more purposeful.

Our teachers have been using different platforms such as Zoom and Flipgrid to help the kids stay more connected to them and each other and we appreciate that. However, after just a few days, we have realized how more meaningful it is to be immersed in a classroom with a teacher guiding the learning — there are some things that watching an online video simply cannot replace.

Having a kid that is a senior, with prom and graduation ceremonies canceled, this was supposed to be a significant year for our family, and there are many things that are heartbreaking to miss out on, but we are doing our best to stay focused and keep moving forward.

Editor’s note: Melissa Briggs is an admin for the PUSD Kids First Facebook page and a former president of Peoria Unified Parent Council.