I’ve heard one friend say that what her kids are
getting is basically busy work, but I can tell you that is not the case with
mine. The other day I sat and helped her work through math problems that weren’t
difficult for me, but it took some mental gymnastics to think of the right
questions to ask in order to get her to do the calculations herself.
With a typical math worksheet, a child learns the
concept, applies it to the problems on the worksheet, gets to the end, and turns
it in. The sheet is graded and returned to her to fix what she did wrong. There’s
a clear beginning and end.
With the Google classroom work my daughter is doing,
she answers the problem and if it is wrong she immediately gets knocked down a number
of points. She doesn’t move up to the next point level unless she can get three
in a row right. It seemed like the system didn’t tell her what she was doing
wrong either.
There was no clear end in sight for her under a system
like that and it was very frustrating to her. I certainly never had an online
course like that. Thankfully, my husband has. Scrolling down below the screen,
he found that it did show her how she should have arrived at the correct
answer.
I’m still not sure how she was supposed to know that.
Is there a tutorial we missed? It seemed like she was just stuck unless she was
willing or able to ask a parent. Luckily, I’m reasonably capable with 4th
grade math, my husband is great at math, and we’re both home. Not the case for
everyone.
With the work being sent home, I’m seeing math and
science, some writing, and reading encouraged. There was an initial sheet in
the packet that encouraged the student to think about physical exertion but
nothing to log or turn in. Same with art. I’m most surprised at there being no
social studies of any kind. I feel the need to require a bit more of her, but
then I’m not sure what that should be.
We did make cloud dough- 1/4 cup of cornstarch to 2 tablespoons of conditioner, and a few drops of food coloring - for an arts and crafts project. We both had fun with that.
I’m hoping we’ll be back to regular school this fall,
but then I wonder - is that realistic? Every time someone says, “no school for
the rest of the year” on a news program I wonder if I missed something and they
really mean the rest of the calendar year, or if they just mean the rest of the
school year?
I found one article that addressed the majority of
concerns regarding sending children back to school or keeping them home.
Will schools be open in September? We
asked several experts to weigh in
By Alex Sherman
How are you feeling about sending your child back to
school?
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