Online school question

[waverly]

Synchronous is in a stricter schedule with the school. Asynchronous is you get the work done whenever.

I would say in the spring we were a mixture of both, but we had Google Meet calls at specific times for my 4th grader. So I guess we were more synchronous than not. I don’t know what we are doing specifically except that it is 5 hours long. So my guess is more synchronous but not watching classes.

[polecat8]

The online school option for my district is asynchronous since the teachers are still in the classroom 4 days/week for those who choose the in-person option.
The district actually contracts out the online school option, but you still get a diploma from the district.

People are losing their minds that the online option is not synchronous. I understand the need to have school all day for your kids so that you can work from home, but how does synchronous help? You still have to supervise your kid and make sure they are paying attention.

If the in-person option has to go remote due to an outbreak in the area, then school will be synchronous.

[mae0111]

My understanding is synchronous, but I don’t know for sure. We won’t have the final plans for another 2 weeks.

[sdlaura]

We have no in person option, so we either select short-term distance learning (people who want to go back in person when able) or full year virtual. There are different schedules for those options.

Nothing is set in stone yet for us, but the district put out this sample schedule in response to parent questions, for the short-term distance learning:

Sample Student Schedule Sample One - Monday-Thursday
With three 30 minute small group sessions

7:45-8:00
Preparation and set up for the day, gather all materials in your learning space and be dressed for success

8:00-8:30
Attend Synchronous class meeting (review the day’s schedule, agenda, check-in)

8:30-9:00
Attend Synchronous small Group lesson
OR
Work on asynchronous assignments in LMS

9:00-9:30
Attend Synchronous small Group lesson
OR
Work on asynchronous assignments in LMS

9:30- 10:00
Attend Synchronous small Group lesson
OR
Work on asynchronous assignments in LMS

10:00-10:15
Break - Stretch! Get a snack! Have fun!

10:15-11:15
Attend teacher’s office hours if you have any questions or to complete group work

Continue to work on asynchronous assignments from LMS

11:15-12:00
Lunch Break

12:00-2:20
Continue to work on assignments from LMS and complete by 2:20

I hope we end up with something like this where they’re not staring at a screen for hours straight. I also prefer no synchronous learning after lunch since we only have a pod teacher in the mornings, and then the kids will come home (from our friends’ garage) for lunch, and we plan to do afternoon camps/babysitters after lunch.


Friday is a one hour morning meeting/synchronous lesson and then just work independently. The full year virtual has more synchronous lessons.

[mustardseed2007]

My school just announced their plans. We will have a couple online days for team building or whatever, but then September 8 you choose in person or synchronous learning. I'm beyond stoked with their in person plan which includes masks, health screens via an app, temp checks, possibly adding in smell and taste tests in the future. Synchronous learning is going to be really hard for those learning online though. I only know of one family who may plan to choose that option, but we will see.

[mustardseed2007]

Jul 31, 2020 11:55:34 GMT -5 polecat8 said:

The online school option for my district is asynchronous since the teachers are still in the classroom 4 days/week for those who choose the in-person option.
The district actually contracts out the online school option, but you still get a diploma from the district.

People are losing their minds that the online option is not synchronous. I understand the need to have school all day for your kids so that you can work from home, but how does synchronous help? You still have to supervise your kid and make sure they are paying attention.

If the in-person option has to go remote due to an outbreak in the area, then school will be synchronous.

This is so funny b/c I've heard a lot of people in my area ask "why can't the district just buy online homeschool programming". Sounds like that's what your district is actually doing. 

I would think that asynchronous learning would be much easier to manage because you can do it whenever, take breaks whenever and then cut out all the downtime that inevitably exists in the school day, even during lessons. 

[k3am]

Jul 31, 2020 14:09:58 GMT -5 mustardseed2007 said:

This is so funny b/c I've heard a lot of people in my area ask "why can't the district just buy online homeschool programming". Sounds like that's what your district is actually doing. 

I would think that asynchronous learning would be much easier to manage because you can do it whenever, take breaks whenever and then cut out all the downtime that inevitably exists in the school day, even during lessons. 

Yes. We have a few sets of friends that have homeschooled for years, and they're adamant that when you're only working with your kids, a full day of school is not necessary. When you cut out classroom management, interruptions, and have pure, focused time, homeschooling is usually just a couple of hours a day at most.

[campermom]

Ours will be both. For those that are synchronous only, are your kids going to daycare? Will they do it there?

[waverly]

Jul 31, 2020 18:07:33 GMT -5 campermom said:

Ours will be both. For those that are synchronous only, are your kids going to daycare? Will they do it there?

We are in person, but with cases rising I’ve decided to accept and prepare for completely online. If our nanny is still available I may hire her 2 days a week. This is my planned schedule for now assuming no childcare.

My organization is open until 9 pm, and it’s quieter in my office than at home. If we are open I need to be there in person sometimes. I’m hoping elearning is mostly done by 1:30. We haven’t gotten a schedule yet. We were just told 5 hours, so 8-1 or 9-2 could work hopefully for elearning.

If the nanny is available then 2 of those would be normal work days, and I’ll still do 1 work from home and 1 FMLA. Aftercare or daycare could be an option but aftercare is at the school and they might not want someone there if they are shut down. Daycare would probably have a lot of demand and might not have spots. DH is working from home for emergency supervision but us on too many phone calls to supervise elearning. He could do a “homework” check in every evening though....

Mon- work in person 2-9 pm
Tues- Work in person 2-9pm
Wed- Work from Home
Thurs- work in person 2-9 pm
Friday -FMLA day




I would ask your daycare if they will facilitate that. I have a feeling the internet might not support tons of zoom calls.

[phdmomma]

No communication at all from the district, synchronous? Asynchronous? Who knows...they just moved the first day of school back 1 week today.

[k3am]

We are synchronous only. DD will be doing distance learning at daycare.

[sdlaura]

phdmomma, when were you supposed to start? We’re supposed to start two weeks from Monday, so I don’t think they’d delay at this point, but I still have deposits down at ymca camp for the first week of school/distance learning, just in case.

[phdmomma]

Jul 31, 2020 23:17:33 GMT -5 sdlaura said:

phdmomma, when were you supposed to start? We’re supposed to start two weeks from Monday, so I don’t think they’d delay at this point, but I still have deposits down at ymca camp for the first week of school/distance learning, just in case.

We were supposed to start Sept 1 and now it’s Sept. 8th....we don’t start until after September 1st due to tourism laws, which is another story.

[mommyatty]

We signed both kids up for distance learning the first 9 weeks. Deborah Birx was our final deciding factor when she said “If you can do virtual learning, we ask that you do so if you’re in a hot spot” or something to that effect. We can. So we will. I think our schools in Texas are going to have an appalling number of cases. So many I think our governor is going to be forced to close them.

We spent an hour talking with the headmaster today. He thought max 15% of students would sign up for at home learning. They gave us the link to choose on Thursday. By COB Friday 20% had opted for at home learning. He expected by COB today it would be 25-30%.

ETA: it’s going to be a combo program of sync and async. If there are enough at home learners in a grade, we will have a teacher devoted to them. If it’s a smaller number, a teacher will be assigned to more than one grade. It’s going to be grade-specific.

[twinmomma]

mommyatty, Her recommendations have been blowing up my Facebook feed lately. Her brother is the president at my alma mater, which is throwing the doors wide open, dorms and all, with no real changes to how things run. My old professors that I'm still in touch with are pissed, to say the least.

[mommyatty]

Is anyone else’s school requiring a waiver to go back in person? Ours is, which frankly swayed my decision to keep the kids home. Even though as a lawyer I can say since we already had a contract, the waiver is worthless. There’s a failure of consideration since they aren’t giving us anything of value to sign it. We already had a signed contract that said in exchange for over $20k, our kids could attend the school for the 2020/2021 school year.

[mustardseed2007]

mommyatty, they haven't said so, but your question made me send an email to ask.

[sandandsea]

Aug 4, 2020 12:18:42 GMT -5 mommyatty said:

Is anyone else’s school requiring a waiver to go back in person? Ours is, which frankly swayed my decision to keep the kids home. Even though as a lawyer I can say since we already had a contract, the waiver is worthless. There’s a failure of consideration since they aren’t giving us anything of value to sign it. We already had a signed contract that said in exchange for over $20k, our kids could attend the school for the 2020/2021 school year.

We had to sign for summer camp and I’m fine with it. I know and understand the risk of sending my child to be in a small group for care and education and am willing to accept that risk, otherwise I wouldn’t be sending them. It’s not the schools fault if my kid gets sick.

[mommyatty]

sandandsea- I’m not signing a waiver. My view is if the school is opening and exercising an appropriate standard of care, they will be fine. A waiver doesn’t mean you won’t be sued, it just means the other side has to fight a motion to dismiss based on the waiver. My concern is my school’s original plan (which is still what is out there) doesn’t constitute an appropriate standard of care. No masks or dividers in classrooms. 10-14 kids in a class when they would have been at or under 10 per class if they didn’t admit new students (Covid refugees who won’t stay at the school when this is over), eating together in the cafeteria, not ruling out singing in music class (they still won’t rule that out, which is mind-boggling to me).

They are correcting some of the deficiencies. Looks like they will now require masks in classrooms. They are rethinking the cafeteria. The classes are likely to be smaller now because of the numbers staying home. But they still aren’t following all guidelines of the public health authorities or the CDC. So I’m not waiving anything.

[sandandsea]

Aug 4, 2020 13:26:53 GMT -5 mommyatty said:

sandandsea- I’m not signing a waiver. My view is if the school is opening and exercising an appropriate standard of care, they will be fine. A waiver doesn’t mean you won’t be sued, it just means the other side has to fight a motion to dismiss based on the waiver. My concern is my school’s original plan (which is still what is out there) doesn’t constitute an appropriate standard of care. No masks or dividers in classrooms. 10-14 kids in a class when they would have been at or under 10 per class if they didn’t admit new students (Covid refugees who won’t stay at the school when this is over), eating together in the cafeteria, not ruling out singing in music class (they still won’t rule that out, which is mind-boggling to me).

They are correcting some of the deficiencies. Looks like they will now require masks in classrooms. They are rethinking the cafeteria. The classes are likely to be smaller now because of the numbers staying home. But they still aren’t following all guidelines of the public health authorities or the CDC. So I’m not waiving anything.

Yeah, summer camp had very strict processes so we were comfortable. Masks, distancing, fever and health check ins daily, steady cohorts, etc. if they were being nonchalant about it I would have felt differently.

[mustardseed2007]

mommyatty, I get what you're saying.

I'm looking at what our school is doing - capping each class at 10 kids per class. Requiring masks. They don't have a cafeteria so that's not an issue...they don't have plastic dividers on desks that I'm aware of but I haven't seen a classroom set up yet, but I asked to see a picture. So far I've sent two emails with questions.

I feel like our school is doing as much as they can do under the circumstances. We're in Texas though so...the community that we're in is the community that we're in.

Just talking to other families I have recently found out that one child in my DD's class caught covid (as did his mother). The family has recovered, the kid was asymptomatic the whole time.

[k3am]

Aug 4, 2020 12:18:42 GMT -5 mommyatty said:

Is anyone else’s school requiring a waiver to go back in person? Ours is, which frankly swayed my decision to keep the kids home. Even though as a lawyer I can say since we already had a contract, the waiver is worthless. There’s a failure of consideration since they aren’t giving us anything of value to sign it. We already had a signed contract that said in exchange for over $20k, our kids could attend the school for the 2020/2021 school year.

We had to sign a waiver to send the kids to daycare, where we already pay and have a contract.

I didn’t bat an eye. Coronavirus didn’t exist when we signed the contract and it does now. They are taking a risk by having the kids in person despite it. We are taking a risk by sending them.

Honestly, from your posts here, you have never sounded like you felt comfortable sending your kids back given the situation. And there’s nothing wrong with that.

[hocus2]

The first "draft" of our public school's plan is fully synchronous for remote dates so you have a schedule and you're on line more or less for 6 hours. I am not sure the teacher's union will approve this so we might end up in a mixed set up with some synchronous teaching and then everything else is work at your own pace. I generally prefer a mixed method since 6 hours seems like a lot for a kid but I'm open to whatever the school wants to try and providing feedback on what is working and what is not. I think we'll have several phases this year.

[melissa]

We are a mixture from what I hear. There will be time for synchronous learning but it will be recorded and placed online for those who are unavailable at that time to watch later at their convenience.