By now, virtual learning is a familiar routine for families with school-aged kids, but that hasn’t lessened their dismay that it’s back for the third school year in a row due to a dramatic jump in COVID-19 infections in Ontario.
“It’s going to be a nightmare,” said Kristin Young, whose two young daughters are in junior kindergarten and Grade 1 at Walden Public School.
The parent, just one of several we spoke to Wednesday morning, on the first day back to (internet) class, said she is trying to supervise their virtual education while at the same time working from home herself.
“I can't be at three different computers at the same time,” said Young.
“So I'm going from my computer to junior kindergarten to Grade 1, and just trying my best to make sure the kids are sitting still, they're doing their work, they're not getting up and leaving, because then I don't know what they're supposed to be doing.
“Like right now my JK is jumping on the couch, and I can hear the teacher trying to teach, and Alice (Young’s daughter in JK) wants nothing to do with this.”
Before the holiday break, students were told to bring their belongings home from school should online learning be necessary.
Last week, the province announced students would have a slightly delayed return to in-person learning today (Jan. 5).
But on Monday, the province acknowledged that wouldn’t be happening, announcing all publicly funded and private schools will move to remote learning starting Jan. 5 until at least Jan. 17, subject to public health trends and operational considerations.
“This decision could have been made prior to the Christmas break,” Young said, adding that when she heard last week they were just going to extend the holidays by two days she was “totally optimistic” her daughters would be going back to school.
But “everyone was saying, ‘No, Kristin, the kids aren’t going back,’” she said. “Do I think they’re going back Jan. 17? No, only because if history repeats itself, we're not going back to the spring. Right? I hope I’m wrong. I really do, because the kids need to be in school.”
Young said not only is she personally a “horrible teacher,” struggling to help her kids with skills such as early literacy, she especially sees that her younger daughter needs more socialization, as the pandemic started when she was just a toddler.
Richard Eberhardt, whose two kids, incidentally, also attend Walden Public School, is in much the same situation — working from home while trying to supervise virtual learning.
It’s a situation of constant interruptions, dealing with technological problems and other issues for the kids, aged eight and 11. “I've probably had to deal with three small issues already, and it's only nine o'clock,” he said.
Eberhardt said there’s “some resignation” to online learning from his kids, although “they want to go back to school, they want to see their classmates, they want to interact directly with their teachers, they want to be in the school environment.”
In terms of academics, that’s not such a big deal, he said, as if there’s any loss in this area, it’s going to affect the whole class.
But if this current session of virtual learning goes on for an extended period of time once again, it could be disruptive to some of those “deeper learning skills” typically gained by middle-grade kids, such as work habits and staying on task, he said.
“There’s less accountability for particularly the older students to make sure they’re staying on task and doing their work when they’re not in a classroom environment,” Eberhardt said, adding he sees a lack of interest and enthusiasm with virtual learning.
“With two weeks, it seems manageable,” he said. “At a month, you know, it seems much more difficult. I’ve heard people say around the school environment that this could easily extend to March Break.”
Eric Ethier, whose two kids, aged five and seven, attend École St-Dominique, said he’s frustrated by government indecisiveness and decision reversals regarding schools throughout this pandemic.
“Like it's hard to plan something when they tell you on Thursday, ‘OK, the school is going to start on Wednesday,' then on Monday, ‘Oh, no, sorry, two weeks,’” he said. “And then in two weeks, they can say ‘Oh, no, another two weeks.’ And it was the same last spring.”
Ethier said that in past virtual school stints, he’s had to take unpaid time off, as both he and his wife work in industries where they can’t work from home (in construction and at HSN, respectively).
Fortunately, this time, they’ve been able to secure emergency child care. The kids also had a stint in emergency child care last spring.
While children are supposed to be able to tune into their virtual classrooms from child care, Ethier said that based on the family’s experience from last spring, it’s questionable how much schooling they were actually getting.
He’d ask what they learned that day, and they’d say “Oh, I don't know. I play with toys.”
Over the course of the pandemic, Ethier said both of his children have fallen behind both academically and socially. Virtual learning fails to keep the kids’ attention and requires Ethier’s constant presence for the kids to stay seated at their desks.
Michael Yao, a Grade 12 student at Lo-Ellen Park Secondary School and the Rainbow District School Board’s student trustee, said he and his friends obviously “weren’t that happy” with the province’s announcements about JK-12 schools over the past week.
He said they were expecting an announcement from the province, given the high COVID-19 cases, and the news that there would be a slightly delayed return to in-person learning was a surprise, as they “were expecting a little bit more to be done.”
“We definitely weren't happy that we were told that we would go online, just days before we were actually supposed to return,” Yao said.
“But, you know, in the end, we definitely all realize that this is for our safety and, in reality, if we were to go back in person, obviously this wouldn't be a safe situation.”
Much of Yao’s high school years have now been touched by COVID-19, and he’s had to adapt.
When learning first pivoted online in 2020, he and his peers were “in a panic,” but by now, they’re used to it, he said. Yao said it’s best to keep a routine while learning at home — for example, he likes to start his morning off with a cup of coffee.
Asked what being a teen in COVID times might have taught him, Yao said that’s adaptability and flexibility. “I think these are all important skills that will serve me well in the future,” he said.
“I think one thing that we also have to keep in mind with the pandemic is always having a little bit of a positive outlook on everything.
“You know what I mean? Like maintaining that open mind. So these are definitely things the pandemic has taught me for sure.”
