Today my eldest Barbarian (Heckle) starts back at school after 6 weeks of closed schools. Thanks to a gradual start to face-to-face schooling, Jeckle won’t start back until 2 June (after 8 weeks away).
Both Barbarians are excited to be going back to school. Online learning just isn’t the same.
Hopefully everything will go well and the school will stay open.
Have schools re-opened in your area (or did they never close)?
May 18, 2020 at 9:47 pm
Schools were the first to close here! Mostly because it was March Break so a week off of school – so many people had plans! Some still had plans to go on cruises up until the closure! But we wanted to have another two weeks at home just incase people were showing symptoms. We should hear from our education minister this week about the rest of our year. We end June 19th at our private school. But if we are still doing distance learning, teachers are to offer online support until June 30th and then the material will be left up all summer long if students still need/want to go over it.
I’m glad your boys are going back! What precautions are happening? I think it might be easier for their classes as they are older. I’m banking on a September return.
May 19, 2020 at 7:45 am
We only had 7 weeks of the school year under our belt *sigh*. The schools have increased cleaning after hours, more soap and sanitiser, signs up reminding kids what to do, classes rearranged to keep social distancing. Although Heckle said yesterday after his first day back that most teens weren’t distancing. There’s only so much you can do until they have to take responsibility themselves I guess.
May 19, 2020 at 8:16 am
Yeah I can understand that the kids don’t want to distance themselves. It’s so difficult! And even if I took all the furniture out of my room except the desks, theres no way I could fit all my students in the room. High school is so much easier to distance than elementary I think. I need carpet time and small groups and kids waiting to get their books checked – everything that demands being close to each other. Its going to be a nightmare to go back lol
May 19, 2020 at 8:22 am
Hopefully by the time you have to go back, it won’t matter…
May 19, 2020 at 2:17 am
Good to know school is reopening at least somewhere in the world. My California governor wants it never to reopen, to be moved home permanently.
Yeah, we do think he’s nutters.
May 19, 2020 at 7:46 am
What? I know you wouldn’t be joking about that, Jacqui, but it doesn’t seem like a fair dinkum idea. That’s totally nutters.
May 19, 2020 at 3:52 am
Heckle & Jeckle? I love it! Are you thinking of the cartoon with two magpies?
May 19, 2020 at 7:54 am
Exactly what we’re thinking of, John. When the Barbarians were younger and got into mischief we started referring to them as Heckle and Jeckle…
May 19, 2020 at 6:52 am
We’re done for the school year. Come fall, it’s still an open question, although it doesn’t look good.
May 19, 2020 at 8:20 am
We don’t finish the school year until December. Hopefully we won’t get a second wave and the kids can stay back to school.
May 19, 2020 at 8:27 am
Fingers crossed and prayers sent! Lol
May 19, 2020 at 8:40 am
In Victoria the youngest and the oldest will be starting back on May 26, the rest on June 9. The schools will be getting thorough cleaning every day and there are rules about drop offs. Staggered recess and lunchtimes. Not sure how that cleaning will be done unless there is money for extra cleaners to be hired. Since Jeff Kennett revamped the system schools are no longer directly hiring their cleaners and the companies doing it are stingy. Very stingy! The man supplying cleaners to my own school is pretty dreadful in this respect.
I am sure the oldest students, doing VCE, will be careful. Except for English, the classes are pretty small anyway, and I am guessing students will be told to go home between classes if they can. But the little ones really can’t be separated and at the primary school where I volunteer the way is team teaching so sixty kids in a room in Year 1, sitting in groups at small tables. How do you teach all of them now? How do you keep them apart at lunchtime? Yard duty staff can only be in one place at a time.
It’s not going to be easy!
May 20, 2020 at 6:43 pm
Heckle is back and said in all but one class no-one was social distancing *sigh*
May 19, 2020 at 12:49 pm
Our schools are closed until Fall [August and September]. Mine are in college now and their schools are also doing online for Fall semester, so they won’t be going back to campus until January 2021.
May 20, 2020 at 6:44 pm
Wow, 2021 is such a long time away. I hope they don’t have any practical subjects which need labs or field work!