Homeschooling during the coronavirus outbreak? Fresno-area teachers have some resources

As the first week of mass school closures comes to an end, educators and other organizations are pulling together resources to help keep kids occupied and educated during their stay at home.

Fresno and Central Unified school districts have said any work sent home would not be mandatory, but they hope students take the time to keep up with their studies.

Clovis Unified is taking a different stance and will require the work to be done, according to district spokesperson Kelly Avants.

“Our teachers are making personal contact with kids and families to make sure we have connected with them in the ways that work for their individual home environment, and will continue to be available for remote learning,” she said. That could be through phone, email or video.

FUSD Superintendent Bob Nelson said students and parents should check their Atlas portals for work that can be done. Fresnounified.org continues to be updated with educational resources, including homeschooling schedules for each grade level.

Madera Unified School District has put a plan in place to get every student a Chromebook and Internet access through Comcast’s $9.95 a month Internet Essentials program, which is offering two months of free service to low-income families.

Nelson and other teachers have also taken to social media to read to children each day.

Many school districts in Fresno and Madera counties are handing out packets of work to students in a drive-thru style fashion, sometimes along with their school lunches.

For families without Internet access, studying will be harder, educators say.

Fresno’s Valley PBS station has stepped up to guide parents and kids through the process even without internet access.

Beginning Monday, Valley PBS (channel 18.1) will broadcast all-day educational programming that will be split into blocks according to grade level. The program began as a collaboration between NPR station KQED & PBS/KCET in Southern California.

The morning will be for kindergarten through third grade, mid-morning for grades 4-8 and the rest of the afternoon for high schoolers, according to Allison Hopkins, director of educational services at Valley PBS.

The station will have a reading program in its prime time slot at 7 p.m. that will feature local teachers and other influential people reading books.

PBS will also be working with schools to hand out supplemental packets that kids can work on. The At Home Learning program also provides resources for teachers.

Tips for distance learning

Gov. Gavin Newsom’s announcement on Tuesday that kids may be out until the fall has many parents worried about the long term use of online learning and how it can affect their children.

Virtual learning is different, but not necessarily more difficult, according to Angela Bauer, a kindergarten teacher at California Virtual Academies.

Keeping a routine but still being flexible and lenient are important concepts for parents to remember when trying to homeschool, Bauer said.

She’s taught virtually for three years and understands that there are differences that students and educators will have to get used to.

“You still want to have connections with your students emotionally and physically if you can,” she says to teachers. “Not necessarily in person, but over Skype or FaceTime, or all the different chats.”

Virtual education might be tough for some kids to get used to, Bauer said.

“Especially the younger they are, they need more of a physical connection, or an emotional connection. I think that one of the most difficult things for them will be not seeing their teachers or their friends for several weeks.”

Baur said parental involvement, especially for younger kids, is important. “When my students start at the beginning of the year, I’m really training the parents how to teach the kids, and I’m training the kids to take direction from their parents, because maybe they’re not used to that role from them.”

She says taking the lessons from online or on paper and modeling them in the real world is helpful.

“If you don’t understand the worksheet about adding, for example, let’s take some buttons or cars and add those together.”

She continued: “I tell the parents, I can expose your children to different topics and stuff, I can model things. But you’re really the one who’s right there who’s able to physically do it.”

Still she said, parents shouldn’t beat themselves up if they work or otherwise don’t have time to give their children that experience.

“Learning is not just sitting down and reading a book or doing math,” she said. “When you’re cooking, you’re learning. When you’re cleaning you’re learning.”

“Right now I’m watching the rain,” she said. “You could have a wonderful discussion about rain and that covers science.”

Kids can have a hard time jumping into school after being away for so long, but Bauer said if families provide hands-on guidance, positivity and “make this more an experience versus an attack,” students should fare well.

“Stay in a routine. Have a little bit of fun because you want your students to feel calm, you want them to be able to get through whatever you’re going through.”

The Education Lab is a local journalism initiative that highlights education issues critical to the advancement of the San Joaquin Valley. It is funded by donors. Learn about The Bee’s Education Lab here.

This story was originally published March 19, 2020 at 1:18 PM.