virtual, probably private, syncronous elementary school for fall 2021 ?
July 12, 2021 3:32 PM   Subscribe

My friend has a rising 5th grader and is very concerned about in person schooling. Her daughter has really struggled with staying focused in virtual public school in 2020-2021 school year, but some of that could be down to the limited number of hours of synchronous learning and limited one on one support built in to that experience. This all got me to thinking, surely there are some very participatory sorts of private virtual school options available for students in this situation? obviously in person would be ..ideal.. but surely there are many families for whom it is still simply not a comfortable option.. So .. do you all have any leads?

this ask isn't about home-school-enrichment sorts of programs, this is about a full time , lots of real time live instruction every day, sort of thing.. the more interactive and social, the better..

thanks in advance !
posted by elgee to Education (7 answers total) 2 users marked this as a favorite
 
Response by poster: (i should clarify that the concern about in-person schooling is due to covid/covid exposure)
posted by elgee at 3:33 PM on July 12, 2021


I just heard about this place, which has live on-line learning. Galileo.
posted by xo at 4:05 PM on July 12, 2021


A friend found a great trained teacher who herself was concerned about covid, and hired her to teach her kids full time.
posted by stray at 4:28 PM on July 12, 2021


Connections Academy is set up in many states as an online public school. In Oregon it's a charter school. They existed well before the pandemic, and they do seem to offer live classes and such. Are you in Virginia? It looks like they're not launched there yet. It might be related to charter rules. I think schools like this started as a way for kids who are active in sports or arts (think of young gymnasts training for the Olympics or who are actors) to have a curriculum with some flexibility.

There are also curriculums for homeschoolers, but that's a bit different than what you are talking about. Oak Meadow, for example, considers the parent to be the primary teacher for K-4 even though the student has a teacher with the school.

Some public school systems are offering remote learning as a parallel option for next year, and it might be structured differently.

I think many private schools actually opened more quickly than public schools, though, to be honest. And folks with resources who didn't want their kids in school buildings did what stray mentioned and formed their own small schools with private tutors/teachers.

But remote school isn't great for many kids, and it sounds like your friend's daughter has had a pretty typical experience. Here are a few news pieces about virtual schooling and options for families concerned about their kids going back.
posted by bluedaisy at 5:04 PM on July 12, 2021 [1 favorite]


I can’t speak to private schools, but in Minnesota a lot of public school districts are setting up dedicated online K-12 schools for exactly this reason. There used to be just a couple online schools state-wide (some charter schools, and one sponsored by a rural district), but now lots of districts are hiring teachers for full-time distance learning: recent news article here. During the distance learning clusterfuck of spring 2020 I considered enrolling my elementary school kid in an online school that had done real online education before, but I never got around to it. Your friend might be surprised to see that there are local public options around her.
posted by Maarika at 5:08 PM on July 12, 2021 [1 favorite]


If you're close enough to help your friend find a school situation, are you close enough to maybe explore with them why they are so afraid, and to help them think about the ongoing risk of covid for the child and family (which are going to be low and will get lower over time, if the adults are vaccinated and there are no other serious underlying health concerns for the family- it's a low-risk illness for otherwise healthy children) vs. the risk to the child's mental health and education? Even if online learning is structured and timetabled for every minute of the school day with no expectation of independent study, that still doesn't allow for the student/teacher and student/student social interactions that are important to the kind of child who thrives in that environment.
posted by cilantro at 1:25 AM on July 13, 2021 [4 favorites]


Response by poster: hi cilantro .. i see where you’re coming from but .. i think the phrase “the wisdom to know the difference” comes in there .. i’m certain there is nothing i could do or say on that front that would affect the concerns she has.
posted by elgee at 6:17 AM on July 13, 2021 [1 favorite]


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