We continue to all be in uncharted waters. But we remain hopeful. Hopeful for two reasons: First, because God is with us. This has not caught our Heavenly Father by surprise. And we know that in the end, "all things work together for the good of those who love Him." (Romans 8"28). And second, because we are prepared - at least as prepared as we could be given our short window of time to respond to all of the recent announcements.
Here is a rundown of what you need to know for this week:
1. Our teachers have worked tirelessly to prepare materials for you to be working on with your children. Many of them were here both days over the weekend and will be here all day tomorrow, working to get meaningful things in your hands. I have NEVER been so proud of our team.
2. We ARE NOT CANCELING SCHOOL! We are simply moving it home for a few weeks. This is honestly one of the things I am most excited for. We are not under the same constraints as our friends in the public school setting - which means we can keep the learning process going through this momentary disruption.
3. We have divided our approach to schooling into two categories - Elementary and Secondary. The approach will vary slightly with each teacher, but generally will follow the pattern outlined below:
Elementary Schedule:
Fridays: 7:30 am-11:30 am - parents can pick up materials for the following week at TRA. Our office will be open and you will be able to both pick up and return the previous week’s work (last Monday-Friday). Note - it is critical you RETURN THE WORK FROM THE PREVIOUS WEEK so teachers can monitor your child's progress.
Mondays: Expect an email from your child's teacher explaining the week's worth of work ahead.
Monday-Friday - Teachers available by phone and email for questions during school hours. Please note that their response times may vary.
Note to parents with younger kids: Our teachers are doing the heavy lifting for you by preparing the materials, but it will still likely take you working with your children (especially Pre-K-2) as they are simply not as able to do independent work.
Several of the Elementary teachers (at least 2nd-6th) will be using a few free online resources that will allow them to give assignments in math, writing, and grammar, and then track their progress. They will be communicating with you so you know how to log in.
Additionally - several of the older elementary teachers are going to use Google Classroom for their students. Google Classroom is an amazing piece of technology that allows teachers to update assignments, organize class chats, and basically completely flip the classroom, if necessary. All that is required on your end is an account that can access Gmail. If you don't have a Gmail account, you can set one up for yourself and then have your students log in through your account (google doesn't allow children under 12 to have a Gmail account).
Secondary Schedule:
Teachers will be using Google Classroom to manage assignments and the learning process. Generally, they will be introducing the week's lessons on Monday, but will likely be adding assignments daily. They will also be organizing chats and online hangout times throughout the course of the week (don't worry - your kids know what this is). We will be training all of the teachers on this tomorrow so it may take a week or so for them to get up to speed on all that Google has to offer. Your children will use their River Academy emails to access this virtual classroom.
Lastly, you can expect to hear from me regularly. There is much more I wish to say, but know if I were to write anything else, it would be too much for you to bear.
Responding with faith,
Eric
