What's Happening with the Fall Semester?

It’s been over a month since we posted our last blog. In the mid-south, the educational sphere is still spinning from the impacts of Covid. Attempts to resume school in the fall have shuttered and backpedaled each day. The most consistent themes are confusion and uncertainty. If you’re a parent, our team understands the battle you’re facing. Is it better to place your student in a public/private school where you absolutely cannot ensure that they’re safe from potential Covid exposure or keep them home and eliminate the potential for their social development that school fosters so well? That’s a tough decision to make.

Schools are providing a variety of options. Some are opting for a binary system of either virtual or in-person learning. Others have hybridized options of being both virtual and onsite. However you view them, the options aren’t great.

Here are three easy options that might make life easier. Whether you choose to partner with our team or any other options you find is unimportant to us. We want to ensure families are able to efficiently bridge the gaps in education that will inevitably happen from this upcoming semester.

1. Opt for a hybridized option and leverage the time out of class for tutor-guided lessons. Interacting with a virtual course, especially those that are pre-recorded, is very difficult. Students are less likely to pay close attention to virtual instruction, even if it’s in real time. Also, most virtual days are condensed to fewer hours than usual. Take advantage of this and have an expert tutor lead topics your student struggles with through in-person (but socially distanced) instruction.

2. Leverage cohort options and study groups. Odds are good that you and your student know other families in similar situations to your own. Most families we’re speaking with concerning Covid mention several other close family friends in the same situation. If you can’t afford hiring a tutor to supplement your child’s education, organize times for other students to meet and study with your child. This is going to have two benefits: Firstly, students can collectively learn challenging topics, which is more efficient than simply learning through virtual resources. Secondly, this provides the social interaction so many students are currently lacking. This social interaction is actually equally as important as their education.

3. Take advantage of lighter course loads to work towards future goals. If your student is in high school, have them take a few practice SATs or ACTs. We provide these for free, so connect with our team to schedule one today. If your student is younger than high school age, work on building a few fun projects for them to learn outside of the classroom. If they’re stuck at home, use the resources at your disposal to teach in unique ways that can’t be found in public school. For instance, elementary school students struggling with fractions typically are able to understand them when seeing them in action. Bake a cake and show what 1/2 means by measuring our flour. Keep learning interesting. It’s tough to stay motivated during such a stressful time.

During this time, our team is also working to cohesively partner with families in need of additional help. With some schools being entirely remote, that places a huge strain on working families. We have several licensed teachers available to assist with all facets of education, while also providing care to small groups of students in the comfort of their homes. This allows parents to resume working while not worrying about their child’s safety. If this is something that is of interest to you, connect with our team today.

Whichever route you take, there are likely unforeseen hurdles you’ll need to cross. Navigating this new educational climate is challenging. Connect with our team for a free consultation today. We’ll chat about your unique situation and do our best to provide advice on how to help.

-Mark Wilson, Director of Curriculum Development and Design