#MY VIRTUAL BABY GAME ONLINE CRACKED#

вЂњMost pare nts IвЂ™ve talked to either gave up or didnвЂ™t bother in the first place,вЂќ she says. вЂњ It was just so boring and un-engaging, вЂќ says Grant. And thereвЂ™s a lot of kids that just donвЂ™t do well with online learning.вЂќДЄt least, not with the emergency, crash-course version of online learning that we scrambled to adapt to in March and April. ItвЂ™s also impoverished communities, black and Indigenous people. вЂњItвЂ™s much more than rural communities or kids with disabilities. вЂњ ItвЂ™s scary to think of all the kids who are being left behind,вЂќ she says. Her own family has one computer capable of video conversation that her sons shared in shifts throughout the spring as they slogged unhappily through online classwork, with what she calls вЂњvarying degrees of disaster and success.вЂќД«ut, Henderson says, she knows of many kids who werenвЂ™t able to get the devices or programs they needed to connect with their teachers online at all. She is also a child and youth care practitioner who chairs the advocacy group Scarborough Families for Public Education.

вЂњ There were a lot of gaps,вЂќ says Joy Henderson, mother of three boys, ages 9, 12 and 14. This particular вЂњlearning delivery methodвЂќ-or a hybrid of alternating classroom days with at-home, online days-is one many of us hope wonвЂ™t be necessary this fall, when the pandemicвЂ™s second wave is forecast to crash. But several education professionals, including Brett, told me there isnвЂ™t any jurisdiction doing K-12 online schooling вЂњright.вЂќ Surely, they must have all the answers andВ e-learning tips for parents to solve all our woes here in Canada.

#MY VIRTUAL BABY GAME ONLINE CRACKED#

I asked multiple authorities in the field, hoping to be expertly directed to some progressive Scandinavian country that had cracked the code to helping youngsters adapt to virtual school. It turns out there isnвЂ™t anyone, anywhere, whoвЂ™s winning with this kind of online model. вЂњWeвЂ™ve never done anything so quickly or so completely as we are trying to-so there is no other model like this out there.вЂќ вЂњ It was all a bit of a social experiment,вЂќ says Clare Brett, chair of the department of curriculum, teaching and learning at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education at the University of Toronto. Parents, teachers and children have perhaps never been so collectively relieved to close the book (er, browser) on an academic year. If there is one lesson that our sudden, collective immersion in the depths of online learning has imparted itвЂ™s that, to quote my tearful five-year-old SK kid, вЂњHaving school at home is not very fun.вЂќ He said this over one lunch break between the gulping sobs that were soaking his tuna-with-the-crusts-cut-off sandwich (which I still made him eat because I was feeling brittle after failing to get him to read aloud with me earlier).Д¬all it what you want-e-learning, online school, remote or distance education-it didnвЂ™t feel much like вЂњrealвЂќ school for anyone involved. We just decided we had to let some of it go and focus on keeping our family sane,вЂќ she says.

Getting him to put a handful of words down was like pulling teeth,вЂќ says Grant. After several exhausting, volatile weeks of arguments and bartering screen time for completed school assignments, Grant and her wife gave up trying to figure out what the barriers were to online learning and decided to opt out. There so were many angry outbursts over having to do Google Classroom stuff that it was absurd,вЂќ Grant says. вЂњ The schedule we had got ripped down and torn up multiple times. Her son, who lov es learning alongside his friends, was not receptive to homeschooling with Mom. вЂњ It was going to be just like real school,вЂќ Grant says, laughing.Д«ut it was never to be. She envisioned the pair gamely tackling his most challenging subject, writing, and even posted up a daily schedule to structure their days. As her workload dried up due to the pandemic, Grant had more time to help her son with school work and planned a slew of extra STEM experiments. When schools were abruptly shuttered last March and students transitioned to learning online, Keira Grant was excited to help teach her seven-year-old son. This story was originally published in July 2020.

My virtual baby game online