Episode 2: Back to…school?!?
Back to..School?!?
Welcome to Episode 2 of She Sounds Like Me Podcast. Listen along as we discuss the topic weighing on so many families this year - how do we safely and successfully send our kids to school during the Covid-19 pandemic? Follow along our journey, making the decision and taking action; transitioning from the public school system to a hybrid Home School program for Cyla. Listen in on this rising 2nd graders viewpoint during the COVID crisis in America as she talks about how her school takes safety precautions and what is still missing in the classroom.
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Massive thanks to the awesome friends that lent their voices to our vision at the top of each episode.
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You are also welcome to visit our personal websites at www.layahoffman.com and www.cylagrace.com.
She Sounds Like Me is produced by Creative Catalyst Media, LLC. A business built by a Mama on a mission to help raise the voices of powerful women and girls. We thank you for your support!
In Gratitude,
Rachael & Cyla Hoffman
Transcript:
[01:12] Rachael talks to us today about how difficult and unusual this year has been and continues to be for everyone, including educators and administrators in the school systems, and shares what has worked for her and Cyla and their family.
[02:18] What the process for homeschooling in the hybrid method in this COVID Corona coaster of life.
[03:21] Rachael: So today was your first official day at a homeschool hybrid private academy!
[03:38] Cyla: We pacifically came here for a pacific school because we wanted to be students of the public school system. It's just that...they're not really handling COVID that well, and the way that you do best with learning and hands-on education, socialization... interacting with people.
[04:34] Rachael: This trickle-down effect left us with very limited options.
[05:05] Rachael: Especially having two parents that work and not having the ability to fully dedicate our time to just training and virtual school and becoming your teacher, we were looking for a homeschool-style hybrid that would allow you to have in-person education a few days a week.
[05:31] Rachael: I needed something that was secular. A lot of private schools and hybrid schools, or homeschools, are based on a non-secular curriculum.
[06:46] Cyla: I feel like [incorporating religion into curriculum] doesn't really matter as long as the school's good.
[07:47] Rachael: Well also, do you feel like one religion is a reflection of what the real world looks like and what is really happening in the world? As if the school is just teaching one religion and facts based on one religion..It doesn't expose the beliefs of the world.
[08:47] Rachael: The other thing that was important was to find a hybrid homeschool program that was accredited.
[10:26] Rachael: what were some of the things that you enjoyed and what were some of the things you didn't enjoy about that?
[11:14] Rachael: It's actually pretty fascinating how children are able to manipulate the systems up and well beyond our adult knowledge.. as parents underestimate our kids and the potential that they have to figure stuff out when they're left to their own devices.
[12:03] Cyla: hacks with microphone, to make Siri do the work for you.
[12:56] Rachael: you were more of a hands-on learner and you really enjoy education, but you needed some community support.
[13:38] Cyla: I did not like staring at a screen all day. I really did not like I couldn't interact with people. And I do very badly when I'm not engaging with people.
[15:10] Cyla: [positives about online learning were] spending time with family, not getting up early.. I'd rather sleep in and then have a virtual play date with someone.
[16:30] Rachael: Today was your first day, first official day. So you'll go to school Tuesdays and Thursdays, then Fridays for extra curriculums, ”an enrichment day.”
[16:56] Cyla: [How the first day went] there were some highs and lows, but overall it was pretty fun.
[17:13] Rachael: Students are in a small facility (actually not small facility, 8,000 sq ft), only elementary school, there's only one class per grade, with a max of 10 or 12 students per grade, on site, but then there could be additional students that are tuning in from Zoom that are virtual only, which gives them flexibility in anything that we can't do in-person we can always do online.
[18:27] Cyla: About 13 max in the entire grade.
[18:49] Cyla: So [the teacher] has a giant desk on the side and she has a big computer with the kids on it, the ZOOM kids. While when you're working, it's like, you're all eyes on the teacher.
[19:30] Rachael: And you all have your own individual desks this year with alternating shields around the desks, like pods, a little acrylic clear plastic bubble.
[20:11] Rachael: I don't think public school had the opportunity or maybe the funding to consider some of these options, right?! Like individual desks - that's a huge expense, these acrylic bubbles or dividers that protect and insulate each desk is a new feature.
[20:55] Cyla: [Other safety precautions] not really a hand washing or sanitizing thing, but it's mostly masks. A couple of kids have masks on and then, but it's surprising the people who have bubbles have masks, but the only ones who don't really have bubbles don't have masks. It feels like it should be the other way around.
[22:12] Cyla: So there's no hand washing at all. No hand sanitizer, no nothing. I was the only one who was hand sanitizing and washing my hands.
[23:07] Cyla: it was different [learning experience], but it was still pretty fun.
[23:25] Rachael: you have all your own supplies packed in a Ziploc, and you carry them around
[23:51] Rachael: Friday’s cool enrichment classes: STEM, PBL (Project-Based Learning), musical theatre, History through American girl dolls.
[24:55] Cyla: Super exciting!