Coronavirus Latest: Parents, Students Adapting To E-Learning During Coronavirus Pandemic
MOUNT LAUREL, N.J. (CBS) -- School districts across the Delaware Valley have quickly pivoted to e-learning amid the coronavirus pandemic. With schools closed, parents, students and teachers are adapting.
If you have kids, this week you've probably started converting part of your home into a digital classroom.
With area schools closed to help slow the spread of the coronavirus, distance learning is in full effect at homes like the Wheelers in Mount Laurel.
"We use a thing called Google Meet, where we get to see our teachers on video chat and they talk to us and they say what we need to do and like all what we're learning and it's really cool," sixth-grade student Jackson Wheeler said.
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Some teachers are trying to keep their lesson plans as close to normal as possible while others are incorporating unique elements from home.
"There is like 77 simple STEM activities that you can do and then you have to choose one," Bradley Wheeler, a fourth-grade student, said. "So I picked 'make the best Lego car building ship ever.'"
While not all lessons will be fun and parents may feel overwhelmed at times, Durand Elementary School Principal Dan Greco says parents shouldn't feel bad asking teachers lots of questions.
"One of the realistic things I would tell parents is to give all of this some time," Greco said. "To try to settle into a routine."
Set aside specific times during the day when children should complete their lessons and don't forget to include some exercise time.
"Learning can still happen and students can still achieve success, it's just going to have to look a lot different and we're going to have to be very, very flexible and patient," Greco said.
Experts say parents don't need to make home education a seven or eight hour day. The main thing is doing their assignments each day and maintaining some level of continuance education.