Saskatoon students head to 'Gramma' school for eLearning help
Thousands of students in Saskatchewan are staying out of the classroom this fall. Many families have opted to learn virtually from home with new eLearning schools.
While some have experienced a rocky start with delays, confusion and technical problems, one Saskatoon family is giving remote learning a passing grade so far.
Every morning, Maia and Ethan Fenu pack their bags and walk six blocks to their grandma's house.
Melanie Kenny meets them with a smile at the door and a joke — "Welcome to Gramma School" — a play on her time in England at grammar school.
Maia, 11, was formally at Greystone Heights while Ethan, 8, was formally at Buena Vista School. Now the two are at the English elementary online learning centre. Their cousin, nine-year-old Thomas Lamothe also meets them at Kenny's.
"I think it's fun so far. It's a little tricky to get into every zoom class but we've started to get used to it," Maia said.
"My teacher has a medical reason that he works from home instead of in the school building and his wi-fi connection is fine, and everything seems to works out," she said.
Kenny keeps track of the three students' Zoom calls and school assignments while their parents work from home.
"It's a bit difficult to work and school your children, so I said, 'Well, they can come here,' Kenny said.
"I'm home, I'm retired, I'm happy to help."
The parents say they know they're lucky to have the option of sending children to grandma's house, something not everyone has.
All three children would normally be going to three different schools — compromising their close knit bubble. Abigail said she was excited when Kenny offered to help the children with online learning, and they talked about it at length because it was a big decision.
Abigail said virtual learning in the fall is very different than in the spring.
Back then, her son only had two 45-minute sessions a week. Now, he has a structured day, from 9 a.m.-3:30 p.m.
Saskatoon Public Schools has an online learning centre with dedicated teachers this fall. There's at least two and a half hours of live instruction each day, plus assignments for the students.
"Once we got a look at the online learning centre, it was kind of a formal system — and how the teachers would interact with the students — we decided to take my mom up on the offer and that it was the right opportunity for us," Abigail said.
Ethan said it could improve with more interactions with teachers.
"I'm kind of getting used to being on a bunch of meetings," he said. "We just put ourselves on mute and listen."
Kenny said when all three children are on calls it can be very quiet at home. She said she hopes that engagement keeps up. Kenny has committed to having the children learn at her home all year.
"They are intelligent well-behaved children, so it's not a problem at all. It's a pleasure."
