LEARNING TO ADAPT AT SATELLITE SCHOOLS
As the virtual school year begins, some students are completing their day away from home.
Facilities across Houston are offering a solution where kids bring their own device and follow a virtual schedule that may be different than the child sitting next to them. Staff is on hand to supervise and troubleshoot technology issues.
Wendy Tilford is the franchise owner of Huntington Learning Center in West University Place and the Heights. In a typical school year, her facilities offer private tutoring and test prep.
Now, her staff of certified teachers offers a half-day and full-day program called Huntington Study Hall designed for both public and private school students.
Depending on grade level, the student-teacher ratio is 2-to-1 or 6-to-1.
When St. Anne Catholic School started its year with two weeks of virtual learning, 10 first graders from the same class enrolled for the Study Hall.
Study Hall staff communicated with the teacher about expectations and schedule, acting as proctors as kids followed the virtual curriculum.
At times, Tilford says, it was necessary for the Study Hall teacher to use a white board to repeat the lesson kids just watched online.
“These kids need to touch and feel the process,” says Tilford, who points to a “COVID gap” that she says began with school closures in the spring. “Remote learning is standard across the board, and it doesn’t address a student’s learning style.
“The classroom environment is more engaged, more hands on,” she continues, with the auditoryvisual-kinesthetic approach “that kids need to actually grasp the concept.”
The Huntington Study Hall, which is $20 an hour, maxes out at 12 students. Kids wear masks while sitting at work stations outfitted with protective shields. huntingtonhelps.com
School time, then play time
Spring Creek Athletics (springcreekathletics.com) and Gymnast Factory (gymnastfactory.com) are two recreational facilities offering remote-learning solutions.
Gymnast Factory director Nancy Shanks says she created a drop-off program to accommodate working parents who “need a safe place to put their children to do the virtual classes,” she says.
There is no educational instruction provided, “but we know we have space, and we can supervise and help the kids stay on task,” she says.
Kids have been practicing social distancing since the facility reopened for gymnastics lessons in May, she says, “and we’ve got it down.”
The half-day and full-day options are available to students in K-12. The full-day program is $60 per day.
When school breaks allow, kids will jump on the massive indoor trampolines, play games and stretch — “something to give them some physical activity,” Shanks says.
And, at Club Westside — a membership-based family sports facility in West Houston — about 115 kids participated in the first virtual session.
Westside’s Linda McIngvale says staff members act as facilitators, not tutors. What kids need to get through a virtual school day varies by age, she says.
Children third grade and up are “pretty self-sufficient” at logging into Zoom and making use of other online tools.
“It’s a dynamic that’s a challenge” for younger kids, she says, who need more assistance. Some kindergartners have never before attended school, and following a full virtual schedule can be taxing.
Others don’t yet know how to read or need help understanding the directions on an assignment.
Work spaces are outfitted with acrylic shields. Kids can make use of the indoor sports zone during school breaks but, more often, “they’re just kind of wanting to socialize with each other,” McIngvale says.
Pricing for members is $100$125 per two-week session. clubwestside.com
How parents can help at home
Tilford recognizes that feebased satellite learning is not a solution all families can afford.
For parents juggling their job with homeschooling, she suggests leaning on the teacher as much as possible.
Ask your child’s teacher if he or she can provide individual remote instruction outside of group instruction, she suggests, and request your child’s assessments across reading, writing and math.
To supplement distance learning, Tilford recommends free online tools, including Khan Academy, PBS Kids and ABC Mouse.
Programs like these provide the repetition kids need to “master these skills over and over,” she says. “At least you’ll be getting sort of rhetorical practice.”