And that family is mine. I made a case before the school year started for Chicago Public Schools to partner with the Chicago Park District to offer “remote-plus” learning: mostly remote at home but with opportunities for teachers and students to gather in socially distant outdoor spaces.
I wanted this opportunity for my own daughter so much that we left the Chicago Public Schools and joined the Chicago Free School, where students are learning outdoors three days a week, at least through September. The only way I wanted to try hybrid learning was with outdoor classes, and as far as I know, Chicago Free School is the only school in town that is doing it.
I recently had the opportunity to speak with WBEZ’s Curious City about how the new school year has started off for our family. They graciously gave permission for me to share our story as they told it, via Twitter.
1/ For this week’s peek into Chicago’s new school year, we spoke with Maureen Kelleher. @KelleherMaureen remembers the struggles of working from home during her daughter’s CPS remote learning last spring — so for the fall, she decided to take a different route.
2/ Kelleher enrolled her daughter in sixth grade at the Chicago Free School, which planned to have in-person classes in a way she thought was feasible: 3 days a week, all outdoors, in a class of 10 students. The other 2 days of school would be remote.
3/ Now in the third week, she says their new routine has been going well — but once the temperatures start to drop, the school will shift to an all-remote schedule. So they’re still making a comfortable learning space at home.
4/ But even though the in-person learning will only last as long as the nice weather, even a temporary return of a kind of work-life balance has made a big difference.
To hear a short audio clip of the author talking about why her work-life balance feels much more manageable now, listen below.
