MAKING TIME FOR SCHOOL AT HOME
March 19, 2020
Middle school family adapts to the new reality to ensure their children's learning continues uninterrupted.
Matt Leuchtmann and Holly Jaskierny have two children at Notre Dame Middle School. Like everyone else within the NDPMA community, they are doing their best to keep a sense of normalcy at home for their children despite the crisis swirling around the country and the world. And Leuchtmann has no doubt the decision to close schools in Michigan and the U.S. was a good one.
"The state and the NDPMA administration were clearly paying attention to the experts' advice and made the tough decision to close the schools for everyone's safety," he said. "Thankfully, we are lucky that our school has the tools to allow our students to continue learning during this interruption from the norm."
Leuchtmann said that while it's been a major adjustment to their personal and professional lives, he and Holly are dedicated to ensuring that learning continues uninterrupted for Jack, a sixth grader, and Katie, who is in the eighth grade.
"Our plan is to try to keep school activities as close to 'normal' as possible," he said. "The kids are logging in to PowerSchool at 9 a.m to review lessons from teachers and get assignments for their classes. They're spending time on each class that has work to be done for the day or week. We gave them a few minor rules for 'school time' during the day: no phones and they must sit in an actual chair with a desk or a space to spread their work out."
He also thinks that Notre Dame students generally are better prepared than many others in the same boat.
"One of the things we like best about Notre Dame is how much focus has been placed on students taking the responsibility and initiative for their own learning and for managing their load of assignments on their own instead of having teachers or parents constantly hovering or doing it for them," he said. "This self-sufficiency has helped our kids to better adapt to these changes and to manage the workload on their own, which makes it nearly seamless for us as parents."
Leuchtmann said he's been happy to see that a variety of online tools are already being used.
"On Tuesday, over Jack's shoulder I happened to see Ms. Guest doing a Zoom video for sixth-grade history," he said. "The kids are able to work in groups by using Google Hangouts on their devices; teachers have been communicating well with students and parents through both email and PowerSchool and have been flexible with any technical difficulties related to logging on or uploading assignments. They've also put assignments out for later in the week in case students want to work ahead."
However it's not all work, all day for Katie and Jack.
"Once the kids have finished their work, they can do what they want for the afternoon," their dad said. "Thankfully, in the early days here at least, the weather has been nice enough to send them outside to play basketball or ride their bikes in the neighborhood."
Comments or questions? mkelly@ndpma.org
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About Notre Dame Preparatory School and Marist Academy
Notre Dame Preparatory School and Marist Academy is a private, Catholic, independent, coeducational day school located in Oakland County. Notre Dame Preparatory School enrolls students in grades nine through twelve and has been named one of the nation's best 50 Catholic high schools (Acton Institute) four times since 2005. Notre Dame's middle and lower schools enroll students in pre-kindergarten through grade eight. All three school are International Baccalaureate "World Schools." NDPMA is conducted by the Marist Fathers and Brothers and is accredited by the Independent Schools Association of the Central States and the North Central Association Commission on Accreditation and School Improvement. For more on Notre Dame Preparatory School and Marist Academy, visit the school’s home page at www.ndpma.org.