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Kitchener-Waterloo

E-learning in Ontario: Follow this family as they adjust to school at home (Day 8)

Kitchener couple Carin Lowerison and Matt White are trying to support their three elementary-school age girls: Berkeley, Heidrun, and Clementine, as they learn from home during COVID-19. The family is preparing now to finish out the school year at home, and that means their eldest will miss out on her very first graduation.
Jackie Sharkey · CBC News ·
Normally, Clementine, 5, Heidrun, 9, and Berkeley, 11, attend Sheppard Public School in downtown Kitchener but COVID-19 has them learning from home — possibly until the end of the school year. That means Berkeley, who graduates from Grade 6 this year, may not have a chance to say goodbye to her school and teachers before moving on next year. (Submitted by: Matt White)

Families all over Ontario are figuring out how to support their school-age kids as they learn from home during COVID-19.

For the last two weeks we've been tagging along as Kitchener's Carin Lowerison and Matt White have helped their three girls learn from home.

It all started just after Easter when our local public schools formalized home-based learning. That meant assignments from teachers, deadlines and daily feedback.

All three of their kids are in elementary school: Clementine, 5, is in senior kindergarden, Heidrun, 9 , is in Grade 4 and their eldest, Berkeley is 11.

Being in Grade 6 — Berkeley was looking forward to graduating in June and having a chance to say goodbye to her school, her teacher and her friends, before moving onto a bigger school where she'll only know some of the kids.

It's just one more thing she, and her family, are adjusting to as schools stay closed, but Carin and Matt say, it is getting easier and if they need to keep it up until the end of June, they'll make it work.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Jackie Sharkey

Journalist

Jackie Sharkey is the daytime radio news anchor for CBC News in her home province of P.E.I. She spent 10 years working as a producer, guest host and studio technician in Kitchener, Ont. and helped launch the station when it was created in 2013. She has also worked for CBC in Kelowna, B.C., Quebec City and Rankin Inlet, Nunavut.

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