MARCH 11, 2010 ISSUE
School on Snow Days
Parents Find Way To Educate Kids When School Cancels
Frustrated by the number of Watauga County Schools days cancelled by snow or ice this year—a total that is approaching nearly a month’s worth of instruction—Denise and Fulton Lovin decided to take their child’s education into their own hands.
Well, at first, that is. After struggling to teach multiplication tables to her third-grade daughter Hallie on snow days, Denise realized she needed help.
“Fulton and I were tired of whining about school being canceled and stressing about educating on our own,” she said.
Sometime in January, she and her husband contacted a student-teacher at Hardin Park School and asked if she would be interested in teaching small groups for a few hours on cancelled school days. Denise then sent an email to all the parents in Hallie’s class to ask if any of them would be interested in participating.
“Within seconds, my phone rang,” she said.
A group of four students began meeting in a Belk Library study room at ASU for about four hours each snow day. The students bring with them any assignments or snow-day packets sent home by their teachers, and the parents send along flash cards, books, worksheets and other teaching tools, as well.
The students eat lunch at the cafeteria on campus and then spend a little time outside on Sanford Mall.
Soon after the Lovins started their group, another parent expressed interest and found a student-teacher from Parkway Elementary willing to teach. A second small group formed. The parents pool their money to pay the student-teachers for their time.
“The student-teachers wanted to do something too,” Denise said. “They weren’t getting experience [because school has cancelled so much], and they got paid.”
And the kids don’t seem to mind going to school on their snow days.
“Hallie loved it. She learned. It definitely wasn’t just babysitting,” said Denise. “It was a small group, so they got a lot of attention. I think kids do like structure.”
Denise hopes that no more school days will be cancelled this year, but if they are, the system is in place to continue holding class at the ASU library. She said she would love to see the snow-day classes grow in the future, but she also would hate for it to become too bureaucratic.
“It would be great business for a tutor,” she added.
She said she was glad that she stopped ranting about cancelled classes and instead took action.
“I think parents really appreciated it,” she said. “I’m proud that we actually did something.”
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