The Covid-19 pandemic has driven education for children of all ages from school to home, and often a hybrid of both. As remote learning stretches into the new school year in many areas, parents are worried, with parents of young children especially concerned about writing.More than half of parents of young children (54 percent) say that "writing is the area of greatest concern," in terms of remote learning, according to a survey conducted by Learning Without Tears (LWT), a company that has been providing writing and other educational materials to parents and teachers for more than 40 years.

Parents faced with remote learning want to know how to develop and improve their children’s handwriting without the guidance of a teacher in a classroom setting."Whether you are employed outside the home, or a stay-at-home parent, remote learning is challenging. Some subjects, like handwriting, are particularly difficult without a teacher’s direct instruction, which creates a lot of angst at home," says Lana Dugdale, from Southborough, MA, mother of three young kids, including a rising first-grader.LWT is meeting the home-based learning challenges with improved and innovative updates to its classic and proven products."It’s clear now that too many students were left behind as the country moved to distance learning," says Terry Nealon, CEO of Learning Without Tears."During a child’s elementary years, any gap in learning can result in setbacks that impact that student for the rest of his/her life. Learning Without Tears has always focused on improving learning outcomes; we don’t have to accept those gaps."To enhance remote learning, families can choose from a range both digital and print resources: activity books geared towards various elementary school grades, including books on letters and numbers, printing, and cursive, as well as keyboarding programs.

 In addition, with sharing materials out and hand sanitizer in, individual manipulative packs for hands-on learning are the ideal solution for single student use in the classroom, or for parents opting for homeschooling in small groups or pods.Need more handwriting resources? There’s an app for that. Designed to help young children learn the correct way to form letters and numbers and to show parents how to support that learning, LWT has launched "Wet, Dry, Try," for use on an iPad. With over four hours of instruction and technology that identifies individual student needs, the app provides a multisensory approach, with customized audio instructions that give teachers a way to monitor student progress remotely, when they can’t be in school.

Learning loss during school shutdown has parents, teachers, and kids worried, stressed, and looking for solutions, and LWT resources are improving this unsettled situation. So teachers can be as effective remotely as they are in the classroom, LWT’s +Live Insights – its platform that brings all of its solutions together for in-school, at-home, and hybrid teaching – facilitates crucial data-driven individualized student instruction, as well as "whole class" gallery approach that was typical of remote teaching in the spring.The only thing certain about back-to-school this year, is its uncertainty.

 Covid Pandemic Highlights Value of Transportation Techs

Going back to school, whether online, in-person, or a combination, is a yearly expense that can be especially challenging for military families.In 2019, families in the United States spent approximately $700 per child on school supplies for the school year, according to the National Retail Federation. The combination of backpacks, clothes, notebooks, and lunchboxes adds up, and many schools also ask parents to contribute as much as $100 per family to help cover the costs of classroom materials. Many military families find themselves hard-pressed to purchase school supplies on top of other child-care costs and household needs.

Operation Homefront, a national nonprofit organization that has been supporting strong, stable military families since 2002, has taken on the challenge of getting military kids classroom-ready through its annual Back-to-School Brigade program, established in 2008.This year, Hunt Heroes Foundation (HHF), a nonprofit organization founded by Hunt Military Communities (HMC), the nation’s largest military housing owner, has announced its support of Operation Homefront and its Back-to-School Brigade. HHF will be delivering 1,850 backpacks filled with school supplies to HMC communities in the continental United States in advance of the 2020 school year."Operation Homefront is proud that Hunt Military Communities is helping bring our Back-to-School Brigade program to military families in their communities," says Robin Miller, senior director of Operation Homefront."With their support, we are able to distribute backpacks filled with school supplies to those who have given so much on behalf of all Americans and ensure that their children have the tools for a successful start to the school year," Ms. Miller emphasizes.

The event aims to ease some of the financial burdens of back-to-school costs for military families, and the backpacks are tailored to all ages and grade levels."We are honored to partner with Operation Homefront on an initiative that will support military families during this uniquely challenging back-to-school season," says John Ehle, president of Hunt Military Communities."It is our goal to make the process as seamless as possible for parents, and make sure that their children are prepared to start the new school year, whether virtually or in-person."In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, this year’s Back-to-School Brigade will be adjusted to adhere to federal, state, and local COVID-19 guidelines with features such as a drive-through format.

Foundation Funds School Supplies for Military Families

The upcoming school year will be like nothing teachers, students, and families have ever experienced, as the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic steers school systems to embrace online learning and incorporate it in new ways.However, school systems across the country are rising to the challenge and staying connected to their students with dynamic digital resources, such as those from Discovery Education.Since the beginning of the pandemic, school systems across the country have invested in digital services like Discovery Education Experience because they support students’ education at home, in the classroom or wherever learning is taking place.Experience – Discovery Education’s flexible K-12 learning platform – connects educators to a vast collection of compelling high-quality, standards-aligned content, ready-to-use digital lessons, and professional learning resources. Together, these resources give educators everything they need to facilitate instruction in any learning environment and create lasting educational impact."Discovery Education is committed to keeping students and teachers connected to learning at home or in school," says Scott Kinney, Discovery Education’s president of K-12 Education."To accomplish that, we partner with school systems to provide students and teachers the digital resources – such as Discovery Education Experienc – they need for success during this school year and beyond."In addition, to providing school systems digital resources Discovery Education provides teachers the professional development they need to use new technologies and maximize their school district’s technology investment.Discovery Education has a long history as a global leader in digital curricula that align with the current standards for K-12 education, and their products include digital textbooks, multimedia resources, and professional learning for educators

Digital Resources to Play a Big Role in Education this Fall

In the wake of unprecedented school closures resulting from the 
coronavirus pandemic, the College Board is supporting students and 
schools with free, live review sessions and online exams taken at 
home.In a survey of 18,000 students enrolled in AP classes, 91 percent 
indicated they want to complete their classes and take their exams."We 
want to give every student the chance to earn the college credit they’ve
 worked hard toward throughout the year," says Trevor Packer, senior 
vice president of AP and Instruction at the College Board. "That’s why 
we quickly set up a process that’s simple, secure, and accessible."This 
year only, the traditional in-person exams will be replaced by shorter 
online versions that will take approximately 45 minutes, accessed at 
home on a computer or a mobile device. Students also have the option to 
handwrite exams and submit photos of their work. Exams are scheduled for
 May 11-22, 2020, with makeup dates in June.Exams will include topics 
and skills most AP teachers and students have already covered in class 
by early March. Most exams will have one or two free-response questions,
 and each question will be timed separately. Certain courses will use 
portfolio submissions instead of an online exam, and exams for world 
language courses will consist of spoken tasks instead of written 
responses.As usual, 2020 AP Exams will be scored by college faculty and 
AP readers, and scores will be reported on a 1-5 scale. The College 
Board plans to release scores as close to the usual July time frame as 
possible. And colleges nationwide have committed to awarding credit for 
this year’s AP scores just as they have in the past.Students registered 
to test don’t have to take any additional action; they’ll be emailed an 
e-ticket two days before each exam. The ticket will also be available in
 their My AP account.Students can get ready for exams by attending free 
online classes and review sessions led by AP teachers from across the 
country. And, during the final days before exams, classes will focus on 
simulating the exam experience and reviewing sample exam questions. The live lessons include an AP Master Class series, with AP teachers 
joined by luminaries such as Janet Yellen, Tony Hale, John Quiñones, and
 Valerie Jarrett.Details about specific AP Exams, fees, cancellations, 
and other topics will be updated regularly on the College Board website 
and shared through email, online educators’ communities, and other 
social media