By COLlive reporter
With school closed in the Crown Heights community, a few thousand children are unable to attend classes and face many hours at home each day.
A team of top educators from various schools has joined forces to create CHYeshiva.com, an online school for all children in the neighborhood.
“With schools closed, principals of our schools have recognized our role in contributing to maintaining the Torah learning in our community,” Rabbi Yehoshua Lustig, a Menahel at Oholei Torah Elementary School who is coordinating the project, told COLlive. Instrumental in spearheading the project is Rabbi Moishy Goldstein of Lubavitch Yeshiva and Levi Sudak of Cursorblue.com.
The next few weeks will present a challenge for parents, as they struggle to entertain and educate their children with no prior online school experience.
Therefore, a team of educators has joined to create an online learning program, so that students can learn for some time each day, and fill their days in a productive way.
The plan to create an online school was met with many challenges, since many homes have a lack of technology, with some having no phone lines, some have no internet, and many have internet but have only one computer.
“When we started to plan this, we realized, there is a lot of software out there, but we have other problems, such as lack of hardware, internet access, and space,” Rabbi Lustig told COLlive.
Students who learn regularly in online schools usually need their own space, their own computer and equipment,” Rabbi Lustig says. “Our homes and apartments are small, and that just won’t work for most families,” he says.
So they came up with a solution: 6 schools with alternating schedules that don’t overlap, so that each child in the home will have their own set time when they will be learning at the computer. Each school will have a principal and teachers, who will create a curriculum and schedule and will teach the classes.
Each of the classes will be offered as an online feed as well as by phone for listening in.
“We ask the parents to be patient as we figure things out, this is a learning curve for us as well,” Rabbi Lustig says. “This is only phase one, we will be working on improving it every day,” he says.
“This is a big adjustment for everyone, and teachers will have to get used to teaching online, and parents will have to get used to amplifying their role and responsibility.”
The schools plan to also distribute guidance for parents on how to schedule the rest of their children’s days, with suggested times for davening, learning, and eating.
For now, due to the limitations in many homes, the schools will not be interactive, however they are working on different ways that teachers will be able to give quizzes, hold raffles, and other interactive activities.
The new online school will not replace classes or programs offered by individual schools and teachers, but rather supplement it, Rabbi Lustig stressed. He also says that for smaller schools or communities, regular online school platforms might work better to offer a more interactive experience.
CHYeshiva.com will be available to all schools or teachers who need it, he says.
CH Yeshiva.com Schedule: (revised)
9:30 – 10:30 am
Pre 1a- 1st-grade boys
Pre1a – first-grade girls
10:30 am – 12:00 pm
Grade 2-4 boys
Grade 2-4 girls
12:15 pm – 1:45 pm
Grade 5-8 boys
Grade 5-8 girls
Yashar Koach!👍🏼
Always ahead of the game!
Yasher Koach Rabbi Lustig and all who are involved. The zchusim of children learning will stand by you.
There is so many options but don’t see the option of Class learning
Class learning begins Monday
Great job cursor blue
Rabbi Moishy Goldstein, as always, a real role model! Thank you!
We sign in Monday morning?