A daily routine is the key to distance learning, educator says

LARGO, Fla. — It's the new normal for teachers, students and parents across the state of Florida.

Gov. Ron DeSantis announced Saturday students won't be returning to classrooms this school year. Instead, all Florida students will continue learning from home.

The announcement comes amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and nationwide pushes to continue social distancing and isolation to combat disease spread.

RELATED: Florida schools won't reopen until after summer

Although most Tampa Bay school districts were already preparing for remote learning through the end of the school year, families and teachers are still adapting to the new reality.

Jan Haskins owns Grade Power Learning, a tutoring center will locations in Largo and Palm Harbor. She is most concerned about students who were struggling before the pandemic.

"The concepts are difficult. They’re struggling to learn new things and now it’s a whole different way of learning and they’re going to be even farther behind," Haskins told 10News.

A longtime educator herself, Haskins recognizes the burden this situation creates for parents.

"If you have one or two or three or more children at home, all in different grades with different schedules, all trying to juggle the online format -- who’s supposed to log on at what time and be live with the teacher, there's homework, it’s a lot," she said.

Haskins' advice is to make learning part of your daily routine.

"Reading, writing and math are skills. If you practice them, they get better. If you don’t, they slide," she added.

See remote learning resources from Tampa Bay-area districts:

• Hillsborough 
• Pinellas
• Manatee
• Sarasota
• Polk
• Citrus

Related coverage:

• Florida sending 32K laptops to students in small and rural school districts
• Here are the distance learning resources available to Florida students
• Students describe remote learning during pandemic

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