MACON, Ga. — School is out for the summer and kids are enjoying some time away from their online classrooms, but what happens in the fall? Should kids return to the classroom?
The American Academy of Pediatrics says, "Yes."
Karen Garrett says her 13-year-old started out strong on her e-learning assignments when her school sent students home.
Then, she noticed her daughter was losing her drive and focus.
"I would have to make her come into the living room. I would have to make her go outside. It got really bad," says Garrett.
Jennifer Hunnicutt says it's been tough for her 13- and 10-year-old sons, too.
"Being home and being away from their friends and out of routine, away from the teachers."
Now, the American Academy of Pediatrics says students should go back for in-person learning in the fall.
One of their reasons? To avoid social isolation.
"Yes, you can learn digitally, but kids do better with that interaction with other kids, with teachers. They can read each other better," says Macon Pediatrician Dr. Lance Slade.
The AAP says students should avoid school buses if possible and recommends precautions like one-way hallways, assigned seating and staggered lunch periods.
Slade says it's so important to teach kids the importance of wearing a mask and washing their hands.
"I think masks and those kinds of things are gonna be second nature eventually, but right now, it seems foreign, so I think it's coaching them that way."
He also says keeping kids at home and isolated from each other could also hurt their ability to eventually build immunity from COVID-19, as they do with other viruses such as the flu.
Hunnicutt and Garrett say school is about more than just learning math and science.
"The kids miss out on a lot when they are not in the classroom," says Hunnicutt. "They really feel just... isolated."
"School is not just your education. You learn everything else. You learn how to be a human being, you learn rules, you learn how things work, you learn that life is not fair," says Garrett. "You have to have that social interaction."
In many school reopening plans, there are choices for parents.
Some districts will allow parents to choose to keep their children home and enroll in e-learning.