As Peel students bunkered down for the school holidays, many parents looked forward to a reprieve from what, for many, has been a steep learning curve.
As the new reality of remote learning has sunk in, it has become ever more apparent just how important and challenging is the work done by teachers.
Once the holidays - such as they are - are over, the remote learning model will be considered the norm, and just a handful of public school sites will be open for the children of essential frontline workers.
While the federal government has been adamant that no child will be without access to school - whether online or onsite - it's clear that the model developed over the past few weeks is the one that students will be living with for the foreseeable future.
Across the Peel region, parents, depending on their work situation and the age of their children, will have mixed feelings about this new world order.
For some, the resources put in place by their school community provide a sense of relief, focus and hope. For many others, the thought of home-schooling is an exhausting source of anxiety.
As the new reality of remote learning has sunk in, it has become ever more apparent just how important and challenging is the work done by teachers.
But alongside these online programs is the inherent understanding that families need to take care of themselves first - to focus on staying healthy, and optimistic as we live through these strangest of times.
There will also be the challenge for schools to provide support to the children who need it most.
Some children will respond well to the online learning environment. They will take to it easily, find it stimulating and enjoyable, and will work well independently.
But many others will have quite the opposite experience. They may need constant supervision and support, feel isolated away from the classroom and struggle to remain focused without a teacher overseeing their work.
As is the case in the physical classroom, there is no one-size-fits-all approach to online schooling, and this is one of the fundamental tenets of modern teaching.
Our expert teachers will continue to teach and are adapting to do this remotely, but it's clear that there will be many new challenges for teachers beyond just developing the appropriate programs to see their students through this period.
It's vital that all children have the opportunity to excel at online learning, and, more importantly, that they are not disadvantaged in the long term by a lack of support while working from home.
Parents, too, need to be reassured that their children will not fall behind due to deficiencies in the online learning environment.
The development of these programs has been necessarily rushed, due to the unpredictable and volatile nature of the coronavirus pandemic. But there is still time to get the process right, and see the country's children safely into the future.
