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How parents can prepare for students’ virtual return to school

This story is part of “Parenting in a Pandemic,” WTOP’s continuing coverage of how parents are dealing with child care, schooling and more through the coronavirus pandemic.

While many of the D.C. region’s public school systems are turning to a virtual start for the new academic year, learning from home comes with its own, unique challenges parents should prepare for.

Ann Dolin with the Educational Connections Tutoring Center is urging parents to take action to help their students succeed in a nontraditional classroom environment.

Dolin said the first thing parents should do is set up an organized school work space for their child. Ideally, the space would include a desk and a chair, and minimize distractions.

Television, video games, phones and other similar devices should be a good distance away, even during short breaks, because they could make it difficult for some students to disconnect.

She also recommends sprinkling in some online social downtime.


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Looking for more information? D.C., Maryland and Virginia are each releasing more data every day. Visit their official sites here: Virginia | Maryland | D.C.

US strikes Iran and Tehran fires back as hostilities flare again

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. military hit targets in Iran on Tuesday and Tehran fired missiles and drones in response as hostilities flare once again in an intermittent war that has lasted more than six months. The U.S. strikes followed others on Sunday that abruptly ended a month without military action and threatened to fully reignite a conflict that has spiked global oil prices and posed political problems for Republicans in November's midterm congressional elections. The renewed fighting comes after President Donald Trump had appeared to pivot toward trying to bend Iran to his will through economic sanctions. “If the failed Nation of Iran retaliates for this very justified attack, they will be hit again at a much harder and higher level, but it will not be the biggest attack of them all, that is waiting in the wings,” Trump warned on social media. U.S. Central Command said the latest strikes were in response to Tehran trying to attack commercial ships and American forces in the Middle East. Trump offered an additional explanation, telling Fox News in a phone call that U.S. forces struck Iran's radars.
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