'It's exhausting': American families stumble through first weeks of virtual school

Gabrielle and Ethan Archibald take school classes virtually as schools go back online to prevent the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Ramsey, New Jersey, U.S. September 11, 2020. Kimberlee Bradshaw Archibald/Handout via REUTERS

(Reuters) - Meredith Kablick sat next to her five-year-old son Peter at home in Cheverly, Maryland, as he logged on to a Zoom video call for his first week of kindergarten at a French immersion school.

Like thousands of parents in the United States this week, the registrar assistant was supervising her child's virtual schooling while working full-time. As with many schools from coast to coast, classes in the Washington, D.C., suburb reopened online to avoid the risk of COVID-19 infection.