Auckland parents will learn on Wednesday how much longer they'll have to keep up the homeschooling.
Students across the country were back at school on Monday, as the final term of the year began.
But in Auckland classrooms have been sitting empty for almost two months as teachers wait to hear what the plan is to get their children back to school.
Back to school for term 4, Christchurch kids and parents were happy to say goodbye to the school holidays.
"It's absolutely fantastic to have them all back again. We're pretty lucky down here in Christchurch," parent Richard Wesley says.
But classrooms across Auckland are still frozen in time. They've been empty since August 17 - apart from a scattering of children of essential workers.
Otahuhu Primary School staff spent much of Monday making up packs to send out to their students with online learning not always possible.
"We'd be very blessed if we had a device per child in a house and that's not our reality," principal Jason Swann says.
"Our reality can be no devices, no connectivity, right through to a phone being the only device that people are using."
Secondary schools have missed nearly two months of classes this lockdown and are now approaching the business end of the year with NCEA exams due next month.
Papatoetoe High School principal Vaughan Couillault says at this point it's hard to keep even the most motivated students well-motivated.
"Those who found school a challenge in the first instance, before lockdown, will have rapidly disengaged by now so it's becoming more and more burdensome by the day."
He says they're willing to do whatever it takes to get secondary pupils back to school - safely.
"Different conversation for primary and early childcare where students haven't had the chance to be vaccinated yet," Couillault says. "But if I had the choice between carrying on for another week online, or having a mask mandate and students back on campus, I'd take the mask mandate any day."
But for now, it's empty classrooms and more details on Wednesday as students will return to the classroom for some of the final term.
