Have you thought of sending your kids back to school in the

[TheHaitian]

Fall?

This was the talk today among parents :

www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/dc-students-could-be-in-classrooms-just-1-or-2-days-per-week-in-fall/2307232/

Three scheduling options are being considered. The first option would have students at school for one assigned day per week, with virtual learning for four days. The second option would have students at school for two assigned days per week, with virtual learning for three days. The third option would have students in schools for a full week every third week.”

I gave them an A+ for thinking but who is going to watch the kids the virtual days? A lot of parents have to go back to work and some like me never stayed home to begin with.

As someone else said in the parenting board it does not account for kids with both parents working service Jobs and having to go work (she called it classists and racists but I am trying not to go there). Not everyone can stay home or have a stay at home parent to monitor the kids work.

This is going to be cluster!!!

[Deleted]

I'll happily take 1 or 2 days a week over what we have now.  This totally sucks.  I plan on keeping a close watch on what all the schools are announcing around here and might jump ship, I don't know.  The school we're at does not handle remote learning very well.   It's a Montessori, so totally understandable, I mean, the philosophy is pretty anti-tech and all material-based learning, so the teachers are a little lost right now.  

[TheHaitian]

I think everyone is lost...

My mom is worried about my brother, thinks he is depressed. His senior year and he was so excited about it, made a special trip to NYC to get his tux for Prom and now not happening.

Also he got into Howard Class of 2024 (his first choice) and now may not actually get to go this fall (online classes).

But for the parents in my group their kids are between PreK and 5-6th grade. Some of them have to actually go to work and even if they work from home they have to produce something. So how do you balance all that ...

One parent took a leave of absence but not everyone can afford that or have that choice.

[ohmomto2boys]

I have heard rumors about the kids alternating days - 1/2 go Mon Wed Fri, 1/2 go Tues Thurs and then opposite schedule the following week. I really do feel bad for parents with young kids not old enough to stay home by themselves.   I agree - this is going to be a cluster.  I'm in the group that whatever the schools do, we will be fine because my kids are old enough to stay home by themselves while me and DH go to work.   I would rather have my kids in school 5 days, but if they alternate days, we can work with that.

[Lizard Queen]

My DH and I are both working from home. Right now, my DH is required to work 2 half days in the office per week. I don't have to work from the office yet, and I don't want to while doing my current job. when I move on to AP, I'm not sure how much I'll still like working remotely. Once I get back down to part-time hours, I'll have more time to help my kids academically. So far, they've been mostly on their own. My youngest is very advanced for his grade, just from picking stuff up on his own. He loves being home and doesn't want to go back. My oldest is the first one done with his work in his class, and had a perfect report card. He probably misses his friends, but doesn't say anything because he's got his brother to do stuff with. I'm not worried about them. In fact, if I actually had more time and worked the amount of hours I was supposed to, I'd enjoy homeschooling them a bit.

All that to say, I'm fine with keeping them home as much as possible for now. I agree that it's a very priveleged position to be in. I'm not going to apologise for that because we all have to do the best we can for ourselves. I'm not setting policies for others to adhere to.

[Wisconsin Beth]

I'm burying my head in the sand until both my kids are done with this year's school. 

[Deleted]

May 20, 2020 6:58:20 GMT -5 Wisconsin Beth said:

I'm burying my head in the sand until both my kids are done with this year's school. 

Right?  I still have 2 and a half weeks of this hell left.  I'll worry about Fall's hell later. 

[NomoreDramaQ1015]

May 20, 2020 6:58:20 GMT -5 Wisconsin Beth said:

I'm burying my head in the sand until both my kids are done with this year's school. 

My school system has not come out with anything yet and I am making myself sick thinking about it.  I just know full time homeschooling isn't going to work.   We'd have to consider one of us quitting which comes with long term consequences or forcing my mom to do homeschooling we do not have the money to hire private tutors and nannies for a semester/entire year.

Abby is too temper mental for home school full time and Gwen is the most unmotivated child I have ever met.  I am not worrying about it right now because the governor has declared school over so this is all busy work right now.  But if I have to actually get them thru an entire school year online. .. 

[Wisconsin Beth]

Lalalalala  I can't hear you drama! 

I did just talk to my boss.  I'll be working from home 2 days a week starting the 2nd week of June.  I get a laptop and a work cell.  We've got to order the phone and I'm not sure about the laptop.  We used to have a 'joint' laptop but it's AWOL. 

I also talked to him about furloughs.  We're essential and being spared right now but if we do get them (we have in the past) then we've GOT to able to pick the day.  The last go round with furloughs required everyone to be off the same day, city wide and was horrible because so many of them were end of payroll. 

[hoops902]

I gotta say...I'm kind of amazed that in my area schools aren't open, but I can still send my kids to daycare.  I'm not 100% sure how that is happening.  

[teen persuasion]

Well, what we are doing now is not working. DS5 is still finding new teachers that he had no contact with. And that's DH or I pushing him to email the teachers or scouring the district website, or a teacher calling us. Each one is developing the connection method themselves, some Google classroom (best linkage so far), some Schoology (problematic), some email, some their district webpage, some MIA.

DH is having similar problems on the other side as a teacher (different school). Little direction from his agency, but also held him up on implementing Google classroom due to questions on privacy compliance. Now that he has approval, it's tricky getting each student linked in. This is more than 2 months in!

I'm dying to step in and take over DS5's education, he's drifting, not enough to do. We have him check all his media, he might do 10 minutes of work, watch a video, and he's "done". We have no idea if that's it, or he's just not checking everyone. He's 15, I'm not micromanaging him, I want him to figure out his own way to pursue his education, but there's no follow thru, no consequences right now, and the kids know it.

DH's heard from his boss they aren't likely to do face-to-face this summer (his students all do summer - alternative school), no idea yet on fall. But nobody knows anything at this point, so no plans are being made.

I'm apparently going back to work sooner than expected; staff meeting tomorrow about reopening in a week! Hours will be different. DS5 is 15, he can stay home himself, I'd just need to get him into a mode where he doesn't need me pushing him each day to tackle classwork.

[Deleted]

May 20, 2020 7:36:15 GMT -5 hoops902 said:

I gotta say...I'm kind of amazed that in my area schools aren't open, but I can still send my kids to daycare.  I'm not 100% sure how that is happening.  

Well, I'm guessing it's partially because "why bother" with only a couple weeks of the year left and partially because the majority of kids in school are not in daycare.  Opening schools puts a massive amount of kids in close proximity that wouldn't be otherwise.

[hoops902]

May 20, 2020 7:44:11 GMT -5 minnesotapaintlady said:

May 20, 2020 7:36:15 GMT -5 hoops902 said:

I gotta say...I'm kind of amazed that in my area schools aren't open, but I can still send my kids to daycare.  I'm not 100% sure how that is happening.  

Well, I'm guessing it's partially because "why bother" with only a couple weeks of the year left and partially because the majority of kids in school are not in daycare.  Opening schools puts a massive amount of kids in close proximity that wouldn't be otherwise.

If the issue was daycares just now opening...yes.  I'm saying daycares haven't been closed down during this whole thing.  My kids have been in daycare all through the schools closing down.  

That also makes me wonder if it's just a fluke here, or if that means there's going to be some business opportunity in the fall where kids too young to be alone will be in some kind of daycare facility doing their virtual learning (i.e.  I wonder if it's just the state/local government not wanting to be culpable, but being ok if private enterprises want to take the risk).

[Deleted]

May 20, 2020 7:51:24 GMT -5 hoops902 said:

May 20, 2020 7:44:11 GMT -5 minnesotapaintlady said:

Well, I'm guessing it's partially because "why bother" with only a couple weeks of the year left and partially because the majority of kids in school are not in daycare.  Opening schools puts a massive amount of kids in close proximity that wouldn't be otherwise.

If the issue was daycares just now opening...yes.  I'm saying daycares haven't been closed down during this whole thing.  My kids have been in daycare all through the schools closing down.  

That also makes me wonder if it's just a fluke here, or if that means there's going to be some business opportunity in the fall where kids too young to be alone will be in some kind of daycare facility doing their virtual learning (i.e.  I wonder if it's just the state/local government not wanting to be culpable, but being ok if private enterprises want to take the risk).

Daycares have been open here the entire time too because the essential workers still need childcare in order to work (unless they can work remotely).  I see that differently than having schools open which is optional.  Plus, most daycare don't have hundreds of kids all sitting together in lunch rooms...at least not around here...most are home daycare with 10 or less

[teen persuasion]

I think daycare is a local issue.

I know my mom has said she knows essential workers whose kids were in daycare, and the daycare shut down leaving them to scramble for alternatives. Grandma has been watching the grandkids, but the essential worker father works at a hospital opened exclusively for Covid-19 patients. Not the best scenario.

[Lizard Queen]

My kids are in after-school care through their school. There might be up to 100 kids all together in the gym to start. Might be only 60, I'm not sure. They do have a lot of daycare workers there at that time: 4-6. This has been closed along with the schools.

My kids go to a different daycare in the summer. I think 12-16 kids together is their max, often it is much less. I think this daycare has been open for essential workers throughout the shutdowns.

That's a big difference in number of possible contacts between the two places. Since I can't count on my kids social distancing at all, I'd prefer to avoid both right now if I can get away with it.

[hoops902]

May 20, 2020 7:59:49 GMT -5 minnesotapaintlady said:

May 20, 2020 7:51:24 GMT -5 hoops902 said:

If the issue was daycares just now opening...yes.  I'm saying daycares haven't been closed down during this whole thing.  My kids have been in daycare all through the schools closing down.  

That also makes me wonder if it's just a fluke here, or if that means there's going to be some business opportunity in the fall where kids too young to be alone will be in some kind of daycare facility doing their virtual learning (i.e.  I wonder if it's just the state/local government not wanting to be culpable, but being ok if private enterprises want to take the risk).

Daycares have been open here the entire time too because the essential workers still need childcare in order to work (unless they can work remotely).  I see that differently than having schools open which is optional.  Plus, most daycare don't have hundreds of kids all sitting together in lunch rooms...at least not around here...most are home daycare with 10 or less

That would be a pretty easy fix though.  

[Lizard Queen]

I see an issue with hallways and bussing. Different kids getting into close proximity, or really challenging scheduling for classes to avoid each other.

[hoops902]

May 20, 2020 8:16:53 GMT -5 Lizard Queen said:

I see an issue with hallways and bussing. Different kids getting into close proximity, or really challenging scheduling for classes to avoid each other.

So do away with bussing...and put kids into 1 classroom for the day for elementary schools.  It seems like the "too young to stay at home" could be resolved there, and then only leaving middle school and high school to learn virtually (and I'm not sure middle school couldn't stay in the same room all day with some small modification).

[Deleted]

May 20, 2020 8:09:23 GMT -5 hoops902 said:

May 20, 2020 7:59:49 GMT -5 minnesotapaintlady said:

Daycares have been open here the entire time too because the essential workers still need childcare in order to work (unless they can work remotely).  I see that differently than having schools open which is optional.  Plus, most daycare don't have hundreds of kids all sitting together in lunch rooms...at least not around here...most are home daycare with 10 or less

That would be a pretty easy fix though.  

Our school already had kids starting lunch at 10:30 in the morning in order to get them all cycled through in 20 minute time slots. 

Again, I'm sure the bigger reason schools aren't running is because it's just added exposure that isn't necessary.  Most agree that even if the school isn't doing a great job with the remote learning, the kids won't be permanently damaged by a little longer summer.

[Lizard Queen]

May 20, 2020 8:23:01 GMT -5 hoops902 said:

May 20, 2020 8:16:53 GMT -5 Lizard Queen said:

I see an issue with hallways and bussing. Different kids getting into close proximity, or really challenging scheduling for classes to avoid each other.

So do away with bussing...and put kids into 1 classroom for the day for elementary schools.  It seems like the "too young to stay at home" could be resolved there, and then only leaving middle school and high school to learn virtually (and I'm not sure middle school couldn't stay in the same room all day with some small modification).

They still need to enter and exit the school. My school is very crowded during these times. I'm not saying it can't be done, but it could be a real challenge.

I don't think public schools can legally do away with bussing (unless they are already a walking district). Something about equal access.

[Deleted]

May 20, 2020 8:23:01 GMT -5 hoops902 said:

May 20, 2020 8:16:53 GMT -5 Lizard Queen said:

I see an issue with hallways and bussing. Different kids getting into close proximity, or really challenging scheduling for classes to avoid each other.

So do away with bussing...and put kids into 1 classroom for the day for elementary schools.  It seems like the "too young to stay at home" could be resolved there, and then only leaving middle school and high school to learn virtually (and I'm not sure middle school couldn't stay in the same room all day with some small modification).

Well, they can't do away with busing and maybe they will come up with some creative ideas for Fall to reduce the population density in the schools, but you were questioning why they weren't running NOW. 

[Deleted]

May 20, 2020 8:27:57 GMT -5 minnesotapaintlady said:

Our school already had kids starting lunch at 10:30 in the morning in order to get them all cycled through in 20 minute time slots. 

Well, that's just nuts. How much of that time is taken up going through the line to get food? Is there any time left to go outside and play if you gobble it down fast enough? This encourages really bad eating habits.

Closer to the OT- it's sad that people are turning it into a class thing. There are plenty of professional-level jobs that people of any race can't do at home, starting with doctors, nurses, dentists, etc. And daycare centers, at least in the past, weren't willing to work with parents who wanted less than a 5-day schedule. I suppose that will have to change.

[hoops902]

May 20, 2020 8:37:05 GMT -5 minnesotapaintlady said:

May 20, 2020 8:23:01 GMT -5 hoops902 said:

So do away with bussing...and put kids into 1 classroom for the day for elementary schools.  It seems like the "too young to stay at home" could be resolved there, and then only leaving middle school and high school to learn virtually (and I'm not sure middle school couldn't stay in the same room all day with some small modification).

Well, they can't do away with busing and maybe they will come up with some creative ideas for Fall to reduce the population density in the schools, but you were questioning why they weren't running NOW. 

Right, I'm questioning why they aren't running now because elementary school is not that different from a daycare situation.  If "someone" has decided "daycare structure is fine", then make very minor changes to make elementary school run similarly when they're already pretty close.  

About the only difference in the schoolday between elementary school and the daycare my kids go to is where they eat their lunch.  

[Wisconsin Beth]

My daughter is done with school on Thursday.  Her school uses the early start timing instead of the traditional start time. 

My son runs thru mid June.  His school is doing summer maintenance and cleaning now.  Or maybe they've completed it by now.  I don't know. 

[Wisconsin Beth]

May 20, 2020 8:40:57 GMT -5 @athena53 said:

May 20, 2020 8:27:57 GMT -5 minnesotapaintlady said:

Our school already had kids starting lunch at 10:30 in the morning in order to get them all cycled through in 20 minute time slots. 

Well, that's just nuts. How much of that time is taken up going through the line to get food? Is there any time left to go outside and play if you gobble it down fast enough? This encourages really bad eating habits.

Closer to the OT- it's sad that people are turning it into a class thing. There are plenty of professional-level jobs that people of any race can't do at home, starting with doctors, nurses, dentists, etc. And daycare centers, at least in the past, weren't willing to work with parents who wanted less than a 5-day schedule. I suppose that will have to change.

About 10 minutes according to my kids.  And the kids with cold lunches aren't allowed to sit with the hot lunch kids, for reasons neither of my kids could explain.  C's grade school has a lunch recess directly after eating that is not part of the 20 minutes to eat.  I want to say it's 30 minutes.  There's a paint line on the playground and kids from K4-2nd grade have to stay on their side of the line.  The older kids can roam anywhere on the playground. 

My son's class size is about 25 kids with 1 adult in 4th grade.  K4 and K5 run closer to 30 most years; with a German intern to help for part of the day. 

Day care, in a legal preschool, was smaller with more teachers.  There's ratios based on ages and class size and I don't know them anymore. 

[Deleted]

May 20, 2020 8:42:22 GMT -5 hoops902 said:

May 20, 2020 8:37:05 GMT -5 minnesotapaintlady said:

Well, they can't do away with busing and maybe they will come up with some creative ideas for Fall to reduce the population density in the schools, but you were questioning why they weren't running NOW. 

Right, I'm questioning why they aren't running now because elementary school is not that different from a daycare situation.  If "someone" has decided "daycare structure is fine", then make very minor changes to make elementary school run similarly when they're already pretty close.  

About the only difference in the schoolday between elementary school and the daycare my kids go to is where they eat their lunch.  

DAYCARE IS NECESSARY what is so hard to get about that?   All 300 of my coworkers are working remotely, but there are people working on-site.  Why don't we all go back?  Grocery store workers are getting way more exposed than I would be in my cube.  If they deemed grocery store work acceptable why am I remote? 

[Deleted]

May 20, 2020 8:40:57 GMT -5 @athena53 said:

May 20, 2020 8:27:57 GMT -5 minnesotapaintlady said:

Our school already had kids starting lunch at 10:30 in the morning in order to get them all cycled through in 20 minute time slots. 

Well, that's just nuts. How much of that time is taken up going through the line to get food? Is there any time left to go outside and play if you gobble it down fast enough? This encourages really bad eating habits.

Recess is separate.  All the kids stay in the lunch room for the full 20 minutes.  I don't know how long they stand in line for lunch, my son takes cold lunch most days.  As for the time, I get 30 minutes lunch now, but most of my career working production 20 minute lunch was the standard.

[hoops902]

May 20, 2020 8:49:31 GMT -5 minnesotapaintlady said:

May 20, 2020 8:42:22 GMT -5 hoops902 said:

Right, I'm questioning why they aren't running now because elementary school is not that different from a daycare situation.  If "someone" has decided "daycare structure is fine", then make very minor changes to make elementary school run similarly when they're already pretty close.  

About the only difference in the schoolday between elementary school and the daycare my kids go to is where they eat their lunch.  

DAYCARE IS NECESSARY what is so hard to get about that?   All 300 of my coworkers are working remotely, but there are people working on-site.  Why don't we all go back?  Grocery store workers are getting way more exposed than I would be in my cube.  If they deemed grocery store work acceptable why am I remote? 

If we can send a 6 year old to a daycare center to sit around and play, what's your issue with sending that same 6 year old to a school to sit around and learn?  

It would be the equivalent of telling you that you can't go to your cube to work because it's too dangerous, but instead you can go to a cube in another building that's exactly the same and sit there and watch YouTube for 8 hours.  

[justme]

May 20, 2020 8:40:57 GMT -5 @athena53 said:

May 20, 2020 8:27:57 GMT -5 minnesotapaintlady said:

Our school already had kids starting lunch at 10:30 in the morning in order to get them all cycled through in 20 minute time slots. 

Well, that's just nuts. How much of that time is taken up going through the line to get food? Is there any time left to go outside and play if you gobble it down fast enough? This encourages really bad eating habits.

Closer to the OT- it's sad that people are turning it into a class thing. There are plenty of professional-level jobs that people of any race can't do at home, starting with doctors, nurses, dentists, etc. And daycare centers, at least in the past, weren't willing to work with parents who wanted less than a 5-day schedule. I suppose that will have to change.

While you're right it's not strictly a class issues due to some high paying essential jobs, them likely having money to throw at the problem can make it less of an issue for them. If you're making 6 figures you might have money to higher tutors to supplement virtual learning or be able to hire a nanny that will watch them during the virtual school and help them with their work. Options those with a lower income just don't have.