School closure check-in

[redheadbaker]

If you are WFH and your child's/children's school is closed, how are things going today?

At this point, I'm more annoyed with H than DS (age 8). H does IT work. He communicates with his co-workers via an online chat. But he still talks out loud, to them (even though they can't hear him), to himself, etc. SHUT UP!!

I went with a loser schedule for DS in 90 minute chunks. Screen-free academic time, creative time, online academic time, reading time. So far, so good.

[ssmjlm]

We're both alive and it's almost 4pm, so I'm calling it a win.

I know that teachers only had Friday to put the packets together, but they're very poorly done and are not labeled. So I had to go through and figure out which one was which day. Also the directions aren't clear. I think she's also supposed to some sort of writer's workshop "how to" but there's no directions on it. And no supplies, so I'm guessing they're assuming we have the supplies at home to do it? Obviously I can't go out and get her a notebook/paper/pictures to do this project.

I'm working tomorrow/Wednesday, so she'll be with my parents.

[nicolewi]

We don't get our "distance learning" info until Wednesday. Teachers are meeting today and tomorrow to make plans.

I just spend a ridiculously long time trying to get the Epic books app onto my DD's iPad but that part is now set up. Didn't have the password, couldn't get the app on a Kindle, had various issues.

We are just reading, playing, and making cookies.

[redpenmama]

Day one of schoolwork is complete. It was hard to manage, to be honest. Both elementary kids (3rd and K) needed my help, so I was bouncing back and forth between them while trying to keep the 3-year-old occupied. If I don't have them doing it simultaneously, I feel like it'll be an all-day thing. We did two blocks of schoolwork (one morning/one afternoon) and then filled in between with snack, lunch, walk around the neighborhood, and now just some free play while I make dinner.

I just now sat down to check work email and manage my schedule this week. I own my own business, so I can work at night, but it's going to suck.

[erbear]

Today went as well as could be expected. Kids (11 and 9) followed my schedule, learned some things, were on screens more than I would normally allow, but were fine. They made a guest appearance in my Zoom faculty meeting but they weren't the only kids to do that. I expect it t o be harder once I have to actually teach but that's 2 weeks away.

[simpsongal]

Dd (3) is recovering from a fever so she was more lethargic than usual. Ds (6) was decent at staying occupied with Nintendo, reading, drawing, playing. I ran 1.5 miles with him. We did a family walk, ds played baseball with dh, I took dd in the stroller.
Dh and I both worked 8 hrs remotely. We ordered takeout. We are EXHAUSTED.

[lauralala]

Today DS went to my sister's house while DH and I both worked (not from home). I organized a home school plan and materials, and we will start that tomorrow. DH is off Tuesdays and Wednesdays, so he gets the hard job of day 1.

[AdaraMarie]

This is going to be harder than I thought.
I tried to give my kids a schedule and things to do but they needed help a lot and I was so distracted it took me all day to get something done that should have taken maybe 2 hours.
We are on day 4 of togetherness and I already want a break from my kids.

I have 3 hours of conference calls back to back tomorrow, wish me luck.

[tcu2003]

This week is our spring break, and I’d already taken it off, so next week will be the real test for us. I did end up on a work conf call this afternoon, so the kids got some screen time in then. Otherwise, we made forts, baked brownies, read, played games, went on a walk, Art and Legos. Mine are DS(7) and DD(3).

DH was at work today, but is now encouraged to WFH starting tomorrow (until today he was expected to be in the office). I’ll be able to WFH next week, so we’ll have to figure out some schedule for the kids and us.

[luckystar2]

I only have just 1 kid (11) so that makes it easier although she’s usually challenging. But we had a pretty great day. School has not given us any work or instructions other than a bunch of websites and encouraging more independent type learning (so far). I had made a rough schedule but she came up with her own based off her school schedule. So she read, practiced violin, worked on a math packet that was supposed to be due this week, did some creative writing, and we even got “gym” in and went for a run outside. We were a bit behind in the morning cause she didn’t wake up until I was on a zoom meeting and we still had needed to discuss the schedule/plan.

[pmwife]

I will be WFH for the next 3 weeks. My kids are in Spring Break this week so just fun stuff. Next week, we will start some sort of schedule to get some online learning done. I will have to figure out how to work and help them learn. One is 75% independent when doing online stuff, the other is 25% and needs a lot of hand holding. I will try to do them together but then I am anticipating lots of jealously from the almost independent one.

[redheadbaker]

DS was surprisingly cooperative yesterday. I printed some worksheets (math, spelling list from his teacher's resources website), and a "read this passage and answer questions."

Today was a St. Patrick's Day subtraction color by number worksheet and a sheet on verb tenses.

He played with Playdough for an hour yesterday, today he's doing a Lego set.

Educational screen time is never a problem, he loves Prodigy and Xtra Math.

He did really well with reading to himself for 45 minutes yesterday.

Then I had him to write -- it's his least favorite thing to do (common with ADHD), but he really needs to work on writing legibly. I told him he could write a story, write a letter, or answer one "Would You Rather" writing prompt from a list I found.

[starburst604]

With the exception of an Easter craft we did this morning, DD has mostly been on the iPad bc H is recovering from surgery. I’ll break for lunch after an 11:30 call and figure something out for her. It decided to snow lightly here today so even outdoor time is compromised. I do have a couple of cute office assistants, though.

[minniemouse]

Day 2 is going ok. Yesterday I let them play and watch tv mostly. Today they both did some reading and IXL, and I had them go through all the books and weed out ones they have outgrown or don’t like, then organize the ones they are keeping.
I’m trying to come up with some more structure but sort of waiting on the school to send us info. If we don’t hear something in a few days I will probably buy a subscription to a computer program.

[noodleoo]

This sucks so fucking much. I'm basically going to have to park my kids in front of the TV in order to get any work done. I talked to my boss today and he said "if you have to work before they get up or after they go to bed, that's fine!". Thanks, that's awesome seeing as they are awake from 7 AM to 9 PM and taking care of them all day is fucking exhausting. I guess i was hoping for some reassurance to get as much done as I can, but maybe he can't say that. Doesn't help that no one on my teams has kids younger than highschool.

[preppy]

How are people dividing the childcare if both parents are WFH?

Yesterday I had a ton of meetings so DH managed the majority of the day so today I am managing it all for the most part. The kids are 3 and 4 so they need a decent amount of supervision. I am thinking maybe we should split the days for the rest of the week so its more 50/50 so no one gets burnt out on any one day.

So far today we built a rollercoaster with legos (something the pre-K teacher sent us), did art and now they are just going crazy in DD2s room and I am afraid so see what they are doing. After lunch i am going to have them help me bake cookies then I plan on plopping them in front of a movie so I can dial in to a 4pm virtual class with my gym. The rainy day here is adding insult to injury.

[tealblue]

Ds (7) has been much better today. I wrote a “schedule” out yesterday and today he keeps asking what time is scheduled for now.

I’ve also set him up with more educational/reading things on the iPad today... which he likes. But I didn’t have to ask multiple times for him to do the assigned worksheets. And he voluntarily did an optional math worksheet from his teachers!

[abs]

Yesterday went really well. DD was just excited to be out of school and to hear that the standardized testing has been cancelled. We came up with a plan, she stuck to it, and we had a good day.

Today she is less enthusiastic. It's going to be a long...well long time.

[dcn]

I’m not working, so not quite as hard as the rest of you! Ds1 jumped up and down when he heard no school. Ds2 is 4 and he cried “but I love school!!” Poor kiddo.

I ran out and bought some new activity books, construction paper, drawing pads, kinetic sand, lite brite, volcano kit, Spirograph, etc. We also can do bikes/scooters while I jog so that helps in the mornings. We haven’t received any guidance from school yet so I haven’t been doing anything more than reading with them for now.

[KellyEasterbrook]

Mar 17, 2020 10:32:35 GMT -5 preppy said:

How are people dividing the childcare if both parents are WFH?

Yesterday I had a ton of meetings so DH managed the majority of the day so today I am managing it all for the most part. The kids are 3 and 4 so they need a decent amount of supervision. I am thinking maybe we should split the days for the rest of the week so its more 50/50 so no one gets burnt out on any one day.

So far today we built a rollercoaster with legos (something the pre-K teacher sent us), did art and now they are just going crazy in DD2s room and I am afraid so see what they are doing. After lunch i am going to have them help me bake cookies then I plan on plopping them in front of a movie so I can dial in to a 4pm virtual class with my gym. The rainy day here is adding insult to injury.

We've kinda been dealing with this for the last 6+ months. DD is 9 months, and we haven't been able to secure childcare. My mom can also work remotely, so she's been staying with us and she and I split the day with work and childcare. It's intense. Now that DH is also WFH and my mom is basically stuck here, it's almost easier.

We have a quick meeting in the evening and we discuss who has meetings at what time. We touch base on who has really pressing projects and might be more desperate for time alone to work. All three of us have jobs that have increased workload because of COVID, so that's made it a little stressful. I've found that taking it one day at a time is the best for us.  

I'd like to say we can set a 50/50 plan, but with our experience over the last six months...that's never really worked for us. Things change so often and last minute meetings always mess any plans up. It's rough. I think it took my mom and I about three weeks to really figure out what worked for us (i.e. she works best in mornings...so we focus on her getting work done then. I work best later in the day and don't mind working at night). I think it'll take us another week or so to adjust to having DH home and the general work craziness around COVID. Right now, it's just survival mode.

[lacey]

Mar 17, 2020 10:21:41 GMT -5 noodleoo said:

This sucks so fucking much. I'm basically going to have to park my kids in front of the TV in order to get any work done. I talked to my boss today and he said "if you have to work before they get up or after they go to bed, that's fine!". Thanks, that's awesome seeing as they are awake from 7 AM to 9 PM and taking care of them all day is fucking exhausting. I guess i was hoping for some reassurance to get as much done as I can, but maybe he can't say that. Doesn't help that no one on my teams has kids younger than highschool.

This. The 4 year old is getting far too much iPad time. And nothing really distracts the 21 month old for long. We are both working from home and taking it hour by hour prioritizing who has meetings and how important the meeting is. My kids usually are in bed a little after 8, so I can spend a couple hours afterwards doing work, but it is exhausting and had me going from the moment I wake up to the moment I go to sleep.

And the posts and lists going around Facebook are annoying me more than they should be. I don't need a list of fun things to do with my kids. I need the time to do the fun things.

[pandorica]

Mar 17, 2020 10:32:35 GMT -5 preppy said:

How are people dividing the childcare if both parents are WFH?

Yesterday I had a ton of meetings so DH managed the majority of the day so today I am managing it all for the most part. The kids are 3 and 4 so they need a decent amount of supervision. I am thinking maybe we should split the days for the rest of the week so its more 50/50 so no one gets burnt out on any one day.

So far today we built a rollercoaster with legos (something the pre-K teacher sent us), did art and now they are just going crazy in DD2s room and I am afraid so see what they are doing. After lunch i am going to have them help me bake cookies then I plan on plopping them in front of a movie so I can dial in to a 4pm virtual class with my gym. The rainy day here is adding insult to injury.

H has more PTO than me so he's jisg burning through that. It's not ideal but there's just not enough time in the day for us both to work FT and deal with DD (1 yo) and also keep the house running/cook meals etc...

[oregonpachey]

It's going. We don't have any information from our school other than some tips as to what we can do during this time. My kids are not allowed on the computer until after "school" hours. During the day they can read, build with Legos, draw, watch an educational show (Nature or Nova for example on PBS), play a board game, go outside in the yard, play with their mountains of toys, do a craft.

I WFH home but they understand that when I am working, I can't always pay attention to them. Thankfully they are older and pretty self sufficient.

[covergirl82]

Yesterday was a rough start for DS. Even though we went through the weekday schedule with both kids on Sunday evening, so they knew what to expect, DS had a bad attitude after breakfast about having to do school work. It didn't help that his teacher hadn't sent any assignments, and DD's had.

DH has more meetings, so I tend to handle making sure the kids are staying on task.

DD's teacher has honestly sent too many assignments. IMO, they should have no more than 3 hours of assignments (assuming minimal breaks), so that they can do other learning that they can't while at school. Such as do some free-choice science or social studies research in things they are interested in, and then do a short report on it. Try simple baking or cooking to learn to follow a recipe. Draw, do crafts, play games, play outside, etc. My kids usually do ok without much direction, but we have needed a little bit more oversight (partly because DS's teacher hasn't given assignments that even fill the 90-minute minimum I have scheduled for school assignments).

Day 2 has been better. I feel like I've been a little more productive work-wise. I think after tomorrow, it will feel more routine.

[shauni27]

I don't know how you guys do it. S is 2.5 and not at all independent. He needs me constantly and unless I sit him in front of the TV, I cannot get anything at all done.

[lacey]

Mar 17, 2020 14:57:46 GMT -5 shauni27 said:

I don't know how you guys do it. S is 2.5 and not at all independent. He needs me constantly and unless I sit him in front of the TV, I cannot get anything at all done.

The question is definitely not "can you watch a movie?" anymore, it is "which movie will make you sit down and be quiet for longest?!"

[boiler717]

Mar 17, 2020 10:32:35 GMT -5 preppy said:

How are people dividing the childcare if both parents are WFH?

Yesterday I had a ton of meetings so DH managed the majority of the day so today I am managing it all for the most part. The kids are 3 and 4 so they need a decent amount of supervision. I am thinking maybe we should split the days for the rest of the week so its more 50/50 so no one gets burnt out on any one day.

So far today we built a rollercoaster with legos (something the pre-K teacher sent us), did art and now they are just going crazy in DD2s room and I am afraid so see what they are doing. After lunch i am going to have them help me bake cookies then I plan on plopping them in front of a movie so I can dial in to a 4pm virtual class with my gym. The rainy day here is adding insult to injury.

Here’s what we’ve been doing. It works pretty well (we started over the weekend). We may switch things up depending on meetings. If he’s in a good groove playing we don’t interrupt. Today he slept until 8 (never has happened before and will be buying him a puppy). We were up and working at 6, so I got close to 7 hours of focused work time today. I think switching off every 2-3 hours has been key for our sanity.

[simpsongal]

I burned out today. I need to take more breaks and trade off more frequently with dh. We only did 1 hr of screen time (more after 5:30). I was bouncing between work and their needs. This is not sustainable.

One of dh’s reports with young kids was ticked at the expectation. I have leave I can take but I’m a manager and I advise on contracts, which is hugely impacted right now. So it’s not like I can just tag out.

Ds is 6, dd is 3.

[tcu2003]

We got notice today that there will be no in person school for the rest of the school year (I’m in Kansas and the governor had a press meeting today to announce this). Ugh. We can make it work - my mom retired last month, so she’s going to come stay with us and help, but yikes. DS(7) is on spring break this week, and I doubt teachers will have anything ready for next week (understandably so), so my guess is we’ll keep doing some of what we’re doing this week with reading time, art, math, and whatever else we think of that day.

Daycare is still open (for now, at least) for DD(3), but I doubt we send her, especially as my mom will be here and I don’t want to add any more risk of her catching it. She was already staying home this week, so hopefully we can come up with a routine that loosely works for both of them.

[acr]

I'm hopeful that once we can quarantine ourselves for 3ish weeks, we can bring our parents in to help again.