sdlaura - that’s the thing. No. Not everyone is in the same boat. Some private schools are pushing a ton of online learning. Some are only pushing a little. Public schools have been told that no work assigned can be considered mandatory. So some districts are pushing regular work forward and encouraging the kids to do it. Some are not doing a single thing.
I’m not blaming anyone. It’s no one’s fault. But I didn’t line up tutoring because I thought DD1 would be away for 4 weeks this summer. I’d planned to start tutoring for her in the fall, and focus on her getting used to the length of the test (vs the content, which would be covered in school). If others started earlier, AND had good supplemental work, she won’t be able to compete. Given our history and her challenges, going back to public school won’t go well for her. Our eggs are in one proverbial basket. I need to pivot, and that’s been hard to do.
It may seem silly, but it’s a real concern for me. DD2 in 2nd grade will be fine no matter what. She’s naturally curious and finds ways to learn. DD1 is so very different, and this will have a huge impact.
ETA: beyond my personal concerns, in general, every kids’ education will be impacted. That’s just a fact. I’m not saying everyone should be producing a curriculum and homeschooling 6 hours a day - certainly not. But saying that anyone worried is “part of the problem” is kind of sh!tty in my opinion. And I’m seeing a ton of that. Everyone is doing the best they can. I think it’s just as nasty to make fun of someone for being worried about the impact as it is to make fun of someone for not making up a full curriculum and homeschooling.
Post by mustardseed2007 on Mar 25, 2020 23:07:51 GMT -5
I don't have time to DO more about school cause like...I just can't. I have no ability to teach my kids. My sister is doing it and thank God for her. But is she doing well? I don't know. Not like school would because how could anyone expect her to? She DOES have her job even though her job has slowed so much.
I wouldn't be able to do my job if I had the kids on my own. Or they would be totally feral right now. And that's not good for them, I don't care what anyone says. For one day, ok. For a whole month? No.
And it is negatively impacting kids. Some more than others, sure, but I know this is negatively impacting my kids.
Also, I've started thinking through school. My kids go to a small private school that is already very small. With this economic hit I don't know if a) they will be able to survive as an organization and b) if I will be able to afford them myself.
There is already talk about this pay cut not going away. Like if we're lucky, and the company survives, maybe I'll go back to 75% pay. And since literally a month ago I was in the throws of hiring, I know for a FACT that people in last months economy, people with 1/10 of my experience were asking for more than half my salary. What is May or June's economy going to be like though?
Also, gas right now is CHEAP. That's NEVER a good sign for my town either. Gah. Ok enough negative talk. I'm going to go meditate or something.
I just reached out to a friend of a friend who is a midwife in a hospital (and her husband is an ER doc) about whether she would deliver in a hospital still in early June. I know she’s generally pretty anti-home birth but she told me she’d strongly consider it right now. So now I’m back to looking into local home birth providers and deciding whether to spend a lot more money to go that route. Since we have an HMO and it would be out of pocket.
mae0111 have you thought about taking a break from your towns mom’s board?
sdlaura when is your due date again? If I were pregnant with my 4th, home birth would definitely cross my mind. This can’t be an easy time-thinking of you. Also did your daycare teacher end up taking the offer?
sdlaura - I am firmly pro-hospital-birth, but if I was pregnant again, knowing my history of lightning-fast and incident-free births, I would 100% investigate a home birth.
You should do what makes you feel comfortable. You don’t need an added layer of stress.
mustardseed2007 - I don’t think it matters if you have all the time in the world to work with your kids. There’s an impact, and there’s only so much that can be done to mitigate that impact.
The impact I’m seeing is the loss of structure, loss of discipline in everyday tasks, loss of socialization. DD2 responds well to the schedule I set up for her. DD1 had to work hard to keep those skills sharp, and me working with/forcing her just causes fights. (If I’m being honest, everything causes fights with her lately...). So these posts about how if I try to do some academic stuff (or, God forbid, try to actually WORK) and don’t just lovingly make brownies and take long meditative walks with my kids then I’m a sh!t parent? They are super frustrating to me.
So these posts about how if I try to do some academic stuff (or, God forbid, try to actually WORK) and don’t just lovingly make brownies and take long meditative walks with my kids then I’m a sh!t parent? They are super frustrating to me.
You mentioned earlier people are making fun of you and you referred to some kind of implication that you are part of a problem for worrying. Is it possible you are interpreting criticisms that aren’t actually occurring? Creating rules that don’t exist? Taking other people’s brag-posts on as a criticism to yourself when that’s not what’s really happening? Like when you say “then I’m a shit parent” tell me more about that interaction.
I mean if they really are making fun of you, why are you still going there?
Thanks campermom and mae0111. I’m due June 9th. I’d do a home birth in a heartbeat if it were the same cost under our HMO as a hospital birth. I’m just struggling with spending thousands more, given that DH’s job is at risk and his income already way down without bonuses. I could put it through FSA though so at least tax free either way.
Daycare provider expects to make a decision by tomorrow about what she’s going to do next week (watch just my kids or maybe try to watch another kid or two, or just stay closed). Luckily my parents rescheduled their flights back to the east coast to Easter weekend. So we still have a few hours a day of help from them for now. And now we’re all on day 13 of self-isolating, so hopefully as long as we stay careful we won’t infect my parents.
I am grateful that my kids our older. We are doing what they call NTI days, so these days have counted toward instruction. Our teachers have been super creative about creating meaningful instruction. DS had to turn in a video tour of the house entirely in Spanish, DD has been meeting virtually daily with several classes. They have group chats with the class. Thankfully, neither had a math class this semester, because that would have been difficult. Our district issues each student a Chrome Book, so they all have them to complete the work. Our internet sucks, but so far is holding in. I think some carriers are offering free to those that need it. However, I am sure there are some kids without access that are missing some instruction.
mae0111, I'm sorry. I agree your situation is different. Not everyone has a child with ADHD. My child has something different, but I found that most people didn't get it and were not of any real help. The ones that understood were the ones going through it themselves. Your town moms board sounds annoying. I had to leave our FB group because it got so bad. I joined a different group so that I could get some of the news without all the crap.
mae0111, We are in the public school doing shit part right now. They sent me via snail mail a bunch of photocopied pages that don't go together. Like I can't make heads or tails and DS is telling me that things are missing. We are supposed to start e-learning on April 6th and have to go and pick up laptops for both kids from the school district on one of the first days of April. Because we don't have dedicated laptops with keyboards for each kid (they have ipads, but that isn't sufficient according to the district). I just want some real instruction, because although I teach college kids, what to teach a 2nd grader and a 4k student has me a bit stumped. I ordered some workbooks on amazon, that we have been going through. And I set a daily schedule, because it keeps me sane. Like 8-9 is work books, 9-10 is play outside (and then I take my laptop outside). I agree that there are huge disparities right now, based on what sort of school you are in. Given the dynamic with DD1, is there anyway to hire someone to skype with her everyday to set priorities or help with something particularly challenging? My kids do better when other folks teach them stuff they don't want to do. I would say that your worries are very real and valid. I just don't know what to do about them, and really don't know what to do with both the small humans I am supposed to educate now while working.
campermom, no one has called me out directly. That's not what I meant.
If anyone voices any sort of frustration over the fact that our state's DOE had taken the stance that there is to be no new material taught, then they are HORRIBLE PEOPLE and ANTI TEACHER. They are NOT taking their children's feelings into consideration!! We should spend our time talking to our kids and loving them, not forcing them to do math!!! Yes, these are real comments.
If anyone states that they're concerned about their kid falling behind or any sort of negative impact, or suggests that there should be some plan for remote instruction, then "you, Becky, are part of the problem!!! Teachers have their own families to worry about!!! Bake brownies with your kids!!!" I put it in quotes, because it's a direct quote.
I do not blame the teachers. Anyone that does blame teachers for this situation, in my opinion, is 100% wrong. I think our state's Dept of Ed has done a sh!t job with this.
This is one of the times that going to a small private Catholic school has worked to our advantage. The kids have Zoom/Google calls 2-3 times a week with teachers and the principal. They have daily assignments. Our school is at the forefront, and the principal has been doing interviews with local news agencies and national Catholic publications about all that they've rolled out. She's presenting to the archdiocese today. She's also meeting with parents, listening to concerns and talking through balancing the kids' work with the parents' need to keep their own careers afloat. My concern is that this is still not enough. Nothing will be enough. And that will just have to be OK.
I stay in the groups because they do post helpful information about everything. I just have to be better about avoiding those stupid threads.
The school sent out... another list of links to resources. That's all we're getting. Links to pages of hundreds of links. This does.. not help me. It may help some. I do a meal service so that I don't have to make decisions about what to make - I have 8ish choices per week, and pick between 3/2/or1 things as the days go by. My decision fatigue is real. Trying to sift through all those links and curate my own curriculum is exhausting. And every time we think we have something down, they send... another link.
Same k3am, I know there are a lot of resources out there, but I have no time/mental capacity to evaluate them, set up log ins or whatever/troubleshoot, and convince the kids to use them.
DD2 had burned through most of this week's work by the end of last week and she's actually quite annoyed that she doesn't have more to do. Here are some things that don't require a lot of heavy lifting...
1. Cincinnati Zoo does daily Home Safaris. They're about 30-45 mins long. I have DD2 watch, then draw a picture and write 2 facts and 1 opinion about the animal of the day. San Diego Zoo, Mystic Aquarium (CT), and lots of others do the same. They all have youtube channels. That could get you a good chunk of time right there.
2. DuoLingo - DD2 works for about 20 mins unassisted.
3. Xtramath.com - I can't remember if I needed a code from the school for this one. But DD2 can compete against herself and practice math facts on her iPad or on a computer. This is usually a shorter chunk of time - maybe 15 mins.
4. Liberty's Kids on you tube - history/social studies, then have her write one thing she learned, draw a picture. Shows are about 15 mins I think, so maybe 30 mins total?
5. Magic School Bus on Netflix - watch an episode, then write 1-2 things she learned, draw a picture. Shows are about 20 mins, so maybe 30 mins total?
6. I found these www.crayola.com/free-coloring-pages/places/us-states-coloring-pages/ for social studies. It's a drawing of each state with little facts about it - state bird, flower, etc. They look fun to color. I may print some, but my kids (mostly DD2) are coloring in a 6 ft poster of the US with all kinds of little cartoons for each state.
Would she do any of this? DD1 would totally throw her crayons at me if I asked her to do this, but DD2 is eager to do this stuff.
I'm not trying to give you more stuff to sift through, but I've gone through a lot of what the public school has recommended, and I tried to pull out what's been engaging for us. I hope it's helpful.
ETA - I had DD2 start a book report today. Her teacher sent us a format, but hasn't assigned anything. She's getting bored, so I assigned it myself. We've been reading a series of chapter books together and we finished one last night, so the timing was good. I'd be happy to post the format if anyone would like to see it.
mae0111, I'm just trying things here and there, whether or not it's normal curriculum for her. Anything to keep her engaged. Geography has been a big hit - I made sheets each using 5 states that does a word search, find the state on the map using the computer and color it in, and then match the state to the abbreviation to the capital city by cross-referencing a list. We're following up by watching state specific videos.
We have a decent flow going between Khan Academy, a math link for printouts, reading IQ, some resources from my sister (elementary teacher), and making our own stuff.
I keep trying to remind myself that at elementary age, they're really only capable of 1-2 hours of learning time, which doesn't really jive with the amount of time we need to fill so I can get work in.
We are almost a week in to distance learning. My kids get 5-7 activities a day. DD finishes hers generally in the morning. DS finishes his after lunch. He has fewer and easier activities, but he’s a kindergartner and kind of a turkey.
Do I think the kids are learning a lot of new stuff? Probably not. But at least they’re using their brains a bit. Plus they have daily Zoom meetings, which give them a chance to “see” and visit with their friends. They are loving that part.
Post by sandandsea on Mar 26, 2020 13:48:00 GMT -5
We also just have a bunch of links from school. We already knew some of the logins so I’ve been having ds work through those on his own for reading and math. We also got some printouts from his teacher of math pages so we are working through those too.
Home Safari and The LEGO Challenge have been big hits.
Apparently they were going to earn about dinosaurs so he’s been watching the BBCs Walking with Dinosaurs show and enjoying it.
Im also making up art projects to do daily from drawing with Mo Willems, watercolor painting,making a mod podge yarn ball, midge podge tissue paper decorated mason jar, painting rocks, gods eye, etc. we’ve been displaying them all in a window so they can see and appreciate their work.
Post by sandandsea on Mar 26, 2020 13:50:04 GMT -5
I think I might start the magic school bus show too. Screen time Learning goes over well here. . Theyve been asking for more of the dinosaur show every day.
Damn. I feel like we're the only school district going all in on the distance learning. We get a full docket of assignments every day. We have to log in and check what the schedule is and what the assignments are each morning, so you can't get ahead, it all gets published day by day. It's about 4.5 hours of work and includes all the subjects - reading, math, writing, handwriting, typing, science - plus PE, art, and music. We also have class-wide Zoom calls a couple times a week and small group work Zoom calls a couple times a week. It's a combination of recorded lessons from the teachers, YouTube videos, websites to log into, and workbook stuff. The work ends up taking us all day to complete with all the transitions, snack breaks, lunch, and general antsy kid breaks.
k3am - I totally agree -1-2 hours is plenty. The stuff I posted was with your work schedule in mind. I was thinking about how much time each activity would buy.
If the states is a hit, check out that crayola link I posted. That would keep her busy!
I found some assignments for DD2 in the LMS that I missed before. Oops. Have to scramble a bit tomorrow 😬
I think I might start the magic school bus show too. Screen time Learning goes over well here. . Theyve been asking for more of the dinosaur show every day.
DD2 loves that and Liberty’s Kids! I feel a little better about her watching so much if I feel like she’s getting something out of it.
She also loves Wild Kratts and learns a ton about different animals.
twinmomma, We too get assignments daily. It usually takes DD 3-4 hours, DS, not so much. They have to be turned in by usually midnight of the day they are assigned, and they will get new assignments the next day. It has been a lot, but they are pretty independent. I just get random calls from DD wanted me to answer a question.
Well, add me to the "stay at home order" club. Until May 4, including schools.
rere, That makes me feel better. I feel like everyone else I know has a couple worksheets and that's it. None of the towns around us seem to be nearly as rigorous as our town.
sandandsea, we tried Mo Williams. I don't know if it was just first episode that was boring, but it was boring. We stopped part way through and found something else.
I emailed our summer camp which starts the beginning of June. They are still planning to have it but depending on covid 19, might push back the start date. That was comforting to hear.
DD1 is in 2nd grade so the learning time requested of us isn't much - 20 minutes reading, 20 minutes writing, 20 minutes math (workbook or DreamBox game website). It seems easy enough to do on paper but reality is different depending on her desire to do it, getting pulled in many directions trying to work and care for our younger kids. I need to start putting her learning time right into my work calendar and think of it as a scheduled break. This week is spring break so they don't need to do anything for school.