Post by librarychica on Aug 3, 2020 9:11:49 GMT -5
My kids’ camp was canceled this week to plan for their distance learning support program. This was my last week of FT childcare. I have yelled much already.
H keeps complaining about how he isn’t getting enough work time and how everything is terrible but also spending hours helping his friend prep for an interview. Lord save me from the self-employed. I may strangle him.
I am determined not to yell anymore today. It’ll be fine, it’ll all be fine.
I have pulled pork in the crockpot, so that’s a win.
I have a meeting at noon with our school’s headmaster to discuss what learning at home will look like. I’m not looking forward to it. But our reopening plan is incredibly vague on a lot of topics. I think my kids are doing at home learning for at least the first 9 weeks. We have to commit to At Home Learning for a full grading period. Now I just need to understand what that looks like.
Post by erinshelley21 on Aug 3, 2020 9:42:09 GMT -5
I have a short week this week since DH and I are going to the lakes this weekend with my aunt and her family. And my internet is down right now, so my already shortened week is now even shorter but more stressful.
Oh, and DS goes back to school on Wednesday. DD goes next Monday.
DH is on the hunt for a Nintendo Switch. I was at Target yesterday and talked to the head salesperson and she told me they get them in a couple of days per week but they're gone by 8am. You can't go by the online inventory and need to call the store to check. He finds this special app last night that gives you the inventory of an item at all stores. Tells me they have three at this specific Wal Mart location and asks if I can go right away when they open at 7 today. It's 30 minutes round trip extra for my commute to work but whatever, I'll go and he can get the kids ready for camp. The lady looks at me like I'm crazy - no, we don't have any in stock and my guess is as good as hers as to when they'll get more in. I'm slightly annoyed that the Target lady was right.
We had a very productive weekend - first couple of fires on our new patio with the neighbors and our family. I love our backyard now - it feels like an oasis. We watered new grass ALL weekend and put in new plants around the patio area.
I miss my kids so much, and they are itching to see me. Usually when they're at their dad's house, I barely hear from them. They've been video calling me multiple times a day for the past few days to just set up their tablet so I can "hang out" with them in their room. I won't get them back until Wednesday, but we are all looking forward to it.
Beau has decided today is a "birthday do over" day, so he started the day with a happy birthday text and we have plans to get take out and hang out tonight.
librarychica, I feel your pain. SIL's job re-opened this week, so I lost my summer childcare too. The girls don't know yet, I feel bad that their summer with her got cut short between my quarantine and her going back to work.
mellym - ive been hunting for a switch too. DD2 has been saving her money for months to buy one... I don’t know what I’m going to do if she actually saves enough and I can’t find one...
I just checked Amazon and you can order a Switch for delivery by Saturday. We have 2. One regular and one lite. We bought the Lite in April for DS’s birthday before it became such a lot item and I’m so glad we did.
I just checked Amazon and you can order a Switch for delivery by Saturday. We have 2. One regular and one lite. We bought the Lite in April for DS’s birthday before it became such a lot item and I’m so glad we did.
Omg thank you! I’ve been checking on amazon and could only find 3rd party sellers charging $579. Just ordered. Thank you!!!
We have a switch that we got from Costco back in October. I don't know if they might be doing better on inventory if you are a member.
This is the last week of the on-line class that I have been teaching, I am so excited to be done with grading for a few weeks before the actual semester starts. But I have a bunch of grading still to do with final projects due on Friday.
I worked out for 7 days straight....it's been awhile since I did that. I haven't seen much movement on the scale, which means that I need to work on reigning in all of my eating. But at least I feel stronger, or at least sore. So that's something right?
We are fishing and rafting today and the boys are loving this vacation so far. Yesterday they saw a mom and baby deer from their bedroom at the cabin and we went tubing on the lake. It was their first time and they both loved it. Holy moly though. My shoulder is killing me. And when we got back to the cabin the power was out because it’s 2020. Thankfully It came back on over night.
I’m getting so annoyed by all of the distance learning stuff. Now, people are shaming parents for creating pods because “it’s not fair” and I’m biting my tongue soooo hard. What are working parents supposed to do? We can not teach elementary school 30 hours a week and maintain our careers to provide for our family.
Post by supertrooper1 on Aug 3, 2020 11:09:04 GMT -5
I'm back after a week of much needed vacation. Beau and I had no plans other than to drop off a puppy in a rural Idaho town. We didn't make plans after that and made our decision of where we were going each morning. It turned out to be a great vacation. We ended up in Salt Lake City for a night and I got to see a friend that had moved away in February. Then we ended up north in Montana at a hot springs for the night and then to an eight room lodge on a lake in our home state. Perfect social distancing to sit by the pool with no one else around. We rented jet skis and just chilled.
It was a good weekend with DS. I got a lot done around the house and still feel like I played and had fun with DS.
Weekend was okay. We paddled with friends and won't be going back to that lake again. It wasn't bad when we started at 9am but when we got back at noon the place was a mad house. DH and I loaded all our stuff up and left before 1 and pissed our friends off by not staying and hanging at the lake. Sorry the parking area was full and no one was wearing a mask or distancing. So many big boats, jet skis, and people just floating and no one looking out for others. A jet ski almost collided with a boat towing a tube.
DD paddled the farthest almost 4 miles. She did awesome but when we turned around the wind came up and it was white capped all the way back. We don't carry a tow rope for her any more as she has gotten so much better. Had to MacGyver it by using my tiny carabiner for my chap stick to hook the two kayaks together by the handles so DH could tow her the last mile. I was left alone on my SUP and made it back standing up. I was really proud of myself but also annoyed that I got ditched by the group.
Sunday was a chill recovery day. Today DD has started back up mommy school. She has been very bored the last couple weeks so we are doing a project a week that involves some math, reading comprehension stuff and a poster. She has been so content this morning and keeps coming in to tell me cool facts about Giant Panda's this weeks topic. School doesn't start for a month but I'm wanting to gradually get her back into a routine especially since we have no clue what online is going to look like.
That's awesome. Lowest I have gotten is 31 minutes 12 seconds.
Great day so far. Sitting on my porch eating some great takeout sushi. Dh and I walked 4 miles this morning. I am off until Thurs. I am just piddling around, taking the kids to their check ups, picking up supplies we will need for school. I needed to get away from work and chill for a few days.
We picked up ribs to smoke tonight and I got a couple of fruity drinks, so staycation day is sounding pretty good.
186momx that sucks. We went boating Saturday and the lake was very chill. There was a chance of rain all day so that kept people away, so no worries. A lot of times on nice days, it is exactly how you described.
We’re flying today. Which I know we shouldn’t do. Please send good travel vibes. It’s a short flight from small easy airport to small easy airport and Alaska left many seats around us open.
sandandsea I find the narrative around pods super annoying too. Like - let’s blame parents now who are doing the best we can with this giant systemic mess. Yes, pods will equal less equity. But why would families put their jobs at risk in a terrible economy, or choose to make themselves more miserable if they can afford some help? I read one article where a family said ‘we’re not wealthy. But we’re very lucky to have an emergency fund, and this is an emergency.’ That’s how I feel about it. We’re staying enrolled in public school, so they don’t lose funding, and giving someone a job. That should be a good thing.
Yes there is privilege associated with pods, but there also is with having a good paying job and being able to afford quality childcare. There is a privilege in 2 parents working, but also in having a stay at home parent that can homeschool/ e-learn. There are also inequities in public schools and the way district lines are drawn and funding, but they are a better equalizer. When you have kids, you need that safety net of public schools and even those people like on this board that have good jobs feel the pain when that safety net is basically withdrawn.
We are supposed to go in person, but who knows how long that will last, and if it doesn't if we can find childcare, or if I just work 12 hour days (including e learning). If we do find childcare it will be way more money than just attending public school, and if we don't who knows how long I will last before my mental breakdown. And this is with the a job that allows me to use FMLA, work from home, and work second shift without a ton of expectations. A giant systemic mess is accurate.
Post by mustardseed2007 on Aug 3, 2020 15:15:14 GMT -5
PDQ b/c this is not my story to tell so I may delete although this has been in the news:
Because the largest school district in our city is starting with virtual learning, the school district is partnering with methodist churches (and maybe other facilities I don't know) for use of their buildings to serve at risk kids. They are providing paras, wrap around curriculum people, desks, janitorial staff and the church is recruiting volunteers to monitor and work with the kids. The district is providing 3 meals per day and a snack as well as the devices to the students themselves.
My sister is a youth/children ministry director in a church in that district and they serve a lot of at risk families so their building is being used. My sister is still working out the details but someone from the district is coming to measure the gym to see how many kids can go in there 6 feet apart. She made the comment that they can probably fit 50 kids in there.
All I could think is --- WHY? I can 100% understand why schools wouldn't open, why someone would choose virtual learning etc. BUT HOW IS THIS BETTER THAN PUTTING THE KIDS IN A CLASS ROOM IN A SCHOOL BUILDING? My sister really doesn't understand it either. All these resources to turn a church gym into a learning center, transport food, so that they can keep kids out of a school district building.
I think most people hear this and think it's so nice that they are doing something for at risk kids. But like...I'm having a very hard time understanding why they are choosing to serve that population in this way and why is it better than being in a school building?
By the way, if anyone reads this and does understand it, please educate me. Maybe I'm being dumb and missing something obvious.
Also, I wonder sincerely how much this really will be used. Because the families have to provide their own transportation. So that means kids have to be dropped off and picked up midday, or dropped off midday and picked up in the afternoon (she's been told there will be a morning group and an afternoon group).
mustardseed2007, this is very much my personal opinion, but we had something similar come up with snow/ wind chill days at the university I work at (where we were also using the daycare) a few years ago. I think that people have this idealized view of what kids will be doing if they are not in school (for example playing at home in the snow on a snow day or doing a puzzle or whatever with their parent on a wind chill day). We had 7 snow/wind days in a row where the school district was closed. The daycare we were at which is operated by the university I work at, shut down. However, the university was still open. I had chat with the director when she said that it was safer for the kids to stay home. And I told her that most of us were bringing our kids into our classrooms and our labs, because we were still expected to be there. And that by closing the daycare the kids weren't staying home, because the parents couldn't, and the alternative was much less good than having the daycare open (kids in labs, kids in classes, kids on the bus with you to slog across campus). She looked at me with this expression, like no one had ever said that they weren't having idyllic days at home with their kids on end, which yes, would be better than dragging the kids to the daycare in dangerous temperatures.
To me this is similar, yes, from an infection standpoint it would be great if we closed the schools, all the kids stayed home, and had a parent do 1 on 1 virtual learning with them. But that isn't reality for many people (including myself), and many kids will be in situations that are at least as bad as a school in terms of potentially exposure. Which is what this sounds like to me. But there aren't really any better options for a lot of folks. It's either send your child to something like this and work so that you can pay the bills, or not be able to pay your bills, in a really terrible job market. Or leave your kid unsupervised at home to muddle through e-learning. But people don't talk about this, they always compare opening the schools to the idyllic option of the full time stay at home mom with just one kid who can devote all of their time to helping with e-learning and baking cookies and doing Pinterest crafts. (sorry this is my rant....and I seem to have written a book)
There is an infection risk everywhere. The larger the group the higher the risk, so yes 50 kids in a gym is not the best idea. Now if they could do 10 kids in the gym that is basically recreating the pod idea, right?
I think this is especially an issue due to population size in cities. Even if they are just serving kids with an IEP, 504, or ESL they probably have big numbers.
And childcare is a whole other issues. See k3am situation where public and private schools are not allowed to be open, but a daycare that is part of the private school (I think) is allowed to facilitate distance learning. It doesn't make the most sense in the world unless that daycare was able to create pods better than schools could...
In terms of diseases though they definitely swept through our daycare, and the k-2 building got taken out last winter with a fun combo of stomach virus, strep, and influenza all in the same week. The 3-5 building did much better, but maybe it just hadn't reached them yet and we closed the week after for winter break.
phdmomma you said that better than I could. Teachers are mad that they 'have' to go back it's dangerous.
Our in person school is delayed, but the teachers have to teach from the classroom. What are the teachers with kids going to do? The ones I know are sending to private. No common sense was used and they did all or nothing.
My solution was the students old enough to distance learn could and then there would be enough space between the middle and high. Schools to social distance the elementary kids. And possibly using some of the covid money to hire subs to do the pod layout with the kids.
The teachers would be lesson planning and helping the subs help the kids. Not a perfect solution I know, but better than the all or nothing approach. At least to me.
xctsclrx, For some reason our state is weird and the high schools are a separate district. I have no idea why because growing up, we had 11 elementary schools, 2 middle schools, and 2 high schools in one district. In this state, they high school is one district and the elementary/ middle (3 buildings) is another district. If they were all the same they could do your plan easier. They also have an empty school that they used to use, that they could utilize but they don't have enough money for that.
Same problem in the community where I work teachers are in person in one district and the other one is remote, so now the teachers have no childcare and they are doing a pod at the park district.
I don't have a high schooler, but I would have had no issues doing remote when I was in high school, and I think my friends kids did well except for emotionally. My nephews bombed, but they bomb when school is in session also.
There is an infection risk everywhere. The larger the group the higher the risk, so yes 50 kids in a gym is not the best idea. Now if they could do 10 kids in the gym that is basically recreating the pod idea, right?
I think this is especially an issue due to population size in cities. Even if they are just serving kids with an IEP, 504, or ESL they probably have big numbers.
And childcare is a whole other issues. See k3am situation where public and private schools are not allowed to be open, but a daycare that is part of the private school (I think) is allowed to facilitate distance learning. It doesn't make the most sense in the world unless that daycare was able to create pods better than schools could...
In terms of diseases though they definitely swept through our daycare, and the k-2 building got taken out last winter with a fun combo of stomach virus, strep, and influenza all in the same week. The 3-5 building did much better, but maybe it just hadn't reached them yet and we closed the week after for winter break.
I hope the 50 kid number doesn't pan out. I hope I hope I hope. That's too many people.
phdmomma you said that better than I could. Teachers are mad that they 'have' to go back it's dangerous.
Our in person school is delayed, but the teachers have to teach from the classroom. What are the teachers with kids going to do? The ones I know are sending to private. No common sense was used and they did all or nothing.
My solution was the students old enough to distance learn could and then there would be enough space between the middle and high. Schools to social distance the elementary kids. And possibly using some of the covid money to hire subs to do the pod layout with the kids.
The teachers would be lesson planning and helping the subs help the kids. Not a perfect solution I know, but better than the all or nothing approach. At least to me.
And what makes it more interesting is I am teaching in person this fall at the university. So I will be back in a live classroom...