Friday randoms

[mae0111]

What’s everyone got going on this weekend?

[twinmomma]

My parents are coming down tomorrow so we can go to beau's restaurant together, as long as he's definitely working. They haven't seen it yet and are dying to come down before the weather gets too bad. He's embarrassed and horrified that they would drive all that way to support him, but I think it's sweet that they want to.

Otherwise, I'm spending the weekend packing up stuff around the house and donating items to Goodwill. I also have to go buy a new microwave and figure out how to install it over the range, since mine decided to die yesterday. It couldn't last just a little bit longer and be the next person's problem. Ugh.

[mae0111]

DD2 has soccer tonight and tomorrow, but the weather is iffy so not sure if it will happen. It’s been a tough week with DD1, and DD2 is not dealing well. So I promised her something fun, just us. But I haven’t figured out what that is yet.

Random: There’s a mom I kind of know from school, and I worked with her a little at my last corporate job. Our kids are in different grades, but we’ve had coffee a few times and worked together on some school things. We check in via text here and there.

She sent me a text asking if we could chat or meet - zoom, phone, whatever. I figured she needed to bounce something off me or needed help with another school thing. I was responding to set up a time and she sent a second text saying that she “missed (me) terribly”. We... do not have a close friendship. But I responded anyway and said we should get coffee next week.

She never wrote back. Her texts were totally meant for someone else 😬

[phdmomma]

We are assembling stuff for starting private school. We found one that is very small and running in person and has room for both kids. The kids liked it when they visited, and it is like 4 blocks from our house (closer than either public school). So I need to get dress code appropriate clothing, their list of supplies, etc. But I am so excited to get them with other kids again.

[xctsclrx]

phdmomma, i bet that is a relief for you. I am hearing more and more that working parents really can't make this hybrid option work very well. Even WFH parents are struggling hard.



My H has been home for 1 week and my DD won't have anything to do with him. I am not pushing it right now because he is leaving tomorrow for 5 more weeks, but after that he will be home for good.

If you guys have any advice for helping a 2.5 year old bond with her dad please let me know. My current solution right now is to leave on a 4 day girl trip and that DH handle everything so DD knows that Daddy can and is there for her. (after the holidays so that she had somtime to get used to him).

Also, just to brag on my H a little, since he has been home he has changed out all of our filters, burned out light bulbs, pulled weeds, trimmed bushes, clean out my fridge and freezer, and is currently building me a fire pit that i did not ask for, but I am super excited about! He also done all drop offs and all but one pick ups. So happy this week

[supertrooper1]

It's a kid free weekend for me. Tonight beau and I are going out to dinner with his mom. Other than that we have no plans. We had planned on going riding this weekend but the forecast changed to rain.

[k3am]

I didn't sleep last night. Like.. at all. I watched 13 episodes of Criminal Minds. All of this school stress is really getting to me. I am not prepared to be a functioning member of society today.

[186momx]

Today DD has zoom school until 10:45, a private lesson at 11 for 45 minutes. Then I need to run to the bank for work, figure out lunch, feed DD a big snack before taking her back to practice at 4:30. Then I will go to Costco alone before coming home to eat dinner and then will go back out to get DD at 7:30.

Weather is supposed to be decent Saturday so want to do some outside chores. Sunday the rain is back so we will just spend the day chilling inside.

[mae0111]

k3am - I took all the sleeping aids last night and was still up until3 watching ER reruns trying to turn off my brain. I feel hung over today. Solidarity.

[sandandsea]

Today is my free PTO day after the deadline day. I’m exhausted and felt like crap yesterday with the adrenaline fall. But I’m Getting my first haircut in a year today. Well I did a coronacut in April but it’s not the same! And I’m outdoor dining with coworker friends for the first time since we were all sent home in March.

The school stuff is awful. It’s sounding like We aren’t going back for the full school year. I’m annoyed and upset but don’t want to burn all the bridges I have built at ds’s school so don’t want to protest, sue, etc and don’t know how we make any progress to get kids back in school without drastic measures so I’m doing nothing. Which feels crappy. Our numbers are great, hospitals are not busy, everyone is wearing masks and other districts and schools are opening. If DS was ahead academically I would move him to private ASAP and not look back. But he’d have to do tutoring and get ahead to get in so it seems stressful and not worth it. So we are making do.

[waverly]

Yup, with hybrid if you are both working parents you will likely still neeed childcare. Goodbye money. And I don’t expect to go 5 days a week for the Entire school year.

Tonight I have a work thing, tomorrow is soccer and scouts. Sunday we will carve pumpkins.

[mrsGreeko]

xctsclrx - my oldest was almost 3 when my DH came back from a deployment. He had leave for 4 or 6 weeks after he got back and he just kept her home from daycare most of that time with him and then after he kept her on Mondays when he was off. They bonded pretty quickly because it was a lot of togetherness just the 2 of them since I mostly had to work. I think just lots of time for just the 2 of them and letting him figure things out on his own (this was hard for me since I obviously knew her better at that time and it was hard to let him fumble through to figuring things out on his own).

[k3am]

We talked to the principal. He will not move DD's class. He's worried that if they ever go back, they'll need to shuffle classes around to align distance learners with remote teachers, and that an extra transition during the year would be too difficult.

Our district is likely not going back to school for any type of in person instruction this school year. Our county is doing great, but... we apparently have unsurmountable obstacles that other districts are able to work around. Unlike sandandsea, I have not built up any bridges at DD's school, so I'm ready to burn it down. If there's a protest, I'll be there.

[mommyatty]

k3am- you now have a free pass to bitch to him constantly about the teacher. He chose not to move her. So he can now manage his employee effectively.

[twinmomma]

k3am, Didn't the teacher specifically tell you to switch her class? How did the principal not see that as a huge red flag?! I'd be documenting the heck out of everything and sending it straight to him. That's insane and infuriating.

[mae0111]

Oct 16, 2020 13:53:50 GMT -5 mommyatty said:

k3am- you now have a free pass to bitch to him constantly about the teacher. He chose not to move her. So he can now manage his employee effectively.

This. I would become such a pain in his ass that he would relent.

But I am spiteful like that.

[k3am]

Oct 16, 2020 13:56:57 GMT -5 twinmomma said:

k3am, Didn't the teacher specifically tell you to switch her class? How did the principal not see that as a huge red flag?! I'd be documenting the heck out of everything and sending it straight to him. That's insane and infuriating.

Yep. I only brought it up because she was the one who suggested it. I did let him know about that. And I forwarded her email from the other week as well to let him know my concerns with her professionalism.

[phdmomma]

k3am, I would be a constant pain in his rear with an issue like that, to the point that it would be easier to move her than deal with me.

Our public school district announced today that they will stay fully virtual for everyone until the end of January at the earliest. Which makes the decision to go private seem like the right call. The crazy thing is that the tuition and aftercare there is about what we are paying across all of the sitters right now, so its not a big price difference. Although it all is way more than we would pay in a normal year. I feel incredibly relieved, we are doing one more week of virtual while all of the paperwork gets processed, and they will start before the end of the month, which is surreal. And amazing at the same time. The school district next door decided to stay online by a small margin of vote at the school board, and now their appears to be a parental coupe, which I don't blame them for at all.

[sdlaura]

We’ve made it most of the way through 3-year-old’s quarantine, and I’m hoping the decision to leave our pod was the right one. The next two weeks are the big kids’ fall break, so they have skateboard camp the first week and then the second week they have morning surf camp/afternoons with my parents. If all goes well, we’ll have full time childcare for everyone for the next two weeks, and in 1.5 weeks I’m going on my little girls trip where we’re just going to associate outside!

This weekend, no big plans. Tomorrow evening after kids go to bed, I’m having the two pod moms over for wine. To sort of reinforce that we went to stay friends even though my kids are leaving the pod.

[erbear]

I had school conferences today and remote parent after remote parent reported that our model isn't working for their kids. NO SHIT. I'm so annoyed at the whole situation.

[k3am]

Oct 16, 2020 18:02:30 GMT -5 erbear said:

I had school conferences today and remote parent after remote parent reported that our model isn't working for their kids. NO SHIT. I'm so annoyed at the whole situation.

Come teach in our district! Apparently parents LOVE distance learning and their students are thriving more than they ever have. I say that without sarcasm. I am the weirdo in that we are struggling.

I don’t envy teachers right now. It’s not glamorous in the best of times, and now you’re stuck dealing with irrational parents.

[erbear]

Oct 16, 2020 19:05:55 GMT -5 k3am said:

Oct 16, 2020 18:02:30 GMT -5 erbear said:

I had school conferences today and remote parent after remote parent reported that our model isn't working for their kids. NO SHIT. I'm so annoyed at the whole situation.

Come teach in our district! Apparently parents LOVE distance learning and their students are thriving more than they ever have. I say that without sarcasm. I am the weirdo in that we are struggling.

I don’t envy teachers right now. It’s not glamorous in the best of times, and now you’re stuck dealing with irrational parents.

Remote learning with dedicated teachers works (for most people). Remote learning at the same time as in-person learning with the same teacher doesn't work, was never going to work, and is currently not working. 

[sdlaura]

erbear, I know we disagreed in the past on whether hybrid was better than full distance - and I have to say that you were right - hybrid sucks.

But full distance learning with a dedicated teacher only worked for us because we hired a pod teacher - full time virtual for our first grade boy is impossible without an adult sitting right next to him the whole time.

Hybrid sucks because there’s no consistency and we get zero instruction three days a week.

In my personal opinion, when we can’t send all kids to school full time, k-2 should be in school full time, and 3rd and up should be virtual with a dedicated teacher. Everyone I now with kids in both age brackets agrees on this. I believe full time in person for all should be the goal for low case communities - our district is now saying maybe January, but I’m not holding my breath.

[mrsGreeko]

Oct 16, 2020 19:45:30 GMT -5 sdlaura said:

erbear, I know we disagreed in the past on whether hybrid was better than full distance - and I have to say that you were right - hybrid sucks.

But full distance learning with a dedicated teacher only worked for us because we hired a pod teacher - full time virtual for our first grade boy is impossible without an adult sitting right next to him the whole time.

Hybrid sucks because there’s no consistency and we get zero instruction three days a week.

In my personal opinion, when we can’t send all kids to school full time, k-2 should be in school full time, and 3rd and up should be virtual with a dedicated teacher. Everyone I now with kids in both age brackets agrees on this. I believe full time in person for all should be the goal for low case communities - our district is now saying maybe January, but I’m not holding my breath.

My 3rd grader gets to be in person full time because K-5 in our district is full time. 6-12 is hybrid and I have a 6th grader and 9th grader. It’s okay, my 6th grader would prefer to be in person full time and my 9th grader is happy like this. She’s in quarantine though from exposure on her second in person day so I feel like she might appreciate the in person when she’s allowed back more.

[mommyatty]

DD did remote learning where she was Zooming into her classes. For whatever reason, it worked well for her and worked well for all but one family out of 8. I’m not sure what the secret sauce was/is, but it’s going well. DS had a dedicated teacher but he’s in 1st grade. That age is just hard with distance learning. He struggled. DH struggled.

What’s interesting in our school is the distance learning will have to continue as an option because of people who get quarantined or are home sick but not with Covid. Half of DD’s class just finished their second week of quarantine. They were “Zoom kids” for the last two weeks.

[k3am]

Oct 16, 2020 19:24:35 GMT -5 erbear said:

Oct 16, 2020 19:05:55 GMT -5 k3am said:

Come teach in our district! Apparently parents LOVE distance learning and their students are thriving more than they ever have. I say that without sarcasm. I am the weirdo in that we are struggling.

I don’t envy teachers right now. It’s not glamorous in the best of times, and now you’re stuck dealing with irrational parents.

Remote learning with dedicated teachers works (for most people). Remote learning at the same time as in-person learning with the same teacher doesn't work, was never going to work, and is currently not working. 

Yeah. I don't think teachers can manage an in person class and a remote class. That's not fair to anyone. 

[k3am]

AND IT'S MY LUCKY DAY! I get to go to in person jury duty next week.

[campermom]

I go back to in person on Monday. My kids are going to both cohorts. It’s only a matter of time before someone gets some kind of symptom, Covid or not. My kids and I are in a total of 4 schools and two of my kids are in 2 cohorts.

We are so short staffed.

[sdlaura]

So there’s a district near us that’s going back 5 days a week for k-12 starting Monday. The nearest elementary is about 20 minutes away - the same distance as the private school we were looking at. I want to consider doing an inter district transfer to send my kids there. But DH thinks I’m nuts. His argument is that if it goes well there, there will be more pressure so our district to at least open elementary schools full time. I hope he’s right.

[waverly]

Yes I agree with you all. Hybrid is great when in school. The other 3 days is mostly asynchronous and not any instruction.

Full time e-learning for younger kids does require someone sitting right there. For DS, I leave him and clean the house and do laundry and swing back. But I can only do that since he is in 4th now. His remote math class is ahead of the hybrid kids in terms of content because he gets instruction 5 days a week instead of 2.

I agree K-2 should be back 5 days. Our school has only had one case and the student was already at home being cautious, so no quarantines.

The older schools 3-5 and 6-8 schools have all had multiple cases and quarantines. No community spread just isolated cases, but definitely more Covid activity than K-2.

They should have dedicated remote teachers.