Homeschool Thread: What's it look like at your house?

[HDRchampion]

Our school announced yesterday that they are closing it down for the remainder of the school year but will continue "online learning". We currently on our Spring Break so we have to see what kind of improvements with this online learning, which has been pretty much non existent.

 

[norton9478]

My brother hasn't heard from half of his students since the shutdown.

 

[NGT]

My brother hasn't heard from half of his students since the shutdown.

One of our 6th grade teachers is averaging 8 kids. I have gone 16/23 and 15/23. The school hasn't been able to contact 3-4 of them though.

 

[LoneSage]

My newest fear is not leaving the Zoom meeting correctly and then jacking off while the video is still on, but the audio is off so I can't hear anything.

 

[NGT]

Now that it's the summer, you've gone through distance learning, and covid19 is spreading across the US, are you for sending kids back into the classroom or sticking to distance learning for the safety of the children?

 

[lithy]

Now that it's the summer, you've gone through distance learning, and covid19 is spreading across the US, are you for sending kids back into the classroom or sticking to distance learning for the safety of the children?

Our oldest is supposed to start Kindergarten in the fall. If they don't start in person he might as well just stay in child care, he'll get more out of that than being at home with us trying to get a 5 year old to 'learn' through a video call.

 

[LoneSage]

Our oldest is supposed to start Kindergarten in the fall. If they don't start in person he might as well just stay in child care, he'll get more out of that than being at home with us trying to get a 5 year old to 'learn' through a video call.

1-on-1 it is possible to teach a 5 year old, but with a whole class of them, naw.

 

[ForeverSublime]

That's solid. My internet from xfinity keeps disconnecting and reconnecting. Ruins any online class running. Zoom meeting with the kids suck. My phone seems to be fine, but the Chromebooks do it all the time. (Any thoughts?) It's awful, but I'm not inviting the cable guy into my living room right now. So, I'm making a lot of instructional videos etc.

I wonder how many people's educations have been throttled so someone can binge watch the latest season of their 16th favorite series.

 

[NGT]

Our oldest is supposed to start Kindergarten in the fall. If they don't start in person he might as well just stay in child care, he'll get more out of that than being at home with us trying to get a 5 year old to 'learn' through a video call.

Both of my kids will be staying home, but it's strictly for safety reasons. The kinder teacher at her school is fantastic, but it wasn't a tough call.

For a 5 year old, teach them their letter sounds. I found a poster with the abc's on it. You can do an ABC song, but with sounds instead of letter names. We did it during our bedtime routine. After they get the sounds song, start pointing to letters and seeing if he remembers. Give him incentives. As he starts to learn the different sounds out of the song, introduce him to blending small words like cat, hat, bat, etc in word families. Sight word flash cards are great, but start small. the, and, is, said, etc. Make 2 of each and play that card flipping memory game. If it's too hard, let him keep them turned over ounce he flips them. Just say things like, "the, now where's the other 'the' "...once he gets both cars for one word, let him make a funny sentence with the word while looking at the card.
For numbers, 1-5 flash cards, then add 6-10, then 11-15, etc etc by 5's. Up to 30 eventually. Then start adding on. 5 + 2....say the 5 and count 2 more (2 bigger) etc...

I know, it sounds stupid and simple, and i don't know where your son is academically, but the sequence works.

The abc song, but with sounds was huge!

A-g sounds. Pause, h-n sounds, pause, o-q, pause, r-t, pause, and finish u-y and say "and" then the z sound. Again, it may sound stupid, but really, how many letters do you really need the name? Just vowels for the most part, but that's only for final-e words later. Might as well get them their letter sounds first so they can blend sooner.

Anyways, for the topic. I'm really hoping to keep doing distance learning...but it's 100% to keep my kids safe. I'm scared of being forced back into the classroom. Everyone is going to get sick, imo. I just pray I don't get it and bring it home.

Looking for non-teacher perspectives.

 

[NGT]

Dp.

 

[F4U57]

My newest fear is not leaving the Zoom meeting correctly and then jacking off while the video is still on, but the audio is off so I can't hear anything.

Don’t worry, China has already seen you, warts and all.

 

[Massive Urethra Chode]

any risk of homeschool shootings during covid?

 

[neo_mao]

Anyways, for the topic. I'm really hoping to keep doing distance learning...but it's 100% to keep my kids safe. I'm scared of being forced back into the classroom. Everyone is going to get sick, imo. I just pray I don't get it and bring it home.

Looking for non-teacher perspectives.

I am feeling the same way.

I have 3 kids - my eldest is in elementary school, middle is in preschool and youngest is a baby. We've already decided to keep the preschooler home this year and have her start kindergarten next year.

However, I actually had a call w/ the Principal of my eldest's school. As of today, they are planning to re-open with no formal remote learning option - they are planning to have all kids physically be in the school come September. That's a bit concerning not only for my children's well being, but for my own. I have a chronic illness where I am immune compromised and my doctors consider me in the high risk category. I actually had an unscheduled surgery back in April with a lot of complications and have been in and out of the hospital since then.

I discussed this all with the Principal and she said based on my Doctor's recommendation they can come up with some kind of remote option for us, but it is possible that my kid could be the only one at home...whereas all the other kids are in school. That makes me feel terrible...but I think I don't have any other option as my Doctors have basically said that were I to get COVID now I basically would not make it. Also, not sure how that would work. These past few months the online sessions would be like 2 or 3 hours only per day....but when the school reopens it will be a full day of classes for kids, so would the remote option be expected to sit in front of the computer all day long, mirroring them from home? That would be tough for a young kid...not ideal at all, but anything less and it would seem they are missing out.

The Principal also briefly mentioned the possibility of formally home schooling. This may have been more feasible if the baby was a bit older...but I don't see how my wife could do that with 2 more kids who are not of school age. I could certainly do it while on medical leave, but I will need to return to work eventually, and even if working from home, not sure how feasible that is.

Just a shitty situation made worse by my shitty health. Where we left things off was that we'll touch base in early August and see where things stand...perhaps the state will take a different stance especially given all the new cases around the country. In the meantime, I am going to seriously look into the formal homeschooling option as well.

Fucking corona virus. Dammit.

 

[LoneSage]

moe has 4 kids, you know what that means

 

[F4U57]

moe has 4 kids, you know what that means

Co-signed.

 

[LoneSage]

Co-signed.

I think you meant co-rona'd

Oh shit no I think you meant co-moed

 

[neo_mao]

I don’t follow, break it down for me guys.

I wish LoneSage was my kids’ teacher. LoneSage, want to be a live-in teacher with me? My home is small and I can’t pay you much - but we have Disney+ AND HBO Max.

 

[LoneSage]

You've got Zoom and are willing for me to teach your child around 3AM (3PM China time) for $50/hour, then I'm open.

 

[neo_mao]

ahhhhh lemme think about it

 

[LoneSage]

Yeah I'm not teaching your kid.

 

[@M]

Doesn't neo_moe even get a NG.com intercontinental bro discount? Moe and bro rhyme, LoneSage!

 

[NGT]

When your doctor says "If you get it, you're going to die" , you kind of need to think about it like this. Depriving your child of school and friends for a year, could stop you from depriving him of a father for the rest of his life.

 

[neo_mao]

When your doctor says "If you get it, you're going to die" , you kind of need to think about it like this. Depriving your child of school and friends for a year, could stop you from depriving him of a father for the rest of his life.

Yeah - that’s exactly what the Doctors, Principal etc has said...just can’t take the risk. I still feel terribly guilty and shitty about it, but it’s really the only option we have.

 

[StevenK]

Yeah - that’s exactly what the Doctors, Principal etc has said...just can’t take the risk. I still feel terribly guilty and shitty about it, but it’s really the only option we have.

What do you gents think about the promise of the vaccine? I'm still hearing reputable scientists claiming a few months away is possible, but who knows which payroll they're on.

In my head, for no particular reason, I have an end of year deadline for some real vaccine breakthrough news to come through, and if I was in a high risk category I would be tempted to wait it out until then. After that I'd be weighing up the cost of risking your life versus the cost of having a highly frustrating life for god knows how long. It's a conversation I've had a few times with my brother who is in a high risk group.

 

[NGT]

Yeah - that’s exactly what the Doctors, Principal etc has said...just can’t take the risk. I still feel terribly guilty and shitty about it, but it’s really the only option we have.

I totally understand the guilt. My son's best friend's dad put together a baseball all-star team to just practice and scrimmage since the league got cancelled. I didn't let him play. Saying no was like a punch in the gut. In the same week, my next door neighbor had a birthday party for her 12 year old and hired a local icecream truck for the party. They parked in front of my house and my son sat in the window and watched 20+ kids line up in front of our house about a month ago. No distancing, no masks, nothing. He is 8 and was crying. I was going to run out when the line was gone, but right after the last kid he took off down the street. He's a pretty tough kid too. This is a tough time to be a responsible parent when your kid is watching their friends go out like there's nothing wrong out there.