Distance learning

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With public schools trying to figure out how to resume classes for the Fall, many parents are finding out how to do home schooling.
let’s say a family has both parents are essential workers & they have one elementary School aged child. School work is done on a chrome book with assignments turned in daily. The child was attending on-campus after school care which is no longer available. More than half of the households in the area have a stay-at-home parent, So this isn’t an issue that involves most families.
the family didn’t have a family member available to be the child’s caregiver/tutor. What are some options?

 

[Katie Dawn]

Ugh...we are in a similar situation.

If close to half of the families in the community DON'T have a stay at home parent I DO think this is a major issue for the school district as a whole.

As a "both parents work" family of elementary school kids I have absolutely no suggestions for you. The kids would have to be in some type of childcare and there's no way a daycare can meet the educational needs of so many different children, some of whom will have IEPs, need special concentrated help with reading or whatever... It just won't happen, no matter how hard folks want it to work. Parents definitely can't come close to meeting those educational requirements in the 2 hours you have in the evening between getting home from work and the kids bedtime...

Sorry I can't give you any helpful suggestions. I'm just not convinced there are any.

 

[JenBush]

In that situation, if the option of in person school is offered that would be helpful. Schools in my area are offering both in person and remote learning for students. If the situation is that the two parents both HAVE work full time, yet don’t want their kid going to in person school or it’s not offered for their school district I guess they would have to hire child care. A nanny would probably be best since the nanny would be one on one with the child.

 

[DisneyMommy77]

I wish I had suggestions, but I don’t because I am in the same boat. 2 Essential Worker parents with 3 elementary school children. My after school program daycare is still closed, and when they do open they will have reduced hours. We don’t even know what school will look like in the fall for us yet, but we are counting on some days being distance learning.
I am calling around and getting on waitlists for Daycares that have opened, but none are guaranteeing they can will be able to complete distance learning assignments when school resumes.
I have no idea how we will work this all out.....

 

[Colleen27]

I don't know that there are going to be good options. I think a lot of families are going to end up having to cut hours or drop one parent's job to make the fall work if hybrid or online schooling ends up being necessary for fall.

We're still waiting on our governor's guidance at my DD's school, but we're trying to develop a plan to offer childcare on "off" days if we do end up splitting the kids into two groups to reduce classroom populations. But that's threading a needle - there has to be enough need to cover the costs, but not so much that group size becomes a problem, and parents would still have to have a robust "plan B" in case of closure due to a confirmed exposure.

 

[gotomu212]

One option would be to join with another family(ies) and either pool money to hire a caregiver or to find someone with a stay at home adult that would be willing to watch another child (Maybe with some compensation).

In one more drastic case a family I know sent their kids to live with grandparents 4 hours away for a few months- in their case they were hospital workers during one of the hotspot situations and were working even longer than normal shifts and wanted to protect kids from additional exposure. It’s more extreme, but historically sending kids “back home” wasn’t unheard of during times of great upheaval (my own father spent a year with his grandparents when he was 1-2 years old during WWII when my grandmother worked at the San Fran shipyards and grandpa was in Europe).

 

[Southernmiss]

Hire a high school student to study with the elementary child.

 

[pxidst119]

College students may be looking to help out if there are less student teaching opportunities. It could be good experience for an education major to work with your children and their online learning.

 

[Katie Dawn]

Hire a high school student to study with the elementary child.

I like the problem solving idea... But wouldn't the high school teacher be teaching at the high school during that time? I think teachers are going to have even more of their time taken up if some type of hybrid learning happens, so I doubt teachers will have extra time so educate kids that aren't their regular students (or their own children).

 

[siren0119]

We are in a similar spot, even though our kids are older DS1 has a learning disability and isn't old enough to self-regulate for long periods of time. DS2 is 10, and can generally handle himself but, well he's 10 and I don't feel OK leaving him in charge of himself for 9 hours a day. Hubby and I both work outside the house - I have been lucky enough to be able to work from home so far but my company is being sold in September and I am doubtful that those of us absorbed by the new company will be granted the same flexibility. Hubby doesn't have a work from home option at all. Neither of us make enough money to pay for someone to be here, make sure schoolwork is getting done, and support DS1's challenges. I have no idea what we're going to do if schools aren't open in the fall here.

 

[mjkacmom]

I like the problem solving idea... But wouldn't the high school teacher be teaching at the high school during that time? I think teachers are going to have even more of their time taken up if some type of hybrid learning happens, so I doubt teachers will have extra time so educate kids that aren't their regular students (or their own children).

High school student, not teacher. My 17 year old has started babysitting again, she also tutors, so I could see her working with a family if things go online in the fall.

 

[Silvermist999]

In my community FB group, there are already a few parents looking for a “virtual” tutor for their child over the summer months.

I can see this as one option where being socially distant is still preferred, it is a safe solution for children who need extra help that the parents cannot provide.

 

[mrodgers]

I feel for those with younger kids. My 16 year old pretty much lives alone. The 19 year old is never home. They are 40 minutes away from me and mom works retail hours, so pretty much all day and all evening.

 

[mi*vida*loca]

I feel so bad for parents of young children. My kids are high school and college students so I am pretty much hands off with the online learning. I just go in and check DDs grades to make sure she’s turning it in and getting good grades.

I don’t know any SAHMs. I don’t have “mommy friends” and I’m not friends with my kids friends moms. I mean my friends are moms but we all work and we don’t live in the same district. All of my family works And we’re both essential employees.

if I had little ones right now I would be screwed. My grandmother would watch the kids but she wouldn’t be able to do remote learning with them because of the technology.

I work at a hospital and lots of people are utterly exhausted from working full tike shifts and then going home to do school work. Some teachers want the work by 3 pm and it’s causing lots of tension since they are at work until well past 3 pm. Some teachers are understanding, some not so much.

I even know a few people that just stopped with the online learning. They’ve told the teachers they’ll get the work when they get it and that’s all they can do.

this is a hot mess on all fronts. I feel for teachers, parents, caregivers and students.

 

[NotUrsula]

A friend of mine who really was in this exact situation this spring hired a HS senior to come to her home everyday and supervise her children's schoolwork while she (the HS senior) also did her own. She was there to help them out and keep them working on a schedule, but not to really function as a teacher, per se. In this particular case the student is involved in the same sport as the younger kids, so they already knew each other. The younger kids are middle-schoolers. It worked out pretty well for all concerned.

That's your window of opportunity. If your district is sticking to remote learning, the older kids are probably doing it, too. If you can get a reliable one to do it from your house instead of their own, you both profit by the arrangement. Sports are a very good gateway to coordinate this; as coaches often know older kids who might be suitable, and can help connect families.

 

[DisneyElite4]

A friend of mine who really was in this exact situation this spring hired a HS senior to come to her home everyday and supervise her children's schoolwork while she (the HS senior) also did her own. She was there to help them out and keep them working on a schedule, but not to really function as a teacher, per se. In this particular case the student is involved in the same sport as the younger kids, so they already knew each other. The younger kids are middle-schoolers. It worked out pretty well for all concerned.

That's your window of opportunity. If your district is sticking to remote learning, the older kids are probably doing it, too. If you can get a reliable one to do it from your house instead of their own, you both profit by the arrangement. Sports are a very good gateway to coordinate this; as coaches often know older kids who might be suitable, and can help connect families.

I think this is great for older elementary and middle, but not for really young elementary as those kids need a lot more hands on attention/help. Also doesn’t work well if you have several of these young children - I have 3 early elementary kids at home (1 2nd grade, 2 Kindy) and if I hired a high schooler to help they wouldn’t be able to do their own work as my kids would not only need lots of hands-on help, but actual watching, playing with and engaging them, making meals, etc.

 

[Southernmiss]

I think this is great for older elementary and middle, but not for really young elementary as those kids need a lot more hands on attention/help. Also doesn’t work well if you have several of these young children - I have 3 early elementary kids at home (1 2nd grade, 2 Kindy) and if I hired a high schooler to help they wouldn’t be able to do their own work as my kids would not only need lots of hands-on help, but actual watching, playing with and engaging them, making meals, etc.

I think it could work as a tag team situation.

Multiple young students might mean multiple high school students or a high school student and older (grandparent) type adult. High school student helps with school and technology, older adult wrangles kids for lunch, play breaks, etc. Which allows teen to do some of their own work or online meet up for classes.

Usually, younger elementary kids don't have as much graded work as older and their required work is not like older kids.

Definitely not easy or ideal, but what is these days?

 

[Hrhpd]

With public schools trying to figure out how to resume classes for the Fall, many parents are finding out how to do home schooling.
let’s say a family has both parents are essential workers & they have one elementary School aged child. School work is done on a chrome book with assignments turned in daily. The child was attending on-campus after school care which is no longer available. More than half of the households in the area have a stay-at-home parent, So this isn’t an issue that involves most families.
the family didn’t have a family member available to be the child’s caregiver/tutor. What are some options?

I don't have kids at home anymore but I am seeing tons of posts on our neighborhood facebook group regarding what to do if schools do not open in the fall. Many stay at home parents are offering "school groups" of 5-10 children and either homeschooling the group themselves or everyone pitching in to hire a tutor out of the teachers that are potentially being laid off.

 

[RangerPooh]

No suggestions but I feel for parents who work and are facing these situations.

Both DH and I have been working from home most days since March 16th. We have four kids ranging from elementary to high school. At first assignments were required but I could not keep up helping 4 kids with their school and doing my own work. Once they became optional for no credit they stopped. If I was a SAHM maybe it would have worked, but I was getting in trouble for missing deadlines. There is fall out from working parents being expected to home school their kids when we never signed up for homeschool (aka virtual school). It would be great if my older two would help the younger, but they didn't and often times needed their own help for some subjects.