nikkipal
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Post by nikkipal on Jul 27, 2020 8:42:01 GMT -6
M only has virtual learning option for at least 9 weeks. We are tentatively having J’s mother stay for 2 weeks and my mother stay for 2 weeks to cover her care/schooling for the weeks I’m working onsite. I feel guilty getting help from older parents and potentially exposing them, but I’m kind of at a loss for what else to do. I do feel safe at the hospital, since masking is strictly enforced, and I don’t work with covid patients.
We have also discussed hiring a caregiver to come work with M when I’m not home, but that is expensive, makes me nervous, and I’m not even sure I could find anyone willing to work such an irregular schedule. This is a time when it really blows not having any family that live nearby.
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Post by ovenrack on Jul 27, 2020 9:35:31 GMT -6
I get what you're saying. But I'm still not okay with it. Especially because true homeschooling DOES effect the per-student funding and staff resources based on numbers of students, at least in my state. We need more room. But it isn't fair that some kids opting out of that risk will result in EVEN LARGER gaps between students. Yes, it's always been a problem. This will make it bigger. I don't have a better solution, but THIS isn't my solution. And if states continue to tie the funding to the number of students enrolled in this insane year, that is states balancing budgets on the backs of children and that is on them. Schools need more money this year, not less. This doesn’t need to be your solution, everyone’s solution will have to be different. I literally would have to quit my job (sell my company?) to participate in our school’s virtual option without a hired tutor. So that is not an option for my family. And a school day that ends at 1 is barely better. What other options besides a hired tutor/nanny do I have as a working parent? Why is quitting my job a less privileged option than hiring someone? If you want to lay the blame somewhere put it on the people who so completely lacked empathy that they literally had to personally feel the pain of this virus themselves before they would alter their behavior one iota. That is why we are all making these shitty decisions. I'm sorry, I am absolutely not blaming anyone. I am sorry I made you feel like I was blaming people who make ANY of these. There's plenty of people to blame, but none of them are the teachers, the students, or the parents. There are a lot of specific issues within my town and surrounding towns which are coloring how I'm speaking about this, I realize. I'll be more careful. And continue to zoom and email my own school board and town administrator, and the governor, and the commissioner of elementary and secondary education.
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Post by ovenrack on Jul 27, 2020 9:41:33 GMT -6
I also am just struggling emotionally because this is also laying bare a lot of truths about how people are paid, and how that effects what you can do during an emergency.
If I have to have one more conversation about all the people who made more on unemployment with the federal benefit added, I'll scream. I'll SCREAM. Of course they did. Those are all people who were underpaid to begin with. And that includes basically everyone I know, including my husband, who do jobs which many people assume are enough to live comfortably on. They're not. They never were.
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mapleme
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Post by mapleme on Jul 27, 2020 9:58:05 GMT -6
And if states continue to tie the funding to the number of students enrolled in this insane year, that is states balancing budgets on the backs of children and that is on them. Schools need more money this year, not less. This doesn’t need to be your solution, everyone’s solution will have to be different. I literally would have to quit my job (sell my company?) to participate in our school’s virtual option without a hired tutor. So that is not an option for my family. And a school day that ends at 1 is barely better. What other options besides a hired tutor/nanny do I have as a working parent? Why is quitting my job a less privileged option than hiring someone? If you want to lay the blame somewhere put it on the people who so completely lacked empathy that they literally had to personally feel the pain of this virus themselves before they would alter their behavior one iota. That is why we are all making these shitty decisions. I'm sorry, I am absolutely not blaming anyone. I am sorry I made you feel like I was blaming people who make ANY of these. There's plenty of people to blame, but none of them are the teachers, the students, or the parents. There are a lot of specific issues within my town and surrounding towns which are coloring how I'm speaking about this, I realize. I'll be more careful. And continue to zoom and email my own school board and town administrator, and the governor, and the commissioner of elementary and secondary education. Thank you for this OR and thank you for texting me. This whole situation is awful and there isn't enough of anything anyone needs.
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mapleme
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Post by mapleme on Jul 27, 2020 10:03:57 GMT -6
I also am just struggling emotionally because this is also laying bare a lot of truths about how people are paid, and how that effects what you can do during an emergency. If I have to have one more conversation about all the people who made more on unemployment with the federal benefit added, I'll scream. I'll SCREAM. Of course they did. Those are all people who were underpaid to begin with. And that includes basically everyone I know, including my husband, who do jobs which many people assume are enough to live comfortably on. They're not. They never were. IMO people being underpaid at all levels lies in too much of a concentration of wealth at the top. The top concentration of wealth in this country is terrifying. And is not good for anyone, not even the uber-wealthy. Wealth disparity brings countries down. Every time. Throughout history. It's baaad.
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rugger
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Post by rugger on Jul 27, 2020 10:40:55 GMT -6
I also am just struggling emotionally because this is also laying bare a lot of truths about how people are paid, and how that effects what you can do during an emergency. If I have to have one more conversation about all the people who made more on unemployment with the federal benefit added, I'll scream. I'll SCREAM. Of course they did. Those are all people who were underpaid to begin with. And that includes basically everyone I know, including my husband, who do jobs which many people assume are enough to live comfortably on. They're not. They never were. IMO people being underpaid at all levels lies in too much of a concentration of wealth at the top. The top concentration of wealth in this country is terrifying. And is not good for anyone, not even the uber-wealthy. Wealth disparity brings countries down. Every time. Throughout history. It's baaad. And then when you add in big government bailouts, it just makes everything worse. Companies make decisions knowing that if they fail, the gov't will just bail them out. It's all so shitty. We need less bailouts (at both the big business and unemployment levels) and more focus on small-med businesses paying employees fair wages. It's crazy that people make more on unemployment than by being productive members of society.
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mapleme
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Post by mapleme on Jul 27, 2020 11:57:16 GMT -6
IMO people being underpaid at all levels lies in too much of a concentration of wealth at the top. The top concentration of wealth in this country is terrifying. And is not good for anyone, not even the uber-wealthy. Wealth disparity brings countries down. Every time. Throughout history. It's baaad. And then when you add in big government bailouts, it just makes everything worse. Companies make decisions knowing that if they fail, the gov't will just bail them out. It's all so shitty. We need less bailouts (at both the big business and unemployment levels) and more focus on small-med businesses paying employees fair wages. It's crazy that people make more on unemployment than by being productive members of society. So I'm not actually opposed to bail outs. But only when it comes with new strategies to keep it from happening again. Like sending your newly adult child money to cover unplanned medical bills, but setting them up with a savings plan that will cover their butt the next time.
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DGM
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Post by DGM on Jul 27, 2020 12:56:25 GMT -6
I’m finally feeling hopeful. While our district actually seems to have the best plan around, it still looks like it will be a disaster. I reached out to a neighbor who’s daughter was M’s BFF in kindergarten and mentioned that I was thinking about a homeschooling pod. She’s all in about that and has offered up her house as a location (her house would be great for it). She also knows another neighbor who might be interested and they have a 3 yo and 6 yo. If C was in this program it would mean a 3 yo a 4 yo and 3 6 yo kids. That would be pretty fantastic really. I hope that this is something that we can pull off. Homeschooling, or helping with the distance learning for 1st graders? Strict scheduled distance learning for my 6yo on a laptop... with my 2- and 4-yo's around... is what terrifies me. I haven't read the whole thread yet, but I'm putting together busy boxes for J (3 in September) to have when L is doing seat work. Some of my friends who homeschool say they are life savers, and there are a ton of ideas on the google. ETA this is forcing me to go through all their toys and art supplies to see what I can set aside for J. I initially was planning a huge trip to the dollar store but then realized I need to clean out what we have first.
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DGM
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Post by DGM on Jul 27, 2020 13:32:59 GMT -6
I just came across this resource for choosing a homeschooling curriculum. I'm liking a lot of these options. The ones that I've looked at so far have a child involvement of about 2 hours and parental involvement of 1-1.5 hours per day. That seems manageable with little siblings around. Last year C could more or less self entertain for about 1 hour of M's classwork before she started making havoc for attention. www.steamsational.com/secular-homeschool-curriculum/I remember being so surprised when I started to research homeschooling about the amount of instructional time needed! Having only gone to public schools myself, it didn't seem possible that my then 3 year old could be done with a kindergarten class in 1-1.5 hours/day. It helps me now to remember they still learn so much through playing at this age.
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mapleme
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Post by mapleme on Jul 27, 2020 17:15:36 GMT -6
I just came across this resource for choosing a homeschooling curriculum. I'm liking a lot of these options. The ones that I've looked at so far have a child involvement of about 2 hours and parental involvement of 1-1.5 hours per day. That seems manageable with little siblings around. Last year C could more or less self entertain for about 1 hour of M's classwork before she started making havoc for attention. www.steamsational.com/secular-homeschool-curriculum/I remember being so surprised when I started to research homeschooling about the amount of instructional time needed! Having only gone to public schools myself, it didn't seem possible that my then 3 year old could be done with a kindergarten class in 1-1.5 hours/day. It helps me now to remember they still learn so much through playing at this age. Yeah, I get why in person school is 6-7 hours and I'm in favor of it. But for non-in person curriculum 2 hours makes way more sense. I refuse that a Thanksgiving Day Pilgrim play has more value than building some random stuff with Amazon boxes, painters tape and markers. (ETA: I'm not saying that theater doesn't have value, I'm saying that, for creative endeavors, kids can choose what has value).
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Post by rhymeswithdisco on Jul 28, 2020 6:23:55 GMT -6
J's new school just announced that they are doing fully virtual for the first 9 weeks and will reevaluate then for the next 9. I'm so happy with this decision. My boss is super accommodating of me spending some of my time helping him with his school stuff and my sister and niece and nephew (14 and 13) have also offered to help him a few days a week.
Now I just need to decide what to do with the girls.
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Post by ovenrack on Jul 28, 2020 6:27:34 GMT -6
Well, our school committee meeting last night showed that the hybrid model is 8am-12, two days a week. So. Not helpful, but I think lunch was getting too complicated. And their plan to keep the little kids in school more (4 days) won't happen for grade 1, since there are too many of them.
The remote option looks like lots of scheduled screen time in front of a laptop. Also, my laptop is the only computer in the house, and it's from 2014. I really want to buy a desktop - does anyone have any tips for buying one?
Can I just take a nap until 2022?
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rugger
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Post by rugger on Jul 28, 2020 7:08:32 GMT -6
ovenrack I can ask S about desktops if you want. I don't know how much he deals with them (over laptops) anyone, but happy to ask. Would the desktop be for H's school work?
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Post by rhymeswithdisco on Jul 28, 2020 7:11:58 GMT -6
ovenrack is the school offering any type of accommodations for you to utilize? Tablets, laptops, etc.? I know our district is offering the use of a device and internet access if needed.
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rugger
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Post by rugger on Jul 28, 2020 7:12:06 GMT -6
S just picked up this awesome Murphy desk. It's nice and low, so it's perfect for the kids (or me!) to sit and do work when needed. We already had the storage cube with padded top, and it's the perfect height to sit on at the desk.
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Post by ovenrack on Jul 28, 2020 7:27:18 GMT -6
ovenrack is the school offering any type of accommodations for you to utilize? Tablets, laptops, etc.? I know our district is offering the use of a device and internet access if needed. They offered Chromebooks in the fall, but I've heard there's going to be a lot of requests for them this fall, since the setup will be different and more screen time. I'll email someone about that now... the... school committee? Superintendent? They're all probably really tired of hearing from me, ha ha ha.
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Post by ovenrack on Jul 28, 2020 7:28:56 GMT -6
ovenrack I can ask S about desktops if you want. I don't know how much he deals with them (over laptops) anyone, but happy to ask. Would the desktop be for H's school work? Yeah, for school work and I'd love for it to double as a place to deal with my photos (real camera, but not specially high-res) - so I'm trying to find something with a lot of storage. But otherwise, super super basic internet access - no need for fancy things for gaming or anything like that.
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Post by rhymeswithdisco on Jul 28, 2020 7:30:47 GMT -6
ovenrack is the school offering any type of accommodations for you to utilize? Tablets, laptops, etc.? I know our district is offering the use of a device and internet access if needed. They offered Chromebooks in the fall, but I've heard there's going to be a lot of requests for them this fall, since the setup will be different and more screen time. I'll email someone about that now... the... school committee? Superintendent? They're all probably really tired of hearing from me, ha ha ha. If they are requiring this format, they need to be able to provide the needed support. I would call your school directly. Or find out if there is a number for the IT department.
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Post by ovenrack on Jul 28, 2020 7:49:43 GMT -6
They offered Chromebooks in the fall, but I've heard there's going to be a lot of requests for them this fall, since the setup will be different and more screen time. I'll email someone about that now... the... school committee? Superintendent? They're all probably really tired of hearing from me, ha ha ha. If they are requiring this format, they need to be able to provide the needed support. I would call your school directly. Or find out if there is a number for the IT department. I emailed the help desk. Thanks!
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rugger
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Post by rugger on Jul 28, 2020 7:51:12 GMT -6
ovenrack I can ask S about desktops if you want. I don't know how much he deals with them (over laptops) anyone, but happy to ask. Would the desktop be for H's school work? Yeah, for school work and I'd love for it to double as a place to deal with my photos (real camera, but not specially high-res) - so I'm trying to find something with a lot of storage. But otherwise, super super basic internet access - no need for fancy things for gaming or anything like that. Ok, so he says he pretty much only deals with business-grade purchases, which are $$$. But, he had a few tips: - SSDs (solid state drive) make them fast - some models offer a 1 TB hard drive, which is great for storage of all your photos - he highly recommends cloud backup for your device.
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mapleme
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Post by mapleme on Jul 28, 2020 7:52:51 GMT -6
They offered Chromebooks in the fall, but I've heard there's going to be a lot of requests for them this fall, since the setup will be different and more screen time. I'll email someone about that now... the... school committee? Superintendent? They're all probably really tired of hearing from me, ha ha ha. If they are requiring this format, they need to be able to provide the needed support. I would call your school directly. Or find out if there is a number for the IT department. In the spring our school provided chromebooks to anyone who didn't have a computer that you be primarily for student use and provided a buy-in option for everyone else. This year they are providing them to every remote student. I also heard the superintendent say that there were 10 families in our 4 schools who didn't have adequate internet, so they made that happen as well. ovenrack, I would be surprised if your school wouldn't make them available for everyone, if they offered them in the spring. I can also help you with computers. Do you have a mac or PC preference?
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Post by ovenrack on Jul 28, 2020 8:02:53 GMT -6
If they are requiring this format, they need to be able to provide the needed support. I would call your school directly. Or find out if there is a number for the IT department. In the spring our school provided chromebooks to anyone who didn't have a computer that you be primarily for student use and provided a buy-in option for everyone else. This year they are providing them to every remote student. I also heard the superintendent say that there were 10 families in our 4 schools who didn't have adequate internet, so they made that happen as well. ovenrack , I would be surprised if your school wouldn't make them available for everyone, if they offered them in the spring. I can also help you with computers. Do you have a mac or PC preference? I'm also assuming they will - but it's almost August and we haven't heard any about computers since April. From what I've heard, it takes time to both procure the computers and then outfit and distribute them... I emailed the help desk, but realize he probably doesn't have a 12 month job, so I'm going to ask the Superintendent and school committee next. Anyway. I'm used to a mac, but totally happy to get a desktop PC. I do back to the cloud anyway, but I'd like to have a computer that can handle all my pics.
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Post by rhymeswithdisco on Jul 28, 2020 8:14:46 GMT -6
Your help desk should be year round ovenrack. There are support staff in buildings all year. Also, the IT folks are busiest in the summer while school is out because they are preparing stuff for the fall. My dad worked in the IT department of a large school system. #anecdote
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mapleme
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Post by mapleme on Jul 28, 2020 9:14:28 GMT -6
In the spring our school provided chromebooks to anyone who didn't have a computer that you be primarily for student use and provided a buy-in option for everyone else. This year they are providing them to every remote student. I also heard the superintendent say that there were 10 families in our 4 schools who didn't have adequate internet, so they made that happen as well. ovenrack , I would be surprised if your school wouldn't make them available for everyone, if they offered them in the spring. I can also help you with computers. Do you have a mac or PC preference? I'm also assuming they will - but it's almost August and we haven't heard any about computers since April. From what I've heard, it takes time to both procure the computers and then outfit and distribute them... I emailed the help desk, but realize he probably doesn't have a 12 month job, so I'm going to ask the Superintendent and school committee next. Anyway. I'm used to a mac, but totally happy to get a desktop PC. I do back to the cloud anyway, but I'd like to have a computer that can handle all my pics. A mac is definitely more my wheelhouse, so I'll start with that. If you are interested in a laptop, I highly recommend a refurbished mac. You can get applecare on them and they are a lot cheaper. Here is one that I would recommend: www.apple.com/shop/product/FWTJ2LL/A/refurbished-133-inch-macbook-air-11ghz-dual-core-intel-core-i3-with-retina-display-and-true-tone-technology-space-gray?fnode=321aa871e605a5f7e0f6831d74763ad9e7376f7451bea8039611e26f086ddca8559f383890b2bbfe912a0cebf5524ec3c5758e7cea99c073aefd9ab67347d7fc5a30906698d21109958dded5ffbc93b7That's not a HUGE amount storage space, so here is the cheapest one that I've found with 1T of storage: www.apple.com/shop/product/G0X99LL/A/refurbished-133-inch-macbook-air-12ghz-quad-core-intel-core-i7-with-retina-display-and-true-tone-technology-silver?fnode=321aa871e605a5f7e0f6831d74763ad9e7376f7451bea8039611e26f086ddca8559f383890b2bbfe912a0cebf5524ec3c5758e7cea99c073aefd9ab67347d7fc5a30906698d21109958dded5ffbc93b7Apple doesn't have refurbed desktops, but this is the desktop that I'm planning on getting for production at the cannery: www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1553844-REG/apple_mxnf2ll_a_mac_mini_late_2020.htmlNon-apple monitors are really cheap. Like $150ish I think. BH Photo is also a good place for those
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Post by ovenrack on Jul 28, 2020 10:32:40 GMT -6
Thanks, everyone!
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Post by ovenrack on Jul 28, 2020 10:36:09 GMT -6
Thanks, everyone, and thanks Mapes, I know what to look for now, and maybe I can manage to stay in the Mac world!
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Post by charlotte on Jul 28, 2020 10:42:02 GMT -6
I would like to anecdotally say that I use a Mac laptop with a dell monitor at my desk and it’s great! Then if you need the portability of a laptop in a pinch you can just unplug your laptop from the monitor and go!
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Post by ovenrack on Jul 28, 2020 10:49:19 GMT -6
I have my older laptop and a tablet, so I think it will work to have a true desktop. Remember when (Xennials!) we had family desktops in the corner of the kitchen or living room? Public accountability for your computer use? Well, my family never actually had one, because we had no space in the kitchen. So it was in the guest room. But. Same diff.
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Speedy
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Post by Speedy on Jul 28, 2020 11:42:29 GMT -6
ovenrack, ours was just off of the family room and I got in trouble one night for being up way too late on the computer when my dad randomly came into the kitchen so they wound up turning the internet off at night for a long time XD
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Post by charlotte on Jul 28, 2020 11:55:08 GMT -6
Our computer was in the basement, but my mom would just unplug the keyboard and hide it. 🤣
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