nikkipal
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Post by nikkipal on Aug 14, 2020 9:32:54 GMT -6
We are a week and a half into virtual first grade, and our schedule is pretty much:
Two in person Zoom meetings a day, 30 min each 1 Domain video (whatever topic they’re covering for that unit), about 5-10 minutes 1 math lesson with workbook pages or computer test 1 skills (reading/writing) lesson with workbook pages. This week we also had to do a video of her reading a story, and that was rough and took forever (she struggles with reading) 1 Spanish lesson daily (usually a video (at least 15 minutes long) and then a song, and sometimes an assignment or video of her speaking Special- there are 5 specials plus library (so far a book read aloud) a week, so we try to do one a day
This is a lot, to me. Particularly for two people who are also wfh to tackle. No idea how single parents or families with multiple children are doing it. This week and next week, MIL is staying with us to help while I’m working.
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mapleme
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Post by mapleme on Aug 18, 2020 19:28:44 GMT -6
I'm so f**king stressed about this. We have 3 families lined up for our pod and 3 other families that (for independent reasons) decided not to participate. We lost our hopeful teacher (which we thought would happen because she was holding out for a public school offer). At least one family doesn't want to do it unless we have at least 4 families (ideally 5). We have a bunch of possible teacher interviews, but that means nothing if we can't line up the kids.
I need this to work so badly. DH may have to go to Canada for a month or more for his father. I cannot weather 5 hour school days and a bakery move and the largest growth we've ever had by myself. And that's if schools don't have to close and children don't get sick and we don't have to quarantine for 2 weeks because of possible exposure. And in no way would I keep DH home from being with his father or even imply that I wouldn't be able to manage without him. I'm sure that I could rally or hire some kind of support with the kids if DH has to leave, but that all goes to shit if we have to quarantine.
I just need this to work.
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Speedy
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Post by Speedy on Aug 18, 2020 19:55:45 GMT -6
mapleme , I'm sorry you're struggling so hard. I hope you're able to get something sorted out
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rugger
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Post by rugger on Aug 18, 2020 20:11:04 GMT -6
We made it through our first day! I need to set up calendar reminders for each kid. They both have WebEx meetings a couple times a day, but they're like 10min apart, so I can't keep track easily.
R did well, but didn't know what to do with herself between meetings, after she finished an assignment. A did fine. She struggled with the video calls when they went past 15min, but otherwise did well with her couple assignments.
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Post by ovenrack on Aug 19, 2020 5:48:20 GMT -6
Hugs, Mapes. I hope you find another family and teacher ASAP.
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Post by rhymeswithdisco on Aug 19, 2020 7:40:17 GMT -6
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milano
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Post by milano on Aug 19, 2020 8:02:43 GMT -6
J's first reply when I told him we were doing K at home and he would have his own computer was "BUT MOM I DON'T KNOW HOW TO TYPE OR USE A COMPUTER!" with legit panic in his eyes,
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milano
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Post by milano on Aug 25, 2020 11:49:14 GMT -6
J startS school Monday, and I still have zero info. I did pick up his laptop last week but it came with no information either so I can't even log onto it yet. Supposedly packets are getting mailed out but this is cutting it pretty close!
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tj
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Post by tj on Aug 25, 2020 14:50:03 GMT -6
J startS school Monday, and I still have zero info. I did pick up his laptop last week but it came with no information either so I can't even log onto it yet. Supposedly packets are getting mailed out but this is cutting it pretty close! Well my friend. We are on our 2nd week of hybrid and we also don’t have any info. And I already lost my shit and sent the kids upstairs and declared school over for the day. I can’t do this y’all. I just really can’t. P can’t read nor does she even know her numbers or letter sounds. She won’t do anything she just sits at the table and cries. I have to literally hold her hand and say ok now let’s draw a p. You can do it. We can do it together. It’s ok don’t cry mommy will help you. And you know what? Fuck you mommy can’t help bc mommy is supposed to be working but instead we’re all crying and I can’t do this. Not only is P going to suffer greatly from all this, but they are also doing to hate me bc I’m the worst mom ever. Never mind that I will probably get fired bc I have done 0 work today.
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stringy
Opal
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Post by stringy on Aug 25, 2020 15:10:33 GMT -6
J startS school Monday, and I still have zero info. I did pick up his laptop last week but it came with no information either so I can't even log onto it yet. Supposedly packets are getting mailed out but this is cutting it pretty close! Well my friend. We are on our 2nd week of hybrid and we also don’t have any info. And I already lost my shit and sent the kids upstairs and declared school over for the day. I can’t do this y’all. I just really can’t. P can’t read nor does she even know her numbers or letter sounds. She won’t do anything she just sits at the table and cries. I have to literally hold her hand and say ok now let’s draw a p. You can do it. We can do it together. It’s ok don’t cry mommy will help you. And you know what? Fuck you mommy can’t help bc mommy is supposed to be working but instead we’re all crying and I can’t do this. Not only is P going to suffer greatly from all this, but they are also doing to hate me bc I’m the worst mom ever. Never mind that I will probably get fired bc I have done 0 work today. Ugh TJ that sounds miserable. what are they expecting of parents on home hybrid days?
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nikkipal
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Post by nikkipal on Aug 25, 2020 15:43:14 GMT -6
tj, I don’t want to sound trite, but it will get better. You’ll get a routine and hit a groove and make it work. I feel you on the work thing— I just try to remind myself that it’s not just me, people all over the country are dealing with this mess. Some expectations are going to have to be tempered. Right now it really sucks a lot. I’m sorry.
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Post by charlotte on Aug 25, 2020 15:44:31 GMT -6
Well school starts in in 36 hours and I’m still sitting here debating if I should quit my job and miserably homeschool. No option feels right. It all feels terribly wrong and impossible in so many diff ways. 😞
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tj
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Post by tj on Aug 25, 2020 16:14:40 GMT -6
Well my friend. We are on our 2nd week of hybrid and we also don’t have any info. And I already lost my shit and sent the kids upstairs and declared school over for the day. I can’t do this y’all. I just really can’t. P can’t read nor does she even know her numbers or letter sounds. She won’t do anything she just sits at the table and cries. I have to literally hold her hand and say ok now let’s draw a p. You can do it. We can do it together. It’s ok don’t cry mommy will help you. And you know what? Fuck you mommy can’t help bc mommy is supposed to be working but instead we’re all crying and I can’t do this. Not only is P going to suffer greatly from all this, but they are also doing to hate me bc I’m the worst mom ever. Never mind that I will probably get fired bc I have done 0 work today. Ugh TJ that sounds miserable. what are they expecting of parents on home hybrid days? I don’t know what they “expect” because they aren’t communicating shit. But I can’t log into anything bc I don’t have the codes. But apparently every assignment is in a different app on a different platform. P has paper packets right now but can’t do them by herself bc she can’t read and oh yeah didn’t learn this shit last year bc they weren’t in school. But don’t worry bc they are taking attendance virtually so they can get that govt paycheck for attendance. 🤦🏼♀️🤦🏼♀️🤦🏼♀️
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tj
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Post by tj on Aug 25, 2020 16:16:08 GMT -6
tj, I don’t want to sound trite, but it will get better. You’ll get a routine and hit a groove and make it work. I feel you on the work thing— I just try to remind myself that it’s not just me, people all over the country are dealing with this mess. Some expectations are going to have to be tempered. Right now it really sucks a lot. I’m sorry. So just as a historical note, it never got better last year. And my kids learned nothing and I almost died. So I don’t feel like it’ll get better can be a truth for me.
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nikkipal
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Post by nikkipal on Aug 25, 2020 16:20:44 GMT -6
tj, I don’t want to sound trite, but it will get better. You’ll get a routine and hit a groove and make it work. I feel you on the work thing— I just try to remind myself that it’s not just me, people all over the country are dealing with this mess. Some expectations are going to have to be tempered. Right now it really sucks a lot. I’m sorry. So just as a historical note, it never got better last year. And my kids learned nothing and I almost died. So I don’t feel like it’ll get better can be a truth for me. This is fair. I’m sorry.
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Post by ovenrack on Aug 25, 2020 16:33:21 GMT -6
tj , I don’t want to sound trite, but it will get better. You’ll get a routine and hit a groove and make it work. I feel you on the work thing— I just try to remind myself that it’s not just me, people all over the country are dealing with this mess. Some expectations are going to have to be tempered. Right now it really sucks a lot. I’m sorry. So just as a historical note, it never got better last year. And my kids learned nothing and I almost died. So I don’t feel like it’ll get better can be a truth for me. I'm such an asshole for not remembering. Is P in first grade? H can't read much either, and I feel like leaving 3/4 through K really screwed him up. I just found some of his papers from school in March and his handwriting was, like, a zillion times better. Ugh.
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tj
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Post by tj on Aug 25, 2020 16:43:52 GMT -6
So just as a historical note, it never got better last year. And my kids learned nothing and I almost died. So I don’t feel like it’ll get better can be a truth for me. I'm such an asshole for not remembering. Is P in first grade? H can't read much either, and I feel like leaving 3/4 through K really screwed him up. I just found some of his papers from school in March and his handwriting was, like, a zillion times better. Ugh. Yes, first. Not an asshole.
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milano
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Post by milano on Aug 25, 2020 17:58:12 GMT -6
Ugh tj I'm so sorry you're dealing with all of that. It does sound nearly impossible. How many hours of work does P have a day? Is it something that could be done later in the afternoon instead?
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tj
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Post by tj on Aug 25, 2020 18:17:00 GMT -6
Ugh tj I'm so sorry you're dealing with all of that. It does sound nearly impossible. How many hours of work does P have a day? Is it something that could be done later in the afternoon instead? Maybe? But the thing is that she won’t even try for us. It doesn’t matter whether a it’s mh or me or her sister. If we push or handhold or threaten or coddle or reward. She just sits there saying I can’t and crying. She complies like an angel at school. She has been this way since preschool.
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mapleme
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Post by mapleme on Aug 25, 2020 18:27:54 GMT -6
Well. We have decided to "pause" the microschool pod because we don't have enough kids. So we're headed for in-person school starting on the 8th. All of the microschool families have said that we want to be a resource for each other for shutdowns, but all three of our kids are in different class pods. So, that doesn't mean much unless we fully shut down. And if we fully shut down it will be because case load is too high. And if case load is too high we can't be getting together with other families. So. Here we are. DH has basically pledged to take on the entirety of the school load. The 1 pm pick ups, all planned holidays and all of the unplanned closures as well. That's literally not possible for him and he will crack. So I have to figure out some totally new plan to take some of that off of him. Somehow.
And thinking forward, because that's what I do, if our best case scenario of a super shitty and awful year turns into our worst case scenario and one of us, or one of our contacts gets sick or worse, I'm not sure that future me will be able to forgive current me. Current me should have tried just a little bit harder to save that life. I'm really, really good at making the impossible possible, so I don't think that future me will be able to forgive current me for not making this impossible possible.
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Post by ovenrack on Aug 25, 2020 19:18:30 GMT -6
Well. We have decided to "pause" the microschool pod because we don't have enough kids. So we're headed for in-person school starting on the 8th. All of the microschool families have said that we want to be a resource for each other for shutdowns, but all three of our kids are in different class pods. So, that doesn't mean much unless we fully shut down. And if we fully shut down it will be because case load is too high. And if case load is too high we can't be getting together with other families. So. Here we are. DH has basically pledged to take on the entirety of the school load. The 1 pm pick ups, all planned holidays and all of the unplanned closures as well. That's literally not possible for him and he will crack. So I have to figure out some totally new plan to take some of that off of him. Somehow. And thinking forward, because that's what I do, if our best case scenario of a super shitty and awful year turns into our worst case scenario and one of us, or one of our contacts gets sick or worse, I'm not sure that future me will be able to forgive current me. Current me should have tried just a little bit harder to save that life. I'm really, really good at making the impossible possible, so I don't think that future me will be able to forgive current me for not making this impossible possible. Are your kids in the same grade? Is there any way to request that they're in the same class pods?
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mapleme
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Post by mapleme on Aug 25, 2020 19:37:30 GMT -6
Well. We have decided to "pause" the microschool pod because we don't have enough kids. So we're headed for in-person school starting on the 8th. All of the microschool families have said that we want to be a resource for each other for shutdowns, but all three of our kids are in different class pods. So, that doesn't mean much unless we fully shut down. And if we fully shut down it will be because case load is too high. And if case load is too high we can't be getting together with other families. So. Here we are. DH has basically pledged to take on the entirety of the school load. The 1 pm pick ups, all planned holidays and all of the unplanned closures as well. That's literally not possible for him and he will crack. So I have to figure out some totally new plan to take some of that off of him. Somehow. And thinking forward, because that's what I do, if our best case scenario of a super shitty and awful year turns into our worst case scenario and one of us, or one of our contacts gets sick or worse, I'm not sure that future me will be able to forgive current me. Current me should have tried just a little bit harder to save that life. I'm really, really good at making the impossible possible, so I don't think that future me will be able to forgive current me for not making this impossible possible. Are your kids in the same grade? Is there any way to request that they're in the same class pods? They are in the same grade, but I don't think so about the pod. They've already said that they're not taking requests and it *might* have been possible a month of so ago when they were deciding to re-shuffle the classes because of kids leaving for virtual learning. But they're set now. We're supposed to get contact information for folks in our pod in the next couple days. Every family that I know that I've asked is in a different class, but I'm hoping that we'll get some kids that we know in M's class.
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Post by ovenrack on Aug 25, 2020 19:40:32 GMT -6
I'm so sorry. They're trying to keep kids who have social connections outside of school together, here, because they know parents will HAVE to send their kids to other places for after school childcare, or during-school small remote learning groups. But they're probably being extra careful about that here because honestly, it's only a matter of time until cases here rise again. Not if they will.
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sarenu
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Post by sarenu on Aug 25, 2020 20:10:33 GMT -6
Ugh tj I'm so sorry you're dealing with all of that. It does sound nearly impossible. How many hours of work does P have a day? Is it something that could be done later in the afternoon instead? Maybe? But the thing is that she won’t even try for us. It doesn’t matter whether a it’s mh or me or her sister. If we push or handhold or threaten or coddle or reward. She just sits there saying I can’t and crying. She complies like an angel at school. She has been this way since preschool. I'm having flashbacks to my spring with C. The only thing that has helped him is pushing Elephant and Piggie books and doing flash cards for site words. We rinse and repeat. We are still struggling to catch up as well.
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mapleme
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Post by mapleme on Aug 25, 2020 20:18:20 GMT -6
Maybe? But the thing is that she won’t even try for us. It doesn’t matter whether a it’s mh or me or her sister. If we push or handhold or threaten or coddle or reward. She just sits there saying I can’t and crying. She complies like an angel at school. She has been this way since preschool. I'm having flashbacks to my spring with C. The only thing that has helped him is pushing Elephant and Piggie books and doing flash cards for site words. We rinse and repeat. We are still struggling to catch up as well. M LOVES Elephant and Piggie. I think someone here recommended it as an early reader. I mentioned that to M and she was ON THAT.
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mapleme
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Post by mapleme on Aug 25, 2020 20:22:58 GMT -6
I'm so sorry. They're trying to keep kids who have social connections outside of school together, here, because they know parents will HAVE to send their kids to other places for after school childcare, or during-school small remote learning groups. But they're probably being extra careful about that here because honestly, it's only a matter of time until cases here rise again. Not if they will. Our district seems to be ignoring that part of the puzzle. Our neighboring district (where the other two parents in the microschool teach) are telling families to not get together outside of school. They're operating with a hybrid schedule, so that is just utter ridiculousness. There is a local gymnastics place that JUST announced that they're running a virtual school for kids to do their school's virtual program there. They're keeping the program to 8 kids and it would have cost about the same as our microschool. But we can't switch to virtual at this point. So.
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tj
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Post by tj on Aug 25, 2020 20:39:21 GMT -6
Maybe? But the thing is that she won’t even try for us. It doesn’t matter whether a it’s mh or me or her sister. If we push or handhold or threaten or coddle or reward. She just sits there saying I can’t and crying. She complies like an angel at school. She has been this way since preschool. I'm having flashbacks to my spring with C. The only thing that has helped him is pushing Elephant and Piggie books and doing flash cards for site words. We rinse and repeat. We are still struggling to catch up as well. P just stares at flash cards and says I don’t know. If you try to push or encourage or ask her to sound it out, she just cries. To be clear, she CAN do some of these things. She just won’t. I’ve seen her do double digit addition and subtraction on the iPad. But she won’t count past 10 for me. Edit: I will look for elephant and piggie though. I’ve heard a lot about it.
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sarenu
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Post by sarenu on Aug 25, 2020 21:47:37 GMT -6
I'm having flashbacks to my spring with C. The only thing that has helped him is pushing Elephant and Piggie books and doing flash cards for site words. We rinse and repeat. We are still struggling to catch up as well. P just stares at flash cards and says I don’t know. If you try to push or encourage or ask her to sound it out, she just cries. To be clear, she CAN do some of these things. She just won’t. I’ve seen her do double digit addition and subtraction on the iPad. But she won’t count past 10 for me. Edit: I will look for elephant and piggie though. I’ve heard a lot about it. We liked: I am Going Pigs Make Me Sneeze They use a ton of sight words and repeat a lot. Plus there are sound words which C loves. And you can even use letter size to emphasize how loud or soft to be. Good luck. I can always tell when C has checked out. He does the same and says I dont know or will stare at the letter when I know he can make the sound. 🤷♀️ And we started "Is there Something on My Head" the other night. That one seems to be pretty fun as well.
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Post by violajack on Aug 26, 2020 6:08:59 GMT -6
tj, can you ask the teacher for some time to meet with you and P together to do a lesson, so you can see how the teacher explains and asks for information? In my experience, teachers are just plain teachers at heart and would be just as happy to teach you how to help with reading as they are to teach reading directly to the kids. I don't know if that would work with everyone's schedule, or if you have the time or headspace to do it, but maybe? Something I tell myself over and over as a teacher - behavior is communication. I often find that defiant behavior in lessons is linked to fear of mistakes, or the inability to articulate that they don't understand things, or what exactly they don't understand. Another behavior is a avoidance - I had a boy in my fourth grade violin class that would often ask to go to the bathroom in the middle of class. I let him, because I knew for him, it was really about taking a quiet walk to think through all the work we had just done. His brain was full and he needed space. He would come back and easily be able to do what we were working on. I know for me, even now, the anxiety that builds up before something I don't want to do compounds itself the longer I put it off. As I've gotten older, I've gotten better at just pushing past it right away. But I know as a kid, it would get really bad and there was no way I could push through. I would guess this is some of what's going on also, and why it devolves into tears. Sometimes kids do know things, but the context in which they're asked to recall or "perform" their knowledge can really mess things up for them. Is she nervous to "perform" for you? Anxious? Worried? Hungry? Wiggly? Overstimulated? If it's "performance anxiety" one thing I've found helps is setting up silly situations and changing the context. Can she read her sight-words in the bathroom? In the kitchen? While standing on a chair? While upside down? Will she read to her stuffies? Or count to them? Can she call you on the phone from another room and count stuff? Does she have collections of small toys that can be used as math manipulatives? These are my some of my go-tos to get violin students practicing, and I recognize that this is all highly labor intensive on the parent part and you may not have time to try this stuff while also working. I'm going to try to keep thinking of things that may be more compatible with also working.
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milano
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Post by milano on Aug 26, 2020 7:06:32 GMT -6
School announces today via FB that zoom meet the teachers is tomorrow. They tell us to select our kid's teacher to see how to login for the call.
I have no idea which teacher my kid has so how am I supposed to do this?
I know I can just call the office. And I will. But every single thing so far for this school year has just seemed so poorly organized and it's frustrating. I *know* this is all new and different. But surely expecting 1200+ parents to call the office to find our their kid's teacher can't be the plan?! They didn't even clearly convey where we were supposed to pick up the laptops last week which resulted in me driving around for 20 min trying to find the right place because the instructions weren't clear. Just tell me what I need to do with clear instructions. That is not hard to do.
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