Tlex
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Post by Tlex on Aug 12, 2020 7:56:47 GMT -6
Eh.
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Tlex
Ruby
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Post by Tlex on Aug 12, 2020 7:59:12 GMT -6
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Tlex
Ruby
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Post by Tlex on Aug 12, 2020 8:00:33 GMT -6
I posted this in the August regular thread but this is what’s really keeping me up at night right now
I feel like I am losing steam and losing hope that fLecce and Ford are going to budge. They just love what this crisis can do to our public education system.
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Post by Notarobot on Aug 12, 2020 8:10:29 GMT -6
I posted this in the August regular thread but this is what’s really keeping me up at night right now I feel like I am losing steam and losing hope that fLecce and Ford are going to budge. They just love what this crisis can do to our public education system. Thank you for sharing that - I've gone down the rabbit hole on Twitter thanks to that tweet. I am at the point where I don't believe Lecce or Ford are going to do anything either and I think it's all going to end up online by October anyway. Saw this table about class sizes that helped me think through what you were talking about re: consolidating /photo/1
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Tlex
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Post by Tlex on Aug 12, 2020 8:11:54 GMT -6
I posted this in the August regular thread but this is what’s really keeping me up at night right now I feel like I am losing steam and losing hope that fLecce and Ford are going to budge. They just love what this crisis can do to our public education system. Thank you for sharing that - I've gone down the rabbit hole on Twitter thanks to that tweet. I am at the point where I don't believe Lecce or Ford are going to do anything either and I think it's all going to end up online by October anyway. Saw this table about class sizes that helped me think through what you were talking about re: consolidating /photo/1 That’s a really good visual explainer. Also, makes my breakfast churn.
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Tlex
Ruby
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Post by Tlex on Aug 12, 2020 8:15:55 GMT -6
We were offered a spot for my 18month old at a daycare that is only running it’s toddler program right now. 2 groups of 10 kids:3 educators, each on separate floors of the building, with their own entrances and yards. This is a way better set up than the center we were first offered a spot with, and the first center is not impressing me in other ways already (I have to chase them for info and he’s supposed to start in ~2 weeks? No contract sent to me yet? No proactive communication from them at all). The 2nd center was offering up all the ways they’re keeping staff, kids, and parents safe without me even bringing it up. Much better vibe. It’s a farther walk for us but it’s on the same street my dad lives on, and since he’s also a workaholic-WFH I think he would appreciate helping with pick ups some days as a way to force himself to turn off the computer. I’m just typing this all out because I’m so nervous about sending him at all. It’s a pretty strange time to introduce a kid to daycare for the first time.
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Post by cakewench on Aug 12, 2020 8:33:41 GMT -6
We were offered a spot for my 18month old at a daycare that is only running it’s toddler program right now. 2 groups of 10 kids:3 educators, each on separate floors of the building, with their own entrances and yards. This is a way better set up than the center we were first offered a spot with, and the first center is not impressing me in other ways already (I have to chase them for info and he’s supposed to start in ~2 weeks? No contract sent to me yet? No proactive communication from them at all). The 2nd center was offering up all the ways they’re keeping staff, kids, and parents safe without me even bringing it up. Much better vibe. It’s a farther walk for us but it’s on the same street my dad lives on, and since he’s also a workaholic-WFH I think he would appreciate helping with pick ups some days as a way to force himself to turn off the computer. I’m just typing this all out because I’m so nervous about sending him at all. It’s a pretty strange time to introduce a kid to daycare for the first time. I'm not Canadian, but in a similar boat WRT daycare. We are sending our 2yo back next week - I spoke to our pediatrician and they said really it depends on your relationship with the daycare and how you feel they are handling things. Ours is like the one you describe here, very up front about prevention measures, they've always been great about letting us know about illnesses in general (even before this happened), limited class sizes, so we feel OK sending him back. Obviously still apprehensive, but we know we can pull him back out if we need/want to. Pedi also said to make sure you have a contingency plan since any fever/cold would likely result in a 2-week home stay (at least around here, since test results are taking so long to come back). Long story short, I feel your nervousness but if it helps you feel any better, we're still sending N next week. (And then shampooing the hell out of the carpet because it's taken quite the beating over the last 5 months.)
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valiente
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Post by valiente on Aug 12, 2020 9:01:11 GMT -6
I’m getting ready to send the kids back. We’re just under 4 weeks out from the start of school and that is a lot in Covid-time. I get wanting to run the scenarios but it’s too soon for me to lose sleep over it. I imagine that I’ll be evaluating and re-evaluating options into the Fall.
Maybe I have pandemic fatigue. Prepping for a return to school and “normality” has boosted my morale so I’m keeping at it knowing that the pandemic can evolve differently from what I hope.
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danib
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Post by danib on Aug 12, 2020 9:01:21 GMT -6
Our Province doesn't have a real plan (or just aren't communicating one if they do). There are 3 different scenarios for how school will run based on "risk level" (aka number of cases/community spread), but none of which have options to choose from. We are currently Low Risk, which means schools are fully reopening. You are certainly free to unenroll your child and completely homeschool, but if not it is back to in-person learning, no remote option. They say they will have "something" in place for kids who have to quarantine (due to having a cough/temp/etc, waiting on a test, community tracing, etc), but we don't know what that "something" is. There will be a "hybrid" scenario if we reach Moderate Risk, and full remote if we reach High Risk, but again no details on how they will work. And considering many areas have unreliable internet access, they really need to have this worked out.
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danib
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Post by danib on Aug 12, 2020 9:05:31 GMT -6
Also our Premier just resigned (he actually announced it just before Covid happened but stayed on for a few extra months to get us through). So we now have a brand new Premier, selected by the party, and I have no idea what his plans are with regard to policies that have been put in place during this time.
There's also someone suing the government over the travel ban, which is the only reason we have done so well, and if she wins and the borders open we could end up with a huge surge right before school opens. So that's fantastic.
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emma
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Post by emma on Aug 12, 2020 9:17:34 GMT -6
DS is starting grade 1 full time in 2.5 weeks. The school board just announced that masks will be required for grades 4-12 and optional for k-3. They have a virtual learning option but have said that it will require heavy parental involvement so that's absolutely not an option for us as a 2 working parent household.
Our numbers were doing great and i was so full of hope but then they started to get worse. Finally the city put in a mandatory mask requirement for indoor spaces at the start of Aug so i'm hoping that helps to bring the numbers back down again.
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emma
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Post by emma on Aug 12, 2020 9:32:19 GMT -6
Also i'm hoping that all ::this:: is the final kick in the ass the AB government needs to start to shift from it's economic reliance on oil and gas.
^^will probably never happen but girl can dream
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valiente
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Post by valiente on Aug 12, 2020 9:43:04 GMT -6
DS is starting grade 1 full time in 2.5 weeks. The school board just announced that masks will be required for grades 4-12 and optional for k-3. They have a virtual learning option but have said that it will require heavy parental involvement so that's absolutely not an option for us as a 2 working parent household. Our numbers were doing great and i was so full of hope but then they started to get worse. Finally the city put in a mandatory mask requirement for indoor spaces at the start of Aug so i'm hoping that helps to bring the numbers back down again. Are you going to try sending your S with masks? Mine are starting JK and grade 1 and I could really use some guidance on this because I have questions, e.g. will the kids have support to help them properly take a mask off and put a mask on?
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Tlex
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Post by Tlex on Aug 12, 2020 9:58:24 GMT -6
Also i'm hoping that all ::this:: is the final kick in the ass the AB government needs to start to shift from it's economic reliance on oil and gas. ^^will probably never happen but girl can dream Definitely a dream I share as well.
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Tlex
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Post by Tlex on Aug 12, 2020 9:59:02 GMT -6
valiente sorry I forgot to tag you! I was on my first coffee and I know there are many others I’ve forgotten to tag as well. I love you all I’m so sorry my brain is oatmeal.
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Tlex
Ruby
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Post by Tlex on Aug 12, 2020 10:00:56 GMT -6
Also our Premier just resigned (he actually announced it just before Covid happened but stayed on for a few extra months to get us through). So we now have a brand new Premier, selected by the party, and I have no idea what his plans are with regard to policies that have been put in place during this time. There's also someone suing the government over the travel ban, which is the only reason we have done so well, and if she wins and the borders open we could end up with a huge surge right before school opens. So that's fantastic. So help me if this person wins. How can you be so devoid of moral conscience to place your wishes to cross a border above an outbreak that leads to however many deaths?
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emma
Ruby
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Post by emma on Aug 12, 2020 10:01:44 GMT -6
DS is starting grade 1 full time in 2.5 weeks. The school board just announced that masks will be required for grades 4-12 and optional for k-3. They have a virtual learning option but have said that it will require heavy parental involvement so that's absolutely not an option for us as a 2 working parent household. Our numbers were doing great and i was so full of hope but then they started to get worse. Finally the city put in a mandatory mask requirement for indoor spaces at the start of Aug so i'm hoping that helps to bring the numbers back down again. Are you going to try sending your S with masks? Mine are starting JK and grade 1 and I could really use some guidance on this because I have questions, e.g. will the kids have support to help them properly take a mask off and put a mask on? i'm going to send them with him but i'm on the fence about asking him to wear one. The few times he's been into a store with me he's touched it every 10 seconds and since he never shuts up it constantly slips down under his mouth from all the jaw flapping. He's been in summer camp since the start of July and none of the kids have worn masks, only the adults and it's been fine so far. They may ask him to wear one on the bus though, private after care charter, not public school bus.
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emma
Ruby
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Post by emma on Aug 12, 2020 10:04:14 GMT -6
Also i'm hoping that all ::this:: is the final kick in the ass the AB government needs to start to shift from it's economic reliance on oil and gas. ^^will probably never happen but girl can dream Definitely a dream I share as well. i know i've only been here for 8 months and have next to know knowledge about energy but it seems like the perfect place for renewable energy. I mean it's sunny 99% of the time, it's super windy, and there's a massive seam of geothermal judging by the number of hot springs. I'm like "we could be the next Iceland people!!"
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Tlex
Ruby
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Post by Tlex on Aug 12, 2020 10:06:37 GMT -6
Definitely a dream I share as well. i know i've only been here for 8 months and have next to know knowledge about energy but it seems like the perfect place for renewable energy. I mean it's sunny 99% of the time, it's super windy, and there's a massive seam of geothermal judging by the number of hot springs. I'm like "we could be the next Iceland people!!" Omg had they the will, they most certainly have the way. But green energy is the devil because if you invest in that, clearly you anticipate our non-renewable resources drying up and how can you even acknowledge that! You must hate oil fields workers if you want them to have a future industry to work in when this one dries up........ wait what? Oh. Billionaire narrative strikes again.
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emma
Ruby
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Post by emma on Aug 12, 2020 10:20:02 GMT -6
i know i've only been here for 8 months and have next to know knowledge about energy but it seems like the perfect place for renewable energy. I mean it's sunny 99% of the time, it's super windy, and there's a massive seam of geothermal judging by the number of hot springs. I'm like "we could be the next Iceland people!!" Omg had they the will, they most certainly have the way. But green energy is the devil because if you invest in that, clearly you anticipate our non-renewable resources drying up and how can you even acknowledge that! You must hate oil fields workers if you want them to have a future industry to work in when this one dries up........ wait what? Oh. Billionaire narrative strikes again. how very dare you suggest retraining people to work in a similar yet better more sustainable industry! That's lefty bullshit that won't be tolerated here
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danib
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Post by danib on Aug 12, 2020 10:22:59 GMT -6
Also our Premier just resigned (he actually announced it just before Covid happened but stayed on for a few extra months to get us through). So we now have a brand new Premier, selected by the party, and I have no idea what his plans are with regard to policies that have been put in place during this time. There's also someone suing the government over the travel ban, which is the only reason we have done so well, and if she wins and the borders open we could end up with a huge surge right before school opens. So that's fantastic. So help me if this person wins. How can you be so devoid of moral conscience to place your wishes to cross a border above an outbreak that leads to however many deaths? The worst of it is she was actually granted an exception after she challenged it (wanted to come for a funeral) but still would have had to isolate for 14 days upon arrival, then chose not to come because it took too long, and is suing "out of principle". Our Province has a very high aging population, as well as some of the highest rates of obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease. Covid could very literally wipe out a huge portion of our province if left unchecked.
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valiente
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Post by valiente on Aug 12, 2020 11:19:00 GMT -6
valiente sorry I forgot to tag you! I was on my first coffee and I know there are many others I’ve forgotten to tag as well. I love you all I’m so sorry my brain is oatmeal. No worries. Thanks for starting the thread
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hangry
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Post by hangry on Aug 12, 2020 12:14:20 GMT -6
Ontarian here! I did not know that about class sizes Tlex! I was just saying to a neighbor yesterday that we will probably be fine sending our kids because of how many people will likely hold their kids out. Guess I’ll have to correct that. I will have a grade 1 and JKer and I will probably send them with masks but with low expectations. Are there any studies that say that minimal use (2 of 5 hours) versus no use, is better or worse for risk of virus exposure? Like, if my kid wears it for 2 hours, is he giving himself some protection? Or is all the touching and on/off more of a risk?
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jorkzy
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Post by jorkzy on Aug 12, 2020 12:24:13 GMT -6
Also i'm hoping that all ::this:: is the final kick in the ass the AB government needs to start to shift from it's economic reliance on oil and gas. ^^will probably never happen but girl can dream Lollllllll Why diversify when you can just cut social services?? #bootstraps
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emma
Ruby
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Post by emma on Aug 12, 2020 12:28:04 GMT -6
Also i'm hoping that all ::this:: is the final kick in the ass the AB government needs to start to shift from it's economic reliance on oil and gas. ^^will probably never happen but girl can dream Lollllllll Why diversify when you can just cut social services?? #bootstraps people would have to switch out their I ❤️ oil and gas car wraps
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jorkzy
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Post by jorkzy on Aug 12, 2020 12:29:20 GMT -6
Tlex not sure if this helps, but my toddler (19.5 months now) has been in daycare since they were allowed to reopen in mid-April (both my h and I are essential in-person workers). It’s been super similar to experiences with daycare with my older 2. Like they started out with a ton of restrictions and it was fine (10 kids per room, 2-3 teachers, cohosting families so the rooms were multi age) but since we went to phase 2, it’s just regular daycare except parents have to wear masks and there’s a screening form and temp every morning. He’s had 1 non-Covid cold that he shared with me. I thought it would be this big anxiety-inducing experience with kids and teachers in hazmats suits but they’ve been super cognizant of providing a good environment for the kids so it’s really, truly, been totally fine. And he’s at the age where he doesn’t know that it’s different that I’m wearing a mask to pick him up and drop him off.
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jorkzy
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Post by jorkzy on Aug 12, 2020 12:35:20 GMT -6
As for school, my kids are going back in person. Our district is offering in-school, at home guided learning (parent-driven; teachers only mark assignments), or withdraw and homeschool.
Spring home learning was an absolute disaster for my kids and at one point I was super concerned about the 9yo developing depression. And if we go back to home learning, I’ll have to take an LOA from work or the 6yo won’t learn anything (again) because he was in daycare full time last time. Adding schoolwork to busy evenings and weekends is just... hard.
So anyways, my hope is the roll out goes just fine and they relax things a bit with time. Sort of like how everyone was so worried about daycares opening but there haven’t been any outbreaks in that’s strong that I’m aware of.
Maybe that’s naive of me but that’s also been our daycare experience so I’m holding our hope. Kids are going into grades 2 and 4 and the rule here is masking for all grades. I think they’ll get used to it just like I did when we moved to co to yours masking at work. It becomes normal.
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danib
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Post by danib on Aug 12, 2020 12:38:01 GMT -6
Ontarian here! I did not know that about class sizes Tlex! I was just saying to a neighbor yesterday that we will probably be fine sending our kids because of how many people will likely hold their kids out. Guess I’ll have to correct that. I will have a grade 1 and JKer and I will probably send them with masks but with low expectations. Are there any studies that say that minimal use (2 of 5 hours) versus no use, is better or worse for risk of virus exposure? Like, if my kid wears it for 2 hours, is he giving himself some protection? Or is all the touching and on/off more of a risk? I read an article just the other day that was talking about wearing masks in public and taking it off to eat/drink. They said that the amount of time wearing it is reducing risk, so wearing it most of the time is better than not wearing it at all. Reduction of risk is better than doing nothing. However that was speaking to people wearing them appropriately and removing them using proper hygiene etc. A kid picking at it, adjusting it, possibly touching it all over before/after touching other surfaces, etc would likely be more of a risk based on how much they stress proper handling (our government literally put out a tutorial on it).
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hangry
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Post by hangry on Aug 12, 2020 18:01:22 GMT -6
Ontarian here! I did not know that about class sizes Tlex! I was just saying to a neighbor yesterday that we will probably be fine sending our kids because of how many people will likely hold their kids out. Guess I’ll have to correct that. I will have a grade 1 and JKer and I will probably send them with masks but with low expectations. Are there any studies that say that minimal use (2 of 5 hours) versus no use, is better or worse for risk of virus exposure? Like, if my kid wears it for 2 hours, is he giving himself some protection? Or is all the touching and on/off more of a risk? I read an article just the other day that was talking about wearing masks in public and taking it off to eat/drink. They said that the amount of time wearing it is reducing risk, so wearing it most of the time is better than not wearing it at all. Reduction of risk is better than doing nothing. However that was speaking to people wearing them appropriately and removing them using proper hygiene etc. A kid picking at it, adjusting it, possibly touching it all over before/after touching other surfaces, etc would likely be more of a risk based on how much they stress proper handling (our government literally put out a tutorial on it). Yea, that makes sense. Masks aren’t required under grade 4 right now and I know my kids can’t keep them properly on for the full day. I was hoping at least some time on would help them. I realize this is basically unknown for everyone.
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hippo
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Post by hippo on Aug 12, 2020 19:02:36 GMT -6
Right now I’m stuck in between “can’t wait for in person school to start” and “this is surely going to be a disaster”. September 2 seems so close and yet so far away at this point knowing how quickly things can change.
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