I’m not sure how other countries or even other US states are handling this but where I am, parents are being given the option of sending their children back to school or doing online. Due to the COVID -19 issues.
Personally, I have talked this over with my son and we both agree to do online. I have kept him healthy and safe through all of this. Even with me being an essintial worker and being exposed to so much. The cases here are rising again and I’m not willing to risk it.
It’s funny how I can run head first into dangers everyday but when it comes to my son, i step back and think about it.
I do see the plus side of going to school. We all need interaction with other people especially our own peers. And learn how life is outside of a protective home. Learn how to handle life problems.
So I’ve never pushed wanting to home school or anything. But with current events as they are. I am taking the online option. My son asked me about it first and I thought it over. And I do feel like it is the best option at this time.
But for you parents , have you decided one way or the other and why? There is no right or wrong answer. I’m trying to see how other parents feel about it.
Speaking as a student: online school can either be the best thing ever or total a$$…and unfortunately, only your son can tell you which one it is in his case.
Ideally, that should be the deciding factor here, being miserable over an easily survivable virus isnt the best choice for a student.
If possible, have him take the antibody test, so if online school really does suck, and he decides to go back to “real” school, you will know whether or not you really need to care about covid.
I pulled my kids from public schools long before the pandemic hit. Academically wise, they have improved greatly. They are no longer distracted by bullying or pestered with another nuisances such as lice and the sicknesses that pass through the halls every year.
Yes, public schools do provide a teaching ground for what life is like outside of the home. However, our society seems to have forgotten that there is much a child can learn from watching their parents. Touch up base with them often, show them the life skills you had to learn growing up the best you can. Show them how you carry yourself with the social interactions of the world through your friends, neighbors, strangers, etc. Kids can be more percieved than we often give them credit for.
I think talking with your son about it was a good call and was an example of discussion and compromise, both important for future social interactions.
What you have to understand is the school will do temp checks before you get on the bus, when you get off the bus, before you go into school and the masks… Like its not gonna be the usual going to school everyone thinks. It’s going to be draining to do all that all day with every class.
My parents never asked how I felt about anything. It was always because I said so and do as your told.
I’ve always wanted my children to know they have a voice and they can speak up about how they feel. I may or may not agree but I will always take the time to listen and hear how they feel. And together we can make the best choices.
Obviously there are times as a parent you just have to tell them no or not allow something. But as long as it is something that can be discussed and reach an agreement together i would much rather do that. In the long run we will both be happier and satisfied with the choice.
And since this case is by semester if at Christmas he says this isn’t working out or I see it isn’t working out, we can make changes and he can finish the year in school.
I’m in a harder place. My daughter is severely autistic and has a special school she goes to. When it closed and they sent packets it was near impossible to get her to do. It got to point I had to take and make her sit in a room with nothing but me and work even then it was bad. I have internet but the only laptop that would be capable to try and do online for her is broke.
I’m severely on the fence but her classroom size would be small. That said they all have “disability” so how do you go about that? It’s a Wtf do I do thing for me.
I understand, a friend of mine has a child that is autistic and he needs the school so much as well with the special trained teachers. I can completely understand.
I had a learning disability in math. So I if my son had any type of math problems I know I would not be any help. But he’s in high school and does well. I know my biggest problem will just be getting him to stay motivated to do the work.
My two daughters went to school with no problems and like me my oldest had a learning disability in math so she did go to school and get that extra help .
My middle daughter did very well in school and got accepted in to a private law school for college.
So I can see it from all angles. It’s not an easy choice any way you do it.
We had hardly no cases hear until everything reopened. So that is my concern with school. Just opening the restaurants and stuff and our numbers spiked alot. From almost none to the hospital having like 21 cases, and this is a small town so that’s alot.
The school district is currently giving our kids/parents a choice - but have a contingency plan in case the choice gets taken away. They are also doing zoom meetings with the community and revising the plan frequently. I still get their voicemails and plans for some reason lol. Not that it bothers me, my daughter always seems to prefer talking about the Messages with me so at least I know what’s going on.
My daughter wants to go back to school, even if the social distancing rules or enforcement of them is ridiculous. We did private school for a while, then two years of homeschool, and they only just went back to public school two years ago. She enjoyed private school, but even with scholarships and such the cost, distance and she’s older than the grades available now anyways. She hated being home for school before though, her dad has a tendency to make both kids do more chores and farm work if they are home all the time, and between being rather shy And him having super strict rules even before COVID about people coming over or her going elsewhere… she just wants to be able to go to school and have a reason to care about how she looks and all that.
I understand her and if I get my court issues worked out in time to support her on the decision I will.
My son hasn’t outright said, but I think he’s a mix between hating school, so homeschool gets him off the hook for a lot of it, and doing much better under actual instruction because the online classes this year have been sorta a joke. The kids are having a harder time asking questions when they don’t understand and sometimes the teachers just don’t notice the raised hand icon. Plus it’s easier for my son to not pay attention and say he was and the teacher didn’t know he didn’t understand lol. So I’m thinking honestly he should go back too, and he’s a social butterfly so I’m sure he’d hate it and be happy about it at the same time. He has adhd, so he doesn’t get special classes being as it’s a behavioral disability in their mind and doesn’t directly affect his ability to learn- but his lack of focus and caring and choices sure do affect his ability to learn! They do let him have a yoga ball to sit on, and make other reasonable attempts to help him be distracted while focused so, there are pluses for that as well.
Told my daughter, well be smart. Wash your hands. Keep a reasonable distance, wear the masks and like she said if she still gets it well must have been meant to be.
I was surprised my son wanted online school because he is very active in his drama club at school. But he came to me about the online schooling. I’m divorced but I know my kids used to go to school to get away from their dad who is overly strict.
That was alot of the reason my middle daughter stayed at school and the public library so much.
But that issue isnt a problem anymore.
We will see how this first semester goes. He may decides he wants back in. Drama club was a big part of school for him last year.
Here in Hawaii, they’re really struggling. Their schools sucked to begin with. Online learning was simply thought of as an additional homework thing. So, COVID came along like a tsunami.
My son’s school is trying a split physical/virtual system, but can’t seem to give details about how the online stuff will go. Since Hawaii is OCONUS, we really have to look at American schools that cater to worldwide audiences. Cheapest of these is $5K/ year. And I’m not convinced it’s not just going to put the majority of the work on my wife. She’s good at what she does for a living, but that isn’t science and math, nor does it involve a lot of critical thinking with similar subjects.
I don’t think my wife can handle the harder science-based topics. With an 8 hr workday and a 2.5 hour commute, my time to help will be limited.to when he’s already struggled with it for most of the day. I don’t think there are good answers with this one.
I, personally, want him to go to school. Even though I just got COVID tested yesterday.
Ah well even if she’s super smart with all the topics, I struggled helping my kids because they use different methods to get the same answers than what I was taught.
One would think that if the answer was the same, and you show how you got there, it would be acceptable. I’ve learned time and time again I’m better off to be like sorry, I have no flipping idea and can’t figure out what they are showing you to do because it’s so much more complicated than carry the one and divide by pie. ( just weird thrown together examples) I’ve actually had both kids get zeros on math papers I helped with because the answer was right and the method was wrong. Luckily my daughter is super smart and doesn’t actually need help with math anymore, even though it’s her weakest subject. She managed to scrape out of eighth grade with a 97 in math which was devastating to her because had over a 100 in her other classes.
The other thing is it is difficult. Even with online school they still needed constant tech support from me, the internet we had was the best we could get to our home, but it still wasn’t great, the school sometimes had issues broadcasting classes or kids couldn’t get into the classes randomly and all sorts of things. And that was when it was a school thst was entirely online, designed to be done at home. The school district has had its share of issues, but at least they were entirely physical instruction and this venture is new to them.
The other thing is my kids both still had homework after online classes, still needed help with tech stuff and homework after classes, so it truly was quite a chore.
I’m sure it’s not so difficult for everyone everywhere- but our experience was- it was a lot of work for me and they weren’t happy at all. It felt like all I did was school stuff and house stuff and anything else wasn’t gonna happen lol.
It is quite a chore. I can usually follow along with his lessons and how they want the work shown and adapt to it, but my wife can’t. She’s the one that will get questioned by him about it. It adds a lot more stress to the whole situation. It’s partly why I want him to go for 2 days a week.
Yeah sounds like it would help. I know I’m not stupid but without having someone to show me, some of it just felt impossible. I’m glad you care about how it will affect her, because honestly that was the unexpected and hardest part for me. I love my kids dearly but never having a minute to myself was awful lol. I’d be stressed out all the time, and I know it affected my attitude towards my kids and ex husband, so it just wasn’t good for me at all and didn’t seem to be good for them either.
