Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Ask HN: Parents, what are you doing for school this fall?

news.ycombinator.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

181–190 of 190 posts

Re: Ask HN: Parents, what are you doing for school this fall?

#181

Post by mcv »

burfog wrote: post #174
mcv wrote: post #173

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think you've got this exactly backwards. We have already seen what not teaching people about this leads to: a continuation of the racism. Kids get taught racism, consciously and unconsciously, intentionally and unintentionally. By default, we tend to reinforce the patterns we see. We need more awareness of the old patterns in order to change them. Of course you shouldn't teach them self-hate, depression and that so…

That just isn't how humans learn. You think you are teaching to not hate, but they learn that hate is normal. They want to be normal. You teach that diversity is important, but they learn that they are the undesirables or that they don't have to try in life. Just focusing on the differences puts them on different teams, and thus in opposition. It won't be otherwise. We have seen what teaching people about this leads…

Teaching not to hate is hard to do. Instead, teach everybody is different, and that that is normal. Teach them that people have different looks, different backgrounds, different religions, different believes and personal convictions, and that that is normal. Expose kids to those differences, so they won't see different people as Other.

Don't make it an us-vs-them thing, but unite them. Let them embrace those differences.

Re: Ask HN: Parents, what are you doing for school this fall?

#182

Post by MontagFTB »

westondeboer wrote: post #134
MontagFTB wrote: post #60

Our school district is 100% distance learning for now. If you find yourself in a similar situation, here are some tips we have found helpful, especially for our 2nd grader: 1) Print out the daily/weekly schedule for the student, and put it up on the wall somewhere. This is one less tab they have to keep open and refer to constantly. Also, a second copy helps parents keep on top of the kids schedule. A color printer h…

Which headphones did you go with?

We went with the "Bopmen Computer Headset with Microphone" (wired, not wireless). So far so good.

Re: Ask HN: Parents, what are you doing for school this fall?

#183

Post by whafro »

HaloZero wrote: post #152
whafro wrote: post #22

I have a first grader. Our public school system, which is ordinarily great, has a very vague plan that begins with a hybrid system that operates two mornings a week. In response, we teamed up with five other families of first graders in our area, and have contracted with a tutor to handle the other three-and-two-half days of the week. We may switch to the remote learning option, since it seems like 75% of their class…

Whoa. Must be interesting on the pandemic pods. I haven't heard first hand about this in any of the articles I've been reading about it. Do all 5 families have some kind of agreement about safety and rules about exposing yourself? Or is it some friends that you trust? I'm always curious about the dynamics there.

We all know each other reasonably well, but we will be laying out an agreement that we all have to follow. The initial contract was just "we're in this, for better or worse, through the whole academic year."

We had a number of conversations before deciding to "pod up," and certainly before contracting with a teacher/tutor, so we have a sense of each person's risk tolerance. We agreed we were close enough to take this first step, and we'd iron out the rest later.

Re: Ask HN: Parents, what are you doing for school this fall?

#184

Post by burfog »

mcv wrote: post #181
burfog wrote: post #174

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That just isn't how humans learn. You think you are teaching to not hate, but they learn that hate is normal. They want to be normal. You teach that diversity is important, but they learn that they are the undesirables or that they don't have to try in life. Just focusing on the differences puts them on different teams, and thus in opposition. It won't be otherwise. We have seen what teaching people about this leads…

Teaching not to hate is hard to do. Instead, teach everybody is different, and that that is normal. Teach them that people have different looks, different backgrounds, different religions, different believes and personal convictions, and that that is normal. Expose kids to those differences, so they won't see different people as Other. Don't make it an us-vs-them thing, but unite them. Let them embrace those differen…

Differences will be ranked, and they will be used to form teams.

You can't stop human nature. At best, you can divert it to something less problematic, like nationalism. If everybody is on Team USA, then there is no room for racism.

We will never eliminate the urge to judge, rank, and exclude. It's very deeply in our DNA. All the social mammals have the urge.

Re: Ask HN: Parents, what are you doing for school this fall?

#185

Post by rudyrigot »

We’re on my developer salary in a modest Chicago suburb house, which is enough for us by itself, so my wife was able to leave her job to focus on our 6yo daughter full time, with little financial concerns. We can pretty much last like this indefinitely, if nothing changes.

We were living in the Bay Area a few years ago, and then a couple of years in Chicago itself, I’m very thankful we happen to find ourselves in a more affordable area as this is going on, because everything would have been much trickier...

Re: Ask HN: Parents, what are you doing for school this fall?

#186

Post by actfrench »

p1esk wrote: post #180
actfrench wrote: post #137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

With regards to tech, I run a digital learning pod for kids ages 3-9 and we have a lot of families in product, hardware, software, machine learning and education in our group so we pooled together our knowledge and tried a bunch of different combinations to find what worked best for our group. My priorities as an educator were for the kids to be able to jump up, lay down and whisper across the room. I also wanted to…

Why do you need airpods?

For the sound. If kids don't wear headphones it's impossible to hear. Also, this really helps with younger kids who already might be learning to pronounce words correctly

Re: Ask HN: Parents, what are you doing for school this fall?

#187

Post by actfrench »

westondeboer wrote: post #95
joe_hills wrote: post #21

Single dad here in a small apartment with a 7yo whose school went fully remote. I switched to a reduced-hours contractor status at my day job and went "full-time" on my side project so I can make my own schedule. I do the bulk of my focused work either after my kid goes to bed or before she starts school for the day. During the day when she's in class, it seems like every class period, there's at least one or two tec…

This is how I am working also. I have requested that all meetings in the future happen after 3, so the kids will be done with their schooling. Today was the first day of school and my kids are in 3rd grade. Just like you said, there was at least four times that I needed to come over and fix tech support issues. And help them figure out how to do something. I am trying to figure out which is better right now, with usi…

Hi there, I wrote a blog (with you in mind) on the devices we use to support online group learning. Thank you for inspiring it. Hope it's helpful. www.modulo.app/all-resources/hardwardsoftware

Re: Ask HN: Parents, what are you doing for school this fall?

#188

Post by westondeboer »

MontagFTB wrote: post #182
westondeboer wrote: post #134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Which headphones did you go with?

We went with the "Bopmen Computer Headset with Microphone" (wired, not wireless). So far so good.

Oh, with the built in microphone option! Great idea.

Thanks for that recommendation!

Re: Ask HN: Parents, what are you doing for school this fall?

#189

Post by chispurger »

shaftway wrote: post #168
mke wrote: post #159

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Which agencies have you used?

We've used Au Pair in America ( https://www.aupairinamerica.com/ ), but we are currently using Cultural Care ( https://culturalcare.com/ ). I don't have particularly strong feelings on either in general, but we switched because our local coordinator had gotten pretty flaky.

I don’t have any kids and don’t plan on having any. Just wanted to thank you for such a detailed explanation of what an au pair is. Also, I’m in the Bay Area too. Oakland. Hi neighbor.

Re: Ask HN: Parents, what are you doing for school this fall?

#190

Post by mayugan »

Hey Parents!

              We're hoping to fill in some of the issues that COVID has created. We're providing a free education app for kids aged 5-10. Our curated content that we've filmed and gamified surrounds intriguing concepts! hopefully we can buy back some of your time!
Below is a quick description what we do:___ Hey There HackerNews! We're Mayu & Glenn, the founders of ThinkStation (https://beta.thinkstation.io/exclusive/). We provide an education platform for kids aged 5-10 to learn intriguing concepts through gamified e-learning... Live! Kind of like a mix of MasterClass, Peleton and Gamification! Now more than ever, we know parents are stressed out. We want to help you buy back 45 minutes of your day to enjoy a sip of coffee, nap or work! Your kids can learn about the dirty jobs of the middle ages, or learning what is money whilst you sip away on a tea with a book! We've founded ThinkStation with the idea to allow parents to trust the content their kids consume, but also be active when doing so!

It would be great if anyone with kids aged 5-10 sign up for our BETA and help us build an amazing platform for both Parents and Kids alike! (Link: https://beta.thinkstation.io/exclusive/)

Also -- If anyone knows where else to post, let us know :)

Feedback always helps!

Post reply on HN