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

41–50 of 190 posts

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

#41

Post by actfrench »

kbutler wrote: post #18

15-year-old: I miss my friends. Want to do my concurrent-enrollment advanced study classes. She's starting school, we'll see how long in-person school lasts. 12-year-old: School over the internet is awesome! Takes me a quarter of the time and I'm not just waiting for the teacher and the class. Doing an online, tech-focused, home schooling program, with in-person advanced math class and drama class.

That's so interesting that your kids have had such different experiences. Do you attribute it to their personality or to the way their teachers/schools are doing distance learning?

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

#42

Post by pgrote »

GiorgioG wrote: post #13
winphone1974 wrote: post #4

I have 2 in elementary and one in middle school. Our public schools will supposedly open physical classes with an online option as well. You need to pick and commit to one. I'm strongly in the physical camp for many reasons, most importantly the online school in the spring was garbage and a lack of socialization at this age is a very real and serious public health concern-for healthy young kids with no underlying hea…

> lack of socialization at this age is a very real and serious public health concern (No offense intended) I keep hearing this and wonder what proof we have of this? I have two kids, one introvert, one extrovert and neither seem to have been impacted. Sure they'd like to hang out with friends, but they're basically the same personality/kids/temperament they had pre-pandemic.

We are in the same situation with kids of the same temperament. The extrovert has discovered self initiative play and done some creative things. The introvert discovered roblox and picsart and is now more social than ever before. It has sort of worked out for them.

More to your question, how would you study something like that? Previously home schooled students who had limited social interactions?

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

#43

Post by rhn_mk1 »

GiorgioG wrote: post #13
winphone1974 wrote: post #4

I have 2 in elementary and one in middle school. Our public schools will supposedly open physical classes with an online option as well. You need to pick and commit to one. I'm strongly in the physical camp for many reasons, most importantly the online school in the spring was garbage and a lack of socialization at this age is a very real and serious public health concern-for healthy young kids with no underlying hea…

> lack of socialization at this age is a very real and serious public health concern (No offense intended) I keep hearing this and wonder what proof we have of this? I have two kids, one introvert, one extrovert and neither seem to have been impacted. Sure they'd like to hang out with friends, but they're basically the same personality/kids/temperament they had pre-pandemic.

> the same personality/kids/temperament they had pre-pandemic.

I would not stop there when considering the topic. Socialization is a process, and its goal is growth, not stagnation.

That being said, it's also gradual, making it difficult to measure over a few months.

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

#44

Post by actfrench »

charklet wrote: post #10

We are doing distance learning in a small pod with a caregiver with our elementary schooler. We are rotating houses. The most difficult part, surprisingly, is finding other families with the same needs as you (age, cost, siblings, distancing level). I chose to go pod since it adds a little more socialization without nearly as much risk as a larger group.

For what it's worth (I've helped create dozens of pods), it's sometimes good to be really specific about what your pod is (not to be everything to everyone) and then post about it in your local facebook parenting groups. I'm also happy to help get the word out if you need support. I know tons of parents looking for pods:)

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

#45

Post by joe_hills »

cvhashim wrote: post #28
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…

That’s a very packed schedule. Well done on managing your time.

Thanks! Before everything locked down, I was lucky to have a lot of day-to-day support from my family, friends, and colleagues.

One of the ways I tried to demonstrate appreciation for their help was by actively working to structure my life and career so I could be less reliant on them in the future. I had no idea how soon I wouldn't have any choice, but my preparation for self-employment and plan to minimize outside child-care definitely made handling the COVID-forced changes easier.

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

#46

Post by inanutshellus »

charklet wrote: post #10

We are doing distance learning in a small pod with a caregiver with our elementary schooler. We are rotating houses. The most difficult part, surprisingly, is finding other families with the same needs as you (age, cost, siblings, distancing level). I chose to go pod since it adds a little more socialization without nearly as much risk as a larger group.

we're planning on this too. Our class hasn't started yet but the plan is to find kids /from the actual class/ that're interested.

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

#47

Post by actfrench »

pgrote wrote: post #36

Elementary and middle school students. Local school district is virtual for the 1st quarter, but we had made the decision it would be virtual for our kids until a working vaccine arrives or the virus transmission rate is under control. Our productivity at home will be lower and I will have to relearn fractions, but we're going to make it work. I am disappointed we didn't use the summer to better prepare by starting t…

I think it's great that you gave your children a break this summer. Sometimes kids really need to just relax and play. It's been a hard year. Learning isn't linear, so they will likely catch up quickly. Also, there a ton of great apps and youtube videos for teaching fractions (you might not even have to help). Let me know if you'd like some recommendations.

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

#48

Post by dataminded »

chrisseaton wrote: post #9
dataminded wrote: post #3

We tried virtual via our daughter's private school and were really disappointed. We are going to home-school with a private teacher. We also found a couple of other families that we'll consider play-dates or select group lessons with.

Like a traditional live-in governess (governor?)? Clever, since they’re then part of your family bubble. Must be expensive though!

She does not live with us. We have a great relationship with her and are confident that we're aligned on the importance of social distancing. I'm in an at-risk group which makes it especially important that we protect ourselves.

She's been working for our family for a bit over a year. We originally hired her as a full-time nanny when wife decided to do a dev bootcamp.

She has a bachelors in early childhood education/development and is personally interested in crafting positive developmental experiences for kids. Our girls really appreciate her and get a lot of value (and education) from the time they spend together. We'll supplement her efforts with more structure in the form of a curriculum.

It is very expensive (relative to our income). We live cheaply and don't do many luxuries. It made sense for us to invest in high-quality childcare for our girls.

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

#49

Post by shaftway »

Background: We're in the bay area and our kids are 10 and 8.

We were lucky enough to get an au pair right before the lockdowns started in our area (literally picked him up the night before local lockdowns went into effect). We've had really positive experiences with the au pair program in the past, and our current one has been great, so we've treated him really well. Because of that he's agreed to extend until next summer, and that application went through before visas were locked down. This means that there's a dedicated person here for the kids for 45 hours per week, or about 9 hours per weekday.

We have a decent sized house, but it's hard to get any real focus time because even with the au pair and school the kids don't really respect boundaries. So the kids do most of their schoolwork in their rooms or at the dining table. They work in blocks of about 2 hours, and I schedule breaks to coincide with theirs. During the breaks we try to go for a short walk or something to get the wiggles out, and then it's back to work. Tuesdays (and sometimes Thursdays) I go to my spouse's office where I can isolate and get some real work done until late. We trade that time for Fridays, when I stop work a couple hours early so the au pair can leave if he wants to. If I need to be able to really focus I leave the house and go to a park where I can tether and crank out some real work. This is difficult though, as I need 2 laptops and a phone to get work done.

This wasn't a traditional au pair experience, so we plan on some really nice thank you gifts for our au pair at the end of his contract, and hopefully we'll be back in school next fall and can go back to something a little more normal.

Post reply on HN