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

#1

Post by mbf1 » Mon, Aug 17, 2020, 5:01 PM UTC

I'm a professional software engineer with two middle-school aged children and a working partner cramped into a small apartment. Since the shelter in place orders happened and my employer switched everyone to work from home, my apartment has seemed less and less suitable for productivity. It's also not the best environment for children to remain cooped up in their rooms on electronics all day, every day. My partner and I have experimented with some online camps and our local public schools have gone purely virtual, but I'm considering alternative schools this year as well as moving out of our cramped apartment.

Parents: What have you tried? What did you love? What did you hate?

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

#2

Post by eanzenberg » Mon, Aug 17, 2020, 5:09 PM UTC

Private school, in person. Defund public schools! /s

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

#3

Post by dataminded » Mon, Aug 17, 2020, 5:13 PM UTC

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.

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

#4

Post by winphone1974 » Mon, Aug 17, 2020, 5:13 PM UTC

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 health issues maybe as important as COVID itself.

That said I personally don't schools will stay open until even Christmas and don't know what our next step will be. We've investigated private school as the class sizes are much smaller and they have far more flexibility and motivation to make in person learning work.

Context: western Canada with big public school classes and very few cases, the majority impacting very old and those with previous health concerns

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

#5

Post by dec0dedab0de » Mon, Aug 17, 2020, 5:14 PM UTC

Our school district made everyone decide if we were going to send the kids in or keep them home for remote school. My kid is in junior high, and did pretty good with remote school, so we decided to start the year at home.

I already worked from home so that wasn't a change. One thing that did change right at the beginning of lockdown was that I got diagnosed with a chronic illness that requires treatment that makes me immunocompromised, so that played a role in the decision.

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

#6

Post by dtwatljfk » Mon, Aug 17, 2020, 5:14 PM UTC

Our children will attend private school in person.

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

#7

Post by GiorgioG » Mon, Aug 17, 2020, 5:15 PM UTC

Home-schooling. Our public school system can't get its stuff together.

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

#8

Post by james_pm » Mon, Aug 17, 2020, 5:16 PM UTC

One of our two kids is 17 with special needs. I hope she will be able to attend in-person, daily. Her class sizes are already small and online learning isn't really effective as it's a modified, non-academic program she is in.

The other is 16 and will be attending in person every other day for half a day (1/4 of the time) and doing synchronous, online the rest of the time. She is attending an online summer school course this month to get the hang of things.

(context: Canadian, kids go to public school in Toronto)

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

#9

Post by chrisseaton » Mon, Aug 17, 2020, 5:16 PM UTC

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!

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

#10

Post by charklet » Mon, Aug 17, 2020, 5:17 PM UTC

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.