Hoping to not catch it and die from my kids bluntly.
Ask HN: Parents, what are you doing for school this fall?
31–40 of 190 posts
Re: Ask HN: Parents, what are you doing for school this fall?
#32I've been surprised at how well our 4 y.o daughter has adjusted to the online world, on the whole. Whilst not all of our friends' children have the same experience, I've noticed it's fairly common for children we know (at least of this age) to quickly adapt to making friends and socializing and learning through Zoom/Skype/etc. Mornings are spent on "Kid's Club" via https://www.modulo.app , which is a fairly new start…
is modulo.app the official app endorsed by school? or are you homeschooling?
Re: Ask HN: Parents, what are you doing for school this fall?
#33Hi all, I just wanted to offer my support to anyone who needs help thinking this through...I've been a teacher for 15 years, and also the founder of schoolclosures.org (which has helped over 100,000 families impacted by school closures. This fall, I started offering digital learning pods (for social interaction) combined with mastery learning (personalized recommendations for learning apps for independent study + 1-1 tutoring) for families impacted by school closures (Modulo.app) I've worked with hundreds of families looking to enrich their child's learning as a supplement or replacement to school. I'd be happy to talk to any family looking for support in figuring out what to do this fall. Every family's situation is unique and it can be helpful to speak to someone who has experience in the area. I know this has been really stressful and confusing for all - f anyone would like to talk (free of charge), I'd be happy to lend an ear and advise as best I can on education, homeschooling, curriculum, social-emotional concerns, financial security or anything related to school or working from home with kids. My email is manisha@modulo.app
Re: Ask HN: Parents, what are you doing for school this fall?
#34Earlier quoted context omitted.
> 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 Lack of socialization - for a few months - is as serious as a disease that's killing people by the hundreds of thousands? Even if the kids themselves are at lower risk, they can transmit the disease to parents as well as teachers, who are much…
It looks like child-child and child->adult transmission is very rare. https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/07/200710100934.h... We don't know why yet.
Older Children Spread the Coronavirus Just as Much as Adults, Large Study Finds:
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/18/health/coronavirus-childr...
Re: Ask HN: Parents, what are you doing for school this fall?
#35I've been surprised at how well our 4 y.o daughter has adjusted to the online world, on the whole. Whilst not all of our friends' children have the same experience, I've noticed it's fairly common for children we know (at least of this age) to quickly adapt to making friends and socializing and learning through Zoom/Skype/etc. Mornings are spent on "Kid's Club" via https://www.modulo.app , which is a fairly new start…
is modulo.app the official app endorsed by school? or are you homeschooling?
Hi:) I can answer this. I'm the founder of Modulo. Modulo can be used as a supplement or replacement for school. If families want to use it as a replacement, they need to register as homeschoolers, but we help families make sure their kids are on track academically and developmentally. feel free to be in touch if you have any questions. My email is manisha@modulo.app
Re: Ask HN: Parents, what are you doing for school this fall?
#36Elementary 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 to teach the kids, but it seemed like none of us wanted to do anything related to school given what is happening.
Re: Ask HN: Parents, what are you doing for school this fall?
#37I 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.
Not a parent, but fwiw even the fully grown adults I've interacted with are starting to show serious deficits in social skills after months of relative isolation. I've historically been on the socially awkward side, so its kind of refreshing to be the comparatively graceful one.
I don't know if there's evidence, but if this were to go on for years I could see kids missing milestones. Having gone to school with kids who were homeschooled without proper socialization for too long, I can comfortably say social skills need to be learned. It may not seem like much, but not knowing how to interact with peers comfortably is a serious problem, especially as you start to enter situations like interviewing for a job or trying to make friends in a new city.
Re: Ask HN: Parents, what are you doing for school this fall?
#38We're in a tough spot because my wife has struggled with chronic respiratory infections and is in the high-risk patient population. But our youngest has special needs and remote learning can't provide the educational support he needs (though damn the teachers are awesome and creative and trying all they can).
First three weeks are remote for all students in my district, but we'll have some hard choices ahead balancing health and education needs. Seems so much these days is choosing between options that are all far, far from ideal.
Oh, and we live in Texas where 7,500 new cases/day are still being reported.
Re: Ask HN: Parents, what are you doing for school this fall?
#39Texas, Dallas: Nothing ground breaking, but I'll provide my anecdote as a possible antidote to survivor-bias:
I have 3 kids (5,3,1). The 5 year old was supposed to start public school this year, but her pre-school opened up a private kindergarten and we opted in.
When the pandemic first broke, we pulled our kids out for 2 months and it was hard for us and them. My wife worked in the morning when I had the kids and we swapped at noon, and finished up work after we put the kids down for bed.
We tried following some sort of curriculum for the first 2 weeks, but it fell apart pretty quick and devolved into me throwing the kids in a wagon and walking around the neighborhood then going in the backyard and pushing them on a swing. Anytime I had a meeting in the morning or my wife had one in the afternoon, we'd plop them in front of the TV then struggle pulling them away from it afterwards (google wifi is great for deus-ex-machina internet outages...).
It stings having to pay an extra $15k / yr, but for our kids learning and mental health I'd happily pay double. In my humble opinion, our teachers don't make near enough for the service they provide.
Re: Ask HN: Parents, what are you doing for school this fall?
#40We 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!
Hiring a private teacher isn't necessarily live-in. They could easily show up at 8, leave at 2:30, or vice-versa, where you take your child to their house for those hours. Edu-daycare.
We had multiple teachers in our social group reach out to us to set this up, actually and with the cost spread evenly amongst the participating families it wouldn't have been terribly expensive.