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

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

#101

Post by actfrench »

achenatx wrote: post #99

private kindergarten - 3 weeks virtual only, then 100% in school (10 kids) private 2nd, 7th - 3 weeks virtual only, then hybrid model. One week on, one week off, 10 kids in class. I ran calculations for the probability of a serious infection and it is something like 1% prevalence * 5% transmission rate 1% hospitalization rate .0005% chance per contact of being hospitalized chance your child doesnt get hospitalized pe…

What do you think about the chance of your child passing on the disease to someone older or the teacher?

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

#102

Post by actfrench »

jwally wrote: post #83
actfrench wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Did you have any luck with digital apps or youtube videos? I've found that some tools are much more effective for personalized, independent learning than others - whereas others require much more parent or teacher involvement. The more they resemble tools used in school, the more work the parent has to do to understand them because they utilize specific methods that have been standardized as teaching methods for grou…

This is awesome info. Literally bookmarking this. Thanks! To your point, my kids fell in love with "Blaze and the monster machines" (a nickelodeon production that I actually like) and the 3 year old would talk about concepts from the shows for weeks after (centripetal force, reciprocating saws, stabilizer legs, metal = hard).

I'd so glad it was helpful. Every child is differently and I'd be happy to help you out with some more personalized recommendations as well.

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

#103

Post by actfrench »

h0p3 wrote: post #96

Among other things, trying to teach my offspring reminds me of how profoundly unqualified I am to be a father. It feels like I've thrown everything plus the kitchen sink at the wall to see what sticks. I do not claim to do a good job. They've maintained wikis for a while with us, and that has been something I hold in high regard. Feel free to HMU, https://philosopher.life/ , if you want to talk.

The most qualified person to be your children's father is you. You're the only one who cares enough to throw everything but the kitchen sink at them to help create a personalized, enriching experience for them.

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

#104

Post by AnimalMuppet »

Well, we have a large house, and we homeschool, so we don't have your set of problems at all.

But our youngest is a senior in high school this year. She's taking some dual-enrollment classes, but they're online-only. If she were a year older, and looking at going to college this fall... I don't know what we'd do. I guess we'd be restricted to schools that are within commuting distance, because we'd have no confidence that they wouldn't go remote-only at the drop of a hat.

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

#105

Post by actfrench »

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…

It is so great that you are doing this for your children. The only way we can innovate education is by parents and teachers like you taking the time and having the courage to build something great for their kids. People like you change the world for the better.

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

#106

Post by actfrench »

shaftway wrote: post #49

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 s…

Do your students use any digital learning tools like Khan Academy, Math Tango or Prodigy? Is it the same experience having difficulty getting them to focus/respect boundaries as it is when they have to do school work?

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

#107

Post by actfrench »

weagle05 wrote: post #20

The whole thing is fubar. We're doing our public school's virtual school for our 3 elementary age children. I don't see how its sustainable. This age group cannot do school by themselves, so my wife and I are having to do school while also trying to keep our work going. My productivity is just going to be shot. This is day one, but here's what I'm going to try this week: 1). Get up earlier. I'm going to try to be in…

This sounds really stressful. Have you considered any virtual childcare/tutoring options? I run a digital learning pod that meets 3 hours a day. We use the online medium to our advantage, working together on math apps, yoga, science lessons, critical reading (sharing the screen) and other engaging activities. The kids love it and barely every need help from their parents. If you find apps and games your kids love, it's a lot easier to get them to focus than on stuff they dislike. Happy to recommend tools to you if it's helpful. My email is manisha@modulo.app

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

#108

Post by actfrench »

ping_pong wrote: post #91

I recently quit my job as a programmer and have taken the task of overseeing the kids education while my wife works. She is on Zoom meetings literally all day and then works until midnight, so me quitting alleviates most of the stress on the both of us. We are home schooling them full time and pulled them out of private school. We are right now going through the process of figuring out their schedule, but we have als…

Hi, I'd love to know the name of our homeschool consultant (and I'm sure others would as well) if you're willing to share.

With regards to social isolation, if you're interested, we run a digital learning pod to help kids stay connected and develop social-emotional skills online. We meet twice a week and activities are designed to keep all members participating actively and engaging with each other and the facilitator. Kids facetime and skype outside the group and meet up for interest-based groups as well. It's working so well that some kid who had no friends at school when they were meeting kids in person now have developed wonderful friends with kids in the group.

Several of our kids are highly gifted or have other considerations. If you'd like to try it out, we'd love to have your son in our group. It's a unique challenge helping kids feel connected using an online medium, but we've discovered, not impossible and can even increase the diversity of the group since kids can connect from all around the world.

Here's also another article I wrote on Staying Connected which might be helpful. https://www.modulo.app/all-resources/onlineconnections

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

#109

Post by actfrench »

thorin wrote: post #93

I'm a little confused at the current situation in the US. It seems in the UK that the priority will be to get schools back full time in September. My kids have been in school 2 days for the last few weeks before summer and just had a couple of days in a tennis camp. Are most US schools going remote for the foreseeable future? I'm a single parent so have been working a full time software architect job from home while…

I think a lot of people in the US are concerned about health risks and the way social distancing policies are being put in place. We have still far from flattened the curve in this country - and there is a lot of new research showing that kids carry the disease as much as adults. As a teacher, this doesn't surprise me since little kid diseases always seem to affect us adults much worse than it does them.

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

#110

Post by actfrench »

spanhandler wrote: post #25

Homeschool for the very advanced older of our two elementary kids, done by one partner who's also going to be working from home, kind of. Many worries about that, including 1) will that actually work out OK?, and 2) if it does will that one end up so far ahead that we're now stuck homeschooling forever? Sort of a good problem to have but also... not a good problem to have. Middle kid's going in, at least until they p…

From what I've seen after talking to hundreds of secular homeschoolers and the minimal research done on this topic, kids with 1-2 hours a day of study facilitated by a parent do far better academically than the typical kid in school. They also do a great job transitioning back to school (if you decide to go that route) because they are so independent and autonomous.

Have you considered any of the learning tools like Khan Academy that don't need a parent to necessarily sit down with the child and can study independently?

Also, if you need a friendly ear, I'd be happy to help you and your partner think this through. I've been a teacher for 15 years in 3 countries, founded 3 startups to support homeschoolers, and most recently led schoolclosures.org and Modulo which are working directly to provide support to families. Happy to help in any way we can.

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