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My kid can’t handle a virtual education, and neither can I

theatlantic.com

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Re: My kid can’t handle a virtual education, and neither can I

#311

Post by topherjaynes »

vinbreau wrote: post #178

My daughter started Kindergarten and we're doing remote learning. She' almost 5 years old and can work a computer for the things she needs. But she can't work a zoom meeting. So I am a teacher's asst. from 8am until 2:30 pm. It's exhausting and sometimes I take a 2 hour nap afterward. It's hard on her because until a few weeks ago she would wake up, come into my office with me and watch shows on a laptop, maybe play…

Very similar experience here. It's been crushing to see how the remote is just draining for the kiddos. Seeing glimpses of hope and growth, but still painful at the same time.

Re: My kid can’t handle a virtual education, and neither can I

#312

Post by paulcole »

dageshi wrote: post #192
maps7 wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I feel I would thrive in a movement based work environment. I think and articulate much better when walking.

If I had infinite money, I'd build an office on an entire floor, with the desk in the middle and a kind of walking track around it that I could do circles on, sometimes I just really have to walk.

Thinking you need infinite money to go for a walk is peak HN.

Re: My kid can’t handle a virtual education, and neither can I

#313

Post by tboyd47 »

danans wrote: post #174
tboyd47 wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ah, excuse me, I didn't mean to slight the real educators. I meant the phony ones who think this is a reasonable plan. I agree with you completely. We love the teachers at our kids' school and saying goodbye to them was the hardest part of leaving. They are just as frustrated. But the people who think that this solution is a reasonable one are insane.

> I meant the phony ones who think this is a reasonable plan. I'm not sure what you mean by "reasonable", but I've yet to come across a single educator or administrator who thinks remote school is a good thing. They all think it's just the least bad among a set of bad options. Where are you finding educators who think it's actually net-positive and not just an unfortunate reality?

I dunno. Somebody had to come up with it. I have no clue who that is.

Re: My kid can’t handle a virtual education, and neither can I

#314

Post by dorchadas »

wink wrote: post #255
chiyc wrote: post #19

"I even think Raffi might be able to improve his digital etiquette—to get better at waiting his turn to speak without slamming the computer shut because he’s bored, to sit through a lesson without whining or screaming. But is digital etiquette something I want Raffi to learn at age 5? He’ll have the rest of his life to figure out the niceties of interacting with people through a screen. I can’t accept that he should…

This honestly has me puzzled. German here, no kids, so not 100% sure how it is today, but to the best of my knowledge it's still 3-5 kindergarden (no idea why you would do this via screen) and then school from 6-7 (depends on birth month, etc). And the "this should be daycare" argument doesn't fly because how would you babysit a 5y old via a video conference? Maybe I'm just old, but I don't see anything wrong in not…

Forgive me if I'm wrong, but I think you're misinterpreting what kindergarten is in the States. Kindergarten here is the first year of schooling, and is associated with primary schools. Generally, 5 is the minimum age to start, with a cutoff month. Thus, the kids are expected to be taught in the structural way of school.

Re: My kid can’t handle a virtual education, and neither can I

#315

Post by dorchadas »

btilly wrote: post #119

There are very practical techniques for addressing these problems. However they aren't widely known. For example if you want to keep a kid still to listen, give them something good to fiddle with. For example, teach kids how to finger knit. And then have them do simple finger knitting while they are listening. The finger knitting is an outlet for the ansies, and they are able to pay better attention, for longer. You…

> We really need to tell kids to get up and do jumping jacks, come back in 15 minutes with milk and cookies.

Honestly, in my opinion we need to do this at school still, especially elementary level. We're expecting too much out of these kids, even when they're in the classroom, and it's no wonder we're seeing a rise in issues. Let the kids be kids, give them longer than 30 minutes of recess (if they even get that anymore!), give them naptime still, etc.

I'm generally against charter schools (being a high school teacher myself), but man, I wish I had the funds to start a charter elementary school. There's so much I would change.

Re: My kid can’t handle a virtual education, and neither can I

#316

Post by Shared404 »

war1025 wrote: post #280
Shared404 wrote: post #228

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At an elementary school near me they would only get to do recess on Fridays, and that's assuming they behaved.

The more I hear about public schools the more I understand the outrage against public education.

My above comment isn't even the worst thing I noticed in the last year or two before I graduated HS. (I went to a small school, with K to 12 on the same campus).

I ran tech for the big "Christmas Program", which consisted of "song and dance" (loosely speaking) from kids aged pre-K to second grade. It was fairly nice, because I got to skip class. What was less nice, was hearing a pre-K teacher yell "Why did you do that!?! Doing that is going to ruin the program for your grandparents, after they go through all the trouble to come see you.", in response to a child stumbling on a line.

Public education is necessary, but many implementations are flawed.

Rereading this, It sounds like something you'd see on r/thathappened. I wish it were fake.

Re: My kid can’t handle a virtual education, and neither can I

#317

Post by [deleted] »

Aeolun wrote: post #308
actfrench wrote: post #208

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A lot of US kids are forced to sit still whether they're in front of a screen or in a physical classroom. Typically it's better in preschool, but many kindergarteners only get 20 minutes a day to play if that. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/05/learning/do-kids-need-rec...

I don’t see how that could possibly work, unless your goal is to create brain dead monkeys.

[deleted]

Re: My kid can’t handle a virtual education, and neither can I

#318

Post by dmerks »

dj_mc_merlin wrote: post #40

All of these comments make me think HN has never interacted with a 5 year old. Adults are barely able to make it through a day of Zoom meetings without feeling drained, how do you expect an almost toddler to react when forced to sit in front of a screen? The only reasons adults can do it is years and years of learning impulse controls and suppression of bad emotions for everyone's good. A 5 year old does not have the…

I was a special education teacher for a decade in both private and public settings. I worked with children of all school ages who had difficulties keeping up. I'm also a parent.

A thought: students are expected to learn to function together in classroom settings over the course of their first few years in school. It's a gradual and often tedious process for everyone involved. How many children say they like sitting in class? It's a heavily researched subject. Some students never really get the hang of it. Other students learn to keep their place, but have trouble following the pace, and compensate otherwise. Or don't. Suddenly requiring teachers and children to respectively teach and learn under vastly different circumstances, EG teleconferencing from home with family around, appears a bit unrealistic. Glhf

Re: My kid can’t handle a virtual education, and neither can I

#319

Post by war1025 »

Aeolun wrote: post #305
war1025 wrote: post #277

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> putting your kids in school as early as 4 can result in life-long benefits. Giving a shit about your kids is mainly what results in life-long benefits. The sad truth is a lot of parents either don't care about their kids or care about them only as a proxy of how it reflects back on them.

I find that hard to understand. Isn’t having a kid something you do exactly so you have someone to care for and nurture?

> Isn’t having a kid something you do exactly so you have someone to care for and nurture?

Ideally, yes.

In practice, not as often as anyone would hope.

Sometimes out of actual ill intent towards the kids.

Probably most times just due to parents being dealt a raw hand and them not having the wherewithal to give their kids the amount of attention they'd like to.

Re: My kid can’t handle a virtual education, and neither can I

#320

Post by nitrogen »

9nGQluzmnq3M wrote: post #278
philsnow wrote: post #253

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Depending on the state, education isn't compulsory until 6 or 7 years. Would it be an option for you to just hold off on the structured approach for another 6-12 months and let her play?

Young kids are not great at playing by themselves. Pretty much the only way to get a preschooler who can't read yet out of your hair for an extended period of time is to give them an iPad or TV.

This is better with more open space. A toddler I know can occupy himself for hours outside, but you have to keep a watchful eye for what he's getting into, so it's not as relaxing for a caregiver as a tablet or phone.
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