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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

#71

Post by syndacks »

tboyd47 wrote: post #35

I just pulled my own kids out of public school because I can't stomach it either. I can't in good conscience subject my kids to 6 hours of online class 5 days a week. Whether or not you want to judge me for feeling this way or call me nasty names, "psychic torture" is exactly how I'd describe the solution these educators have come up with.

Educators did not come up with this plan, politicians did by their lack of any sort of COVID response.

Do you really think educators want to do remote learning?

My heart goes out to all the teachers who have to deal with this. It's as hard on them as it is parents and students.

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

#72

Post by danShumway »

Shorel wrote: post #37
bosswipe wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> they have raised a hellion A five year old is far from having been raised. As a parent of a 6 year old I know a bunch of other parents that have similar experiences where their kids are revolting against being forced to sit in front of a virtual teacher for hours every day.

You can't fix much of that stuff after he is 7 years old. Educate the child so you don't have to jail the adult. At least that's the common wisdom grandmothers say in my country. Some study I found that also mentions the seven-year milestone: https://news.softpedia.com/news/Our-Personality-Is-Fully-Dev...

The common wisdom is wrong. Of course personalities develop after 7 years old. People's personalities develop well into adulthood. Adults are capable of developing, continuing to mature, and changing their behaviors. Who I was at age 7 is not who I am today. Who I was at age 18 is not who I am today.

Do people really think that anyone who fights with a sibling past the age of 7 is destined for prison? I guess I need to start making a plan for when I'm arrested.

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

#73

Post by actfrench »

"forced to sit in front of a screen" is the key phrase here. What if we didn't force them to sit, but allowed them to stand and move about freely, come and go when they please, have some autonomy and decision making power around what goes on in class (e.g. share preferences for what they want to learn) and give them frequent movement breaks (a good set of headphones, an ipad with a wide lens attached allows that). What if we engaged them more so they were excited to see what was happening on their screen? Kids aren't any more excited to sit and do something boring than we are.

The key problem here(and it's not a small one) is that we need to give ALL kids access to this hardware to support their learning, not just a few. Right now only 18% of US households have a device. I've seen school districts short 20,000 computers.

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

#74

Post by nickff »

actfrench wrote: post #54

Here's a crazy idea: What if we raised our children to process their difficult emotions instead of suppress them and stay active and move freely while working and studying (instead of sitting in a chair at a desk)

It's not what teachers are used to or desire, and the educational system is primarily designed for teachers.

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

#75

Post by rootusrootus »

dpcan wrote: post #44
function_seven wrote: post #26

I'm amazed how dismissive all the comments are here. I read the article and it seems totally normal for a little kid not to be able to do "school" on a laptop. Kindergarten is so much different than later years of schooling. It's not about lectures and subjects, or homework and tests. It's about much more fundamental lessons, interspersed with creativity, socialization, and learning to be separated from your parents.…

And yet, with a little time, patience, and dedication from parents, all children can be taught to be respectful, focus, and learn the way we need them to learn during a strange and complicated time. This world is full of can't can't can't. Everywhere we turn, if there's an inconvenience involved. If we have to do something boring. If it won't be fun. If it's hard work..... we can't do it. It can't be done. I wish we…

> This world is full of can't can't can't.

The world is filled with plenty of that, and it always has been. But plenty of people are absolutely tackling this mess with a can-do attitude. You're just not seeing it, for whatever reason.

> But I'm out of hope.

And that may be the reason ;-).

Turning off the news is the best choice I've ever made. Can't be too depressed when I don't get bombarded constantly with BS, we're too busy living our life to the best of our ability.

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

#76

Post by toper-centage »

actfrench wrote: post #54

Here's a crazy idea: What if we raised our children to process their difficult emotions instead of suppress them and stay active and move freely while working and studying (instead of sitting in a chair at a desk)

Unfortunately that is incompatible with 30 children in a classroom being managed but a single underpaid teacher.

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

#77

Post by fredguth »

As a parent of a 5-year old myself, it strikes me the lack of empathy in the HN community. The pandemic is a challenging situation for all parents as there is not enough information to decide on the best course of action.

IMO, the OP article intention was only to share the pain, so that other parents know they are not alone in this challenge.

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

#78

Post by tboyd47 »

syndacks wrote: post #71
tboyd47 wrote: post #35

I just pulled my own kids out of public school because I can't stomach it either. I can't in good conscience subject my kids to 6 hours of online class 5 days a week. Whether or not you want to judge me for feeling this way or call me nasty names, "psychic torture" is exactly how I'd describe the solution these educators have come up with.

Educators did not come up with this plan, politicians did by their lack of any sort of COVID response. Do you really think educators want to do remote learning? My heart goes out to all the teachers who have to deal with this. It's as hard on them as it is parents and students.

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.

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

#79

Post by james_s_tayler »

dpcan wrote: post #65
mumblemumble wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If, by "a little time", you mean a few years, until they're psychologically developed enough that you can expect this of them. "The way we need them to learn" strikes me as a very telling choice of words. This is a moment where we need to be meeting their needs, not just molding them to our expectations.

My son had to miss pre-school when he was 4. I created a home-based program (week to week) where we learned everything I could find that would normally be in a regular pre-school curriculum. We worked for 3 hours every morning "studying", and he was 4. I made it fun. I made it productive. We took breaks. We had snacks. We had recess. It worked. By the end of the summer, he was reading and more prepared for Kindergart…

Ah, so the original comment is predicated on the assumption that all adults are capable of doing that for their kids.

Some are. Some aren't.

Same goes for the kids.

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

#80

Post by somethoughts »

actfrench wrote: post #73

"forced to sit in front of a screen" is the key phrase here. What if we didn't force them to sit, but allowed them to stand and move about freely, come and go when they please, have some autonomy and decision making power around what goes on in class (e.g. share preferences for what they want to learn) and give them frequent movement breaks (a good set of headphones, an ipad with a wide lens attached allows that). Wh…

A balance ball seems to be working better than a hard wood chair was for the seven year old to handle 3-4 hours of Zoom. Posture is much better too.

Also trying to figure out how to throw up the Zoom conference on the TV. I think it'll probably be much more natural for the kids.

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