Back to School?

In reply to ProDarwin :

I don't really have real tips. All kids are individuals. 
 

I am going to suggest that you not worry too much about it. Goal oriented stuff really doesn't work for a 5 year old. Don't pressure it. 
 

At the age of 5, there is pretty much nothing that is necessary in the way of educational goals. When he is ready, he will learn. Forcing a kid to sit in front of Zoom for something meaningless and drab is a great way to dull his enthusiasm for learning.

Don't push the schedule or annual goals. Encourage discovery. 
 

Play IS the work of a 5 year old. 

Also, remember that you can't stop a human from learning. 

You can only put a human in different environments to learn different types of things. 

Heard from the school today, they're opening full time August 24th as planned.  Well, as originally planned would've been today...

Sharing this for those who may have an interest in homeschooling (not to coerce)...

My wife made an interesting comment today:

My daughter starting homeschooling again this past week.  She's been in an excellent public High School for the past 2 years, but prior to that was homeschooled.  The first week went great.  All of a sudden my daughter is motivated again, and the dynamic shifted almost by magic.   She seems engaged, and has not for the past 6 months (and really did not for the past 2 years).  I had credited the disengagement to teenage angst.

Today I asked my wife what she thought the difference was between "homeschooling" and being "schooled at home".  The Spring was a disaster, and we are already seeing great improvements.  

My wife said, "Control".

In my head, there is virtually no difference between being homeschooled and being schooled at home.  I couldn't see why good education at home couldn't be accomplished while staying enrolled in the public High School.  Just engage.  Show a little initiative.  If the work is not challenging, take on a few extra things.  But I was wrong.

My daughter didn't have control over her education.  She was told what to do, and didn't need any initiative.  It was a VERY low bar.  Now, it's HER responsibility.  She has to schedule herself, plan her classes, figure out how to fit in her job, determine her own success.  Its HER'S.  She is taking challenging classes, classes that she is passionate about, and has also registered for 10 additional credits of dual enrollment college credit at USC.  She will likely have earned an associates degree by the time she graduates from High School.

She is maintaining the connections she can.  Still planning on a European trip with the school (when they permit it), still engaged with her friends.  Looking to connect with some theatrical opportunities (she loves that).

I'm stunned at the change that is occuring with the only real difference being she is no longer registered in the public school.

I understand homeschooling is not for everyone.  But it is worth consideration for some people who are schooling from home anyway.

It does bring up an interesting point though.  Considering most of the public school remote learning plans are are almost certainly sub par compared to in class and home schooling, in many cases, is at least as good as in class.  Shouldn't schools be highly encouraging home schooling (where possible of course)?  You know, in the best interest of the kids.

Has anyone seen any evidence of this?  I suspect not.

Why?  I suspect it has a lot do do with the fact that home schooled kids are not considered enrolled in public schools (right?), so if a large percentage of kids went home schooled, funding (based on the numbers in class), would be reduced.

But.... it's for the kids....

I am sure many cannot do full home schooling (have to work etc) and some that can may eventually need to return to work, but you would think home schooling would be discussed as an option more because... what's best for the kids... is supposed to be the primary focus...

Remote learning here is off to a great start.  The QR Codes used to login have stopped working between the weekend and this morning.  My son's student number doesn't have a password associated with it to access the whateveritis portal.  This can be reset by calling IT Service, which is basically non-existant right now because... the NCEdCloud has crashed/is down so students all over the state are having problems.

Wheeee.

They had to send out a district wide reminder that appropriate clothes are required for zoom meetings. I wonder if it was the students or the parents that were having that problem. 

Dropped the middlest kid off for Freshman orientation about 30 minutes ago.  Temp checks, masks, and distances all were in place as far as I could see.  They've got a solid plan, they're communicating that plan well and mandating strict adherence, and part of the plan is to evaluate how well it is/isn't working at the end of the first week of September.

The part that is going to suck is the transportation.  No busses for the grade school still and all kids have to be out of the high school by 1530.  So my afternoons are going to be consumed with a trip to the grade school to get the youngest, then all the way the heck to the other side of the county to get the middlest, and then when soccer practice is over, back out again to get the oldest. 

Some kids at our school (mainly girls) really thrived during the distance learning. Perhaps it's because they got away from all the petty/useless/emotional/soap-opera/drama that is teenagers in highschool.

Some kids were full emotional meltdowns and everything, snot bubbles and blubbering, and a complete mess.

Most of -my- students didn't do anything.

My own children kept up with assignments mostly because I'm a slave driver. Though, my eldest (autistic introvert) seemed to enjoy the routine, and enjoyed learning. My youngest (autistic ADHD extrovert) absolutely loved the "social" zoom time at the end of each day.

Every kid is different, but I honestly think very few really thrive in a distance/online learning environment.  All of my course content is already online, and I teach off my website in the classroom, but the majority of my students couldn't do it from home.

I was chatting with my physiotherapist the other day, who is debating keeping his grade 1 daughter home for school this year (we start Sept 10 in BC). I thoroughly encouraged him to look into homeschooling vs distance learning from the teacher, because homeschooling is a tested and proven system, whereas almost all of us public teachers have no training or experience in this at all.

It felt weird, as a public school teacher, to be recommending homeschooling.

I'm also kind of considering homeschooling for my eldest....

aircooled said:

It does bring up an interesting point though.  Considering most of the public school remote learning plans are are almost certainly sub par compared to in class and home schooling, in many cases, is at least as good as in class.  Shouldn't schools be highly encouraging home schooling (where possible of course)?  You know, in the best interest of the kids.

Has anyone seen any evidence of this?  I suspect not.

Why?  I suspect it has a lot do do with the fact that home schooled kids are not considered enrolled in public schools (right?), so if a large percentage of kids went home schooled, funding (based on the numbers in class), would be reduced.

But.... it's for the kids....

I am sure many cannot do full home schooling (have to work etc) and some that can may eventually need to return to work, but you would think home schooling would be discussed as an option more because... what's best for the kids... is supposed to be the primary focus...

Public schools never do that. You are assuming their decisions would be in the best interest of the kids. 

Yes State and Federal funding is typically based on enrollment, so yes they lose money when a kid is pulled out and homeschooled. Sadly, I get no reduction in my school taxes. (I get to pay school taxes for someone else's kid AND pay separately for my own kid's curriculum, etc)

This year, it is believed to be a wash. Although a much larger number of people are homeschooling than ever before, it is also expected that private school enrollment will likely drop due to economic conditions that make it harder for people to pay for private schools. Those students will end up in public schools. There is not expected to be an overall drop in enrollment in public schools.

In reply to SkinnyG (Forum Supporter) :

I am really encouraged by your balanced and well reasoned perspectives on these issues. 

Considering the wife spent 16 hours this weekend trying to update all her IEP's because the school district FINALLY decided what to do with the special needs kids that my wife teaches.  They finally made a decision thursday and she had to have them all updated by today. They still don't have answers for what comes next because beaurocrats don't think past one thing. 

I hate them all, politicians/school admins/morons for the amount of stress and pain they have been putting my wife through for hte last 2 weeks. 

SVreX (Forum Supporter) said:

aircooled said:

It does bring up an interesting point though.  Considering most of the public school remote learning plans are are almost certainly sub par compared to in class and home schooling, in many cases, is at least as good as in class.  Shouldn't schools be highly encouraging home schooling (where possible of course)?  You know, in the best interest of the kids.

Has anyone seen any evidence of this?  I suspect not.

Why?  I suspect it has a lot do do with the fact that home schooled kids are not considered enrolled in public schools (right?), so if a large percentage of kids went home schooled, funding (based on the numbers in class), would be reduced.

But.... it's for the kids....

I am sure many cannot do full home schooling (have to work etc) and some that can may eventually need to return to work, but you would think home schooling would be discussed as an option more because... what's best for the kids... is supposed to be the primary focus...

Public schools never do that. You are assuming their decisions would be in the best interest of the kids. 

Yes State and Federal funding is typically based on enrollment, so yes they lose money when a kid is pulled out and homeschooled. Sadly, I get no reduction in my school taxes. (I get to pay school taxes for someone else's kid AND pay separately for my own kid's curriculum, etc)

This year, it is believed to be a wash. Although a much larger number of people are homeschooling than ever before, it is also expected that private school enrollment will likely drop due to economic conditions that make it harder for people to pay for private schools. Those students will end up in public schools. There is not expected to be an overall drop in enrollment in public schools.

I had meant to ask that, as I've been following this thread just because I find it interesting. We don't have kids, nor intend to. But I was curious about that. 

I can't figure out a way to say anything else without floundering that thread, so I'll keep my mouth shut.