The Parenting Thread • Page 97

My 10-month old has been back in daycare for a month or so now. We're comfortable with the regulations they've put in place with other kids, parents, and the caregivers. Plus my wife and I are both working full-time on minimally flexible schedules so childcare help was needed, and I don't feel comfortable asking any of my older family members due to COVID.

 

We will likely do this as well for my son entering kindergarten. My 3-year-old was enrolled to attend preschool, but I think we are just going to unenroll her completely.

Honestly, both options suck. A return to school will be far from 'normal.' I don't think a lot of parents realize how different it will look. Between wearing face masks all day (both staff and students) and kids being separated and told not to play with each other, cannot share materials or toys and eating lunch in the classrooms, it's going to be a vastly different experience.

I also fully expect the remote option to suck as well. My son has never really even sat in front of a computer and now he's going to have to do that for 4-5 hours a day? Plus, no real structure of the school setting or socialization or friendships is going to suck too, but it's obviously the safest option.

We also did a phone call with our pediatrician...i fully expected her to spell out the pros and cons of both and tell us we have to do what we are comfortable with and she was all like 'I am very opinionated on this and if you can swing it, I would 100% do full-time learning' and basically asked us why we would want our kids to be guinea pigs in an experiment. Her point (which is something I've thought a lot about as well) about all the stats showing kids 0-18 not getting/suffering from COVID is pretty much irrelevant right now because children have been protected due to schools shutting down instantly in March.

My wife and I both said, if nothing major happens at school with outbreaks or shutdowns, we'll reconsider sending him back for 2nd semester - but again, I just don't know how schools are going to operate their way through this. It's an impossible task and once one case hits the school buildings, people are going to lose their mind, and of course, the spread will be inevitable.

 

Your district may be completely different than mine, but my district put out a 10 page FAQ document and one of the questions on there was "how long should students be working when learning at home?" The answer was:

"Families who select Option 2 should not expect their children will be actively engaged in online instruction six hours per day. Depending on the grade level, students at school spend much time in social activities, recess, lunch, transitioning between classes, story time, and so forth. The time for actual direct instruction varies from one-two hours for elementary students and up to five hours (45-60 minutes/class) for high school students. Families who select Option 2, particularly for elementary students, should plan to ensure children are doing self selected reading and taking frequent breaks for exercise and socialization."

So I'm planning on about two hours a day for my daughter. Having said that...I have no idea exactly how that is going to go. I guess grades K-4 use this online software called Acellus. I'm sure I'll learn a lot more about it in the days and weeks to come...

 

Yes, we also put out a 27 page guide with FAQs. It basically says the elementary day K-6 will be from about 9:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. with scheduled breaks in between those hours (probably at least an hour of breaks). It also will not be live the entire time, but it'll be a mix between live group sessions, small group sessions, one on one time with the teacher and independent work. It's up to the individual teacher to structure the day how they want it. So yeah, it won't be five straight hours of live online schooling, but in that five hours, I'm guessing at least 2-3 hours.

I could see the entire online learning program be adjusted a week or two into the school year once everyone complains about it.

 

How is he able to enter Kinder at just turning 5?

 

I'm not sure about other states, but the cutoff date for entering kindergarten is Sept. 30. So if you're not 5 by Sept. 30, you cannot enroll into kindergarten. My son was eligible to enter kindergarten last year (his bday is Sept. 7) but we chose not to enroll him.

 

So in Michigan you’re supposed to be five by September 1st, however if you still wish to enroll your kid regardless (so long as they’re turning five before December 1st) you can meet with school district representatives about it. It’s part of the Revised School Code under Michigan Compiled Laws. We know some folks who met with us a while back and agreed our son is intellectually advanced enough to move forward if we wanted. We just weren’t sure how we felt about him socially because he still struggles a bit there. The pandemic kind of decided all of this for us.

 

The cutoff date in my district is August 1...you sure we live in the same state?

 

Ahhh nevermind

How do I know if my child is old enough to enter kindergarten?

Districts choose either Aug. 1 or Sept. 30 as the date by which a child must be 5 years old to enter kindergarten. Each school district should display this information on its website or be able to provide a parent who asks with the district’s age cut-off date for kindergarten.

 

This is true. Our District is Sept. 30. I thought I recall a conversation for the entire state to stick with this date, as opposed to district choosing between the two options.

 

I was thinking for some reason it was nationwide that Sept 1 was the cutoff. Didn't realize it was state by state. I have 2 kids born in September (5th and 22nd) so they'll be one of the oldest in their respective classes.

 

Y'all watch Bluey?

 

My kids watch it religiously.

 

Never seen it! Am I missing out?

 

Yes!

 

Bluey is great. Hope another season gets on Disney+ soon. Bought my son plushes of Bluey and Bingo.

 

I also hope a new season of Muppet Babies gets on Disney+ soon I'm sick of watching the same 10-12 episodes.

 

I added the OG series to my Plex server and my son LOVES it. It even has old 80s and 90s bumpers.

 

Have a three month old. Live in Eastern PA and do not feel comfortable putting him in any sort of daycare. My wife and I are now both back to working full time from home. Trying to make things work watching the baby while both of us are sitting on calls all day is challenging. Sick of looking at a computer all day for work.

 

I feel you. This has been tough with a 4 year old and nearly 8 month old

 

As challenging as having a baby right now feels, having multiple older kids has to be so much harder. Trying to keep them constantly entertained while being stuck at home. Best of luck to you!

 

Cannot for the life of me get my 2 year old to keep a mask on.

 

You have to start small with like 10 second increments and praise them. And then build up to 30 seconds, a minute, five minutes, etc. Have your mask on. Get really excited when you put theirs on. Get them a mask of character they like. Offer treats and rewards. Make / get a mask for their favorite stuffed animal, etc.

You've probably done most if not all of this already. But you can always call their doctor and get a recommendation as well.

 

MA is making Flu shots mandatory for anyone going to school this year... and my FB feed is quite the comedic content tonight with the response to this. We vaccinate our kids/ourselves (mandatory for me) anyway, so this is no big deal. But, oooof... there are a LOT of angry people over this.

Oh, and we're home schooling our 2nd grader this year anyways.

 

No school for my kid this fall. He would have been in Pre-K, but I'm not okay with sending him into a classroom. They're offering online classes that are 4 hours a day, which I have two issues with. When everything first started closing they moved to 1 hour virtual classes, which 4 year olds were all over the place talking moving around, etc. No way he'll be able to focus for 4 hours. Additionally, don't really want him staring at a screen for 4 hours. So it'll be home school activities for me until at least January.