Extended spring break?

[DisorientingSneeze]

Trust me I don’t want them over here, but they live nextdoor. Good news is as of yesterday they seem to be roving less.

 

[twf]

By balance a chequebook I assume you actually mean “properly use the bank app and learn how to budget”?
To be honest, I’m 33 and I’m not 100% sure I know what “balancing a chequebook” really means… do people still have chequebooks?

 

[whatistrue]

I’m not 100% sure I know what “balancing a chequebook” really means… do people still have chequebooks?

Oh my. While we don’t do everything by check or cash like “the old days”, there are still certain transactions that work better and more reliably for us by check than electronically. So yes, real people really do still have and use checkbooks, and balancing one is a skill that, in my opinion, everyone who has a bank account should know. And lest anyone think that I am a Luddite, I have made my living for most of my adult life working with and on computer and associated ancillary systems of varying complexity, and currently manage enterprise storage systems (if the terms SAN, NAS, CDN, and S3 mean anything to you, then you know what I do) for a US government entity, the latest in a moderately long string of government and non-profit entities I have done so for.

 

[Phemie]

By balance a chequebook I assume you actually mean “properly use the bank app and learn how to budget”?
To be honest, I’m 33 and I’m not 100% sure I know what “balancing a chequebook” really means… do people still have chequebooks?

“Reconcile their bank account” is probably the better term in these days of electronic transactions.

But I pay the bills at work by cheque and I also do the bookkeeping so this morning I was indeed “balancing the chequebook”.
There are also things that I do pay with a personal cheque.

 

[0Scarlett_nidiyilii]

And lest anyone think that I am a Luddite,

Hey, what’s wrong with Luddites ?

 

[whatistrue]

As a personal choice, nothing at all.

 

[twf]

I was somewhat exaggerating. I do occasionally write cheques… really only for the parish for the most part, since they weren’t set up for electronic offering (prior to COVID - that has now changed). I never use cash. If I do write a cheque, I will check my online banking to see that it went through. I’m not really sure what I’m supposed to be “balancing” beyond that. I’m certainly not checking against a book - the number of cheques I write are rare enough that they are in my head.
As a kid, I remember my dad routinely going through a chequebook. I go through my accounts on online banking. I suppose it’s the same end result.

 

[whatistrue]

I’m certainly not checking against a book - the number of cheques I write are rare enough that they are in my head.
As a kid, I remember my dad routinely going through a chequebook. I go through my accounts on online banking. I suppose it’s the same end result.

The first line is, in my personal experience, very dangerous. I have more than once failed to enter a check in the register and later forgotten it when checking balance, with bad results. My memory is very good. It is not perfect.

The process of reconciliation can be pretty much the same, as long as the checks are written down somewhere and tracked. Depending on memory has bitten me too many times; yours might be better but why take the chance? I always keep a written record of checks and adjust online balance on a running basis and check for errors on the bank’s part (yes, they do still happen sometimes). Of course I am fortunate these days that I am in a position to keep a decent cushion in the account at all times so that basic bookkeeping errors are not likely to cause an overdraft, but that is a fairly recent situation.

ETA: Not to mention the fact that I am not the only one writing checks against the account - we both write them down and in the same place.

 

[Allegra]

I suspect my eldest has ADD and I absolutely hate the way she acts when she’s been exposed to the tablet or even when she’s been allowed too much TV time. She becomes like an enraged addict when it’s time to put it away. I have no patience for it as I really don’t think video games add any quality to a person’s life, so I’m just fine with being the “mean mom” who doesn’t allow any video games and limits TV. The strange thing about it is, the “good TV”, such as quality films and educational programing, doesn’t typically illicit the same psycho response. I don’t want to sound like a conspiracy theorist, but I think there’s something subliminal in lousy kids TV shows that glues kids to them like the bells and lights on a slot machine. Anyway, with all the video game junk my kid’s teacher is sending out for her to do, I wade through it and the part that is actually educational, she gets an hour or so in the morning to get it all done, and then the rest of the objectives we do offline.

 

[otjm]

Hooray for you!

When I was raising my twin daughters, I read to them - incessantly, some might say. There was no such thing as video games, tablets were far off in the future (thank the Good Lord!).

The “bad” TV I suspect doesn’t challenge that part of the brain which interacts with “good TV” and may well be the source of the behavior, but I am no neuro psychiatrist. Just an observer.

Oh, and the comment about “hearing my voice” - I came across tapes of readers reading some stories from Rudyard Kipling decades ago, so when I would read, I would try different “voices” for the different characters. Bit of a challenge, but apparently it made it fun.

 

[DisorientingSneeze]

Whelp. Our schedule has changed considerably.
Now it looks like:
Wake up and do morning steps
Do one week’s worth of one subject for school with the kindergartener (who is so driven it’s refreshing)
Probably eat
Do one week’s worth of one subject with the 2nd grader.
Chaplet of Divine Mercy

Its wrecked all the whole family fun stuff that the school is taking grades now.

 

[Allegra]

None of the schools in our area are taking grades for elementary students for what should be obvious reasons. Why hold kids accountable for what their parents are capable of or willing to do? Even so, I think my daughter’s kindy teacher has done a good job of weeding through the online junk and picking out the best resources for what the kids really need. She has a list of suggestions each day (She’s dispensed with the ludicrous schedule) She’s provided an online source for level-appropriate reading material, but students are allowed to read their own books if they can get them. She has Dreambox for math, as well as a page links to other math games. She has a variety of writing assignments to choose from, many of which are the sort of thing kids do anyway, like write a card to grandma or make a list of things you want to do at the park. There’s a science unit of related experiments and activities (light themed right now) and students can do as many or as few as they want. Art, Music, STEAM, and PE have a variety of suggested activities, but none are required. It’s all very manageable at this point. Academically, I think my girl is doing better than she was, actually going to school! THe cool thing is, a lot of these activities are designed for all the elementary kids to do together as a family. My four year old can do a lot of the assignments alongside his sister. My sister brought my niece over today while she went to the grocery store (which no longer allows children. ) and they all were doing their STEM challenge together in the front yard. It was all pretty hectic at first as they were trying to sign up for EVERYTHING available, but now they’ve got it moving more smoothly and it’s actually pretty fun!

 

[Peeps]

None of the schools in our area are taking grades for elementary students for what should be obvious reasons. Why hold kids accountable for what their parents are capable of or willing to do?

Why indeed? What the schools in your area are doing sounds so sensible and actually kind of helpful!

The story of the fiasco of “school at home during COVID” is a story that no one in our city has the nerve to report. I wish local journalists would grow some courage and investigate, but teachers are absolutely untouchable where I live. They are slightly below saints and can do little wrong (unless they have sex with students).

The teachers in our public school district have created a schedule that requires around 5 hours/day at home during COVID shutdown. Every subject is covered daily.

I have talked to so many parents who are angry, upset, tearful, exhausted, frustrated, and who have just given up and are allowing themselves and their children to just play and relax.

All of these are working parents who are not home during the day. Grandparents are caring for their children, since there are no “day care centers” or “YMCA Day Camps” open for school-aged children and young teens. Many of the grandparents do not routinely use a computer for anything other than forums like this, and have no clue how to use all the little machines, including i Phones, that their children and grandchildren are familiar with. Also, many of the grandparents don’t understand the way math and reading are taught now.

I can’t understand why the media won’t cover this story and expose the frustration of the parents and the unrealistic expectations of the teachers (who are probably trying to justify their high salaries and many perks, and working towards their fabulous retirement pensions–the tax-weary public is not going to be happy to learn that they are still paying for all these things while the teachers sit home and watch Hulu and drink wine all day).

At any rate, even though I have no children or grandchildren in school, it frustrate me to no end to hear my co-workers go on about this. If I were one of these parents, I would have started a public rebellion by now and told the teachers to “learn how real families live”–by working for a living.

I think that all school for public school students should be suspended during this hard time, because parents have enough on their plate between working–or being laid off and losing their income, procuring/preparing food for the family, making sure elderly relatives are safe and well, and trying to keep their own and their family’s morale up. It’s exhausting–and I don’t even have children at home! I think the teachers ought to go…chill out. And we may as well pay them for this time off, or there will be yet another teachers’ strike in the fall (or whenever school opens again).

It’s SNOWING here today, and I frankly am as sick of winter as I am of COVID.

 

[Allegra]

I think you must have lost your mind! I’ll have you know that I was up until 12:30 last night making personalized instructional videos for my students. It’s not the first time this week. Teachers, with almost no notice whatsoever, have had to figure out what affordable resources are out there for home learning and figure out how to use them effectively. Believe me, they are also being pushed to use different platforms and programs that they have never used before and it is taking hours upon hours of experimentation to create a curriculum that can be used by students at home, often without the benefit of any of their classroom materials. (We were literally given two hours to evacuate our building and were told to take what we needed for two weeks of instruction and spring break. We have not be allowed back in the building to get the rest of our instructional materials for the rest of the year.)
Even though I am not being asked to take official marks for my students this term, many to most of my kids actually do want to continue learning and many of their parents are genuinely concerned about regression and actually WANT accessible work for them to do. I’m getting roughly 50 assignments a day that I have to review and provide feedback for. At the same time, I am overseeing the school work of my own children, who are also home. (Which is why I’m doing a lot of this well into the night.) In addition to all of the curriculum work I am doing, we are also having online meetings every day with various classes each day, including during non-contract time, because many of our students are not home during the day. My daughter’s teacher is having daily online meetings with individual students and families, reading with students online, making instructional videos, and adjusting curriculum and resources for each individual student in her class. She also has a 6yo and twin 3yos, one of which is significantly disabled, that she is caring for at the same time. She is also earning her keep. In addition to all that, the teachers who I know who do not have young children at home, are volunteering their hours to go to student’s homes and provide them with technology they need, make repairs, and deliver meals to families, all on their own time.

 

[Allegra]

I agree that taking official marks right now is pointless and nothing more than added stress for all parties (That decision was probably not made by the teachers or with their (name removed by moderator)ut.), but just because some of your friends feel stressed about trying to find time to do school work doesn’t mean it shouldn’t be offered to families that do have the time. Lots of the parents feel equally stressed by not having materials for their kids to learn from because they are home and they are trying their best to keep their lives as normal as possible without the falling behind. Lots of parents have kids who are at serious risk of falling behind when they aren’t in school, such as our 20% ELL population and our kids with reading and language disabilities. Their teachers are the ones on the phone and email with parents all day, trying to come up with solutions for them to learn at home so the kids don’t lose everything they’ve worked on this year and the parents don’t lose their minds.
An acquaintance of mine is a Special School District teacher who works with students who are deaf. She is literally on the computer 10 hours a day right now, video conferencing with students and parents at times a that work for them. Her kids’ parents definitely do NOT want their kids’ school services to go away because it would be more convenient for your work friends to let their non-disabled, non-at risk children have an extra long break. She also has two young children, by the way. Not everyone’s situation is the same and it’s ridiculous to demand that schools cater to one situation at the expense of another. But at any rate, you can be assured that the teachers are earning their “high pay” ($41,000 this year) and health insurance. Most are working far outside their contract hours on curriculum alone and that’s with their own children climbing all over them.

 

[whatistrue]

The teachers in our public school district have created a schedule that requires around 5 hours/day at home during COVID shutdown. Every subject is covered daily.

I have talked to so many parents who are angry, upset, tearful, exhausted, frustrated, and who have just given up and are allowing themselves and their children to just play and relax.

So parents are mad that the school district has mandated to the teachers that they provide 5 hours per day of material? And that is too much for them to handle with their own child, or let’s be generous and say their own 5 children? When under normal circumstances an elementary school teacher spends 7 hours of actual instructional time for somewhere between 20 and 30 students every school day, plus a large number of other hours for conferences, grading, preparation, and so forth. Unbelievable.

expectations of the teachers (who are probably trying to justify their high salaries and many perks, and working towards their fabulous retirement pensions–the tax-weary public is not going to be happy to learn that they are still paying for all these things while the teachers sit home and watch Hulu and drink wine all day).

I am married to a public school teacher, and your characterization is so far from the truth it is laughable. She has a Master’s degree with approximately 20 years of experience and I don’t even have a Bachelor’s, yet I make approximately 50% more than she does. High salary? For the required education and amount of work necessary to do the job? Not even close.

I think that all school for public school students should be suspended during this hard time, because parents have enough on their plate

Makes sense to me. But the school district decided otherwise here (other districts in the state have done exactly as you said) so we have to deal with things as they are.

And we may as well pay them

At least here, it is not a matter of “might as well”, it is a matter of “contractually obligated”.

 

[Peeps]

So parents are mad that the school district has mandated to the teachers that they provide 5 hours per day of material? And that is too much for them to handle with their own child, or let’s be generous and say their own 5 children?

Yes, it is too much to handle when BOTH parents are working (about 75-80% of the population in the U.S. is still working) FULLTIME, either from home or at a store, hospital, or factory.

Very few parents are able to be at work in a hospital (lab is where I and my co-workers are) for 8.5 hours (also add in the time to get ready before the shift and drive/transport to the hospital, and then the time to drive/transport home), and come home to make or take out some kind of evening meal and then sit down around 5:00 p.m. and spend FIVE HOURS working with their children on their assignments.

Do you think this is reasonable? Perhaps my working associates with school-aged children (not teens) are just weak-willed or lazy? Remember before you answer that these are the people who are working to diagnose and treat COVID-19 patients, and therefore, are dealing with a virus that has already killed thousands of people and is capable of killing THEM if there is a breech in protection. So perhaps it would be good to add a “stress factor” into the 13.5 hours workday.

Do you think it is unreasonable of me to expect that parents who have worked 8.5 hours should expect to have a little “down time” with their children and possibly alone as well? Or is that just self-centeredness?

Do you think it’s realistic in a school district where only 15% of schoolchildren achieve grade level on standardized tests for the parent(s) of these children to suddenly become capable of spending 5 hours with them on schoolwork when they obviously have not been able to help their child achieve grade level when there WASN’T a pandemic/job loss/grocery shortages/uncertainty and fear?

Do you think it is realistic to expect that grandparents who have not had to care for several school-aged children until the last few months, and in all likelihood are not retired schoolteachers are going to be able to not only provide care, but also take on the job of teaching school using computer technology (not the Jitterbug phone) for 5 hours? Consider also the possibility that many of these grandparents are possibly still working themselves and are perhaps leaving work early or trying to work from home to be able to help out with childcare?

Finally, do you really think it’s realistic to expect a parent who has never had any formal training in education to know how to deal with their children who may have learning disabilities, or who are having a hard time comprehending certain subjects, and who are, on top of everything else, scared to death over the possibility (or perhaps have already experienced the reality) of seeing someone they love contract the virus and suffer/die?

 

[whatistrue]

All of which is why, at least in our school district, the activities are optional (no student or parent is required to participate; all of the participation requirements are laid on the teachers), no new material is allowed to be introduced (review of previously covered material, even in lower grades, is all that can be done), and no grades are given. The school administration here is well aware of the demands being placed on families (shockingly enough, most of them have families also) and is trying hard to balance those demands with providing the opportunity for continued interaction and enrichment for the students. If a parent is unable (or even just unwilling) to be involved, or the student has no access (for any reason) to the technology required to take advantage of the available resources, the only penalty is that they don’t get to do the review or talk to the teachers or other students; no one will fail a single subject or not be allowed to graduate simply because of the pandemic. In fact, when making the announcement that all of the state’s schools would remain closed for the remainder of the year, the Governor stated clearly that anyone on track to graduate would do so, so that’s not just our district. And of course some districts have, as I said, stated that the school year is over and are not even providing the opportunity for students who may want to, and who have parents who can support the work, to do anything at all except what they can figure out and put together themselves. Frankly I feel more for those students (along with the families where every adult is working full time still) than I do for parents who simply can’t be bothered to help teach their own kids (and we both know that there are parents like that).

 

[0Scarlett_nidiyilii]

I’m lucky enough to have been able to work around my husband’s schedule, and now my kids are older and self-starters.

But I can imagine the scenario where there is a work at home parent who is scared to lose their job and is trying to appease a boss who may be contemplating layoffs…
A parent still on the job at a site away from home…
And the kids, by default, running wild.

Most people arranged their lives not taking into an account a pandemic/shut down that has never happened before in memory.

 

[Pattylt]

I posted this elsewhere but I want to post it again. Our school district is one of the poorest in the various districts of Northern Colorado and over 50% Hispanic or other minority.

I’ve been so impressed with our school district. Districts nearby have been late, uncoordinated and basically leaving it up to the kids and parents on what they are supposed to accomplish.

Not ours. The first week of school closure was spring break. By the time the second week rolled around they had set in place a system for every child that doesn’t have internet or a computer device of some sort to access the internet, was assigned a chrome book. They arranged with our internet carrier for free internet access. They sent out a schedule for parent/teacher meetings on the phone or computer twice a week. They had assignments and direct links to the pages. The teachers can see how much time each student has spent working on assignments and can further guide them at the twice weekly conferences. Plus, they are accessible by email or text messages and they respond very quickly. They even set up a complaint line for parents unable to reach teachers within a reasonable amount of time as well as a hotline for homework questions, staffed by a teacher.

It has gone so smoothly that not only am astonished, I’m going to do my best to get the board re-elected! My granddaughter is far enough ahead on her work that she can take tomorrow off. Her assignments take about three to four hours daily…she enjoys them so much she often works longer on them…thus a day off!

My grandsons high school work actually has virtual classrooms…the students can see each other and the teacher can interact with them. His last four to five hours…depending on the day. Each lecture/interaction online is about forty minutes long, the next starting at the top of each hour so room to last a bit longer if needed.

My granddaughter in another district just finally started having assignments and almost no interaction with teachers. They are left on their own to finish assignments and in all, takes about two hours…too short I think. My son (her dad) decided to add some teaching time with her…covering topics they have completely left out like geography and some classic literature.

This home schooling can be done right and can definitely be done wrong. I’m hoping that if things continue, deficiencies will be corrected. I am sympathetic to having never been in this situation before!