How are PK3-4 parents feeling about distance learning?

[Anonymous]

People who get a spot at Stokes will likely suffer through DL to keep the spot. I’m sure in PreK the time commitment won’t be terrible. We did PreK at another language program and it was manageable.

This makes sense, but it seems weird for the East End programs because those waitlists were relatively short this year (for comparison, our lottery pull landed us at #156 for Stokes Brookland French but at #16 for East End, and we've moved up 30 spots or so on the Brookland list but only 2 spots on East End), so the programs weren't nearly as in demand as some of the other immersion programs. But maybe the parents who do bid for East End are more committed to making it work and therefore more likely to enroll. We have friends whose kids are there and really love it, so we are still holding out hope. For us, getting a spot there would be worth giving up whatever in-person instruction DCPS will offer. I can see other parents feeling the same way.

[Anonymous]

Had a PK3er finish out the school year with DL and it was nice to for him to see his teachers and friends daily just to provide a little routine for him and give things we could practice after. The teachers really made an effort.

I can't see how that would have had any value if that's how he'd started the school year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Rising PK3-- I'm not feeling good about DL at all- it's basically impossible for that age to keep their attention for longer than 10-20 minutes on a zoom call. If they do anything, it should be 2 days in person 3 days off so we don't have to pretend to log-in to DL 3 days a week.

I also hope they make an accommodation so that families who want to keep their kid home or get some other full-time care (nanny, preschool actually in session etc.) can do that without losing their spot and are guaranteed a spot at that school for PK4 the following year (if we're through this by then, which at this rate...who knows!)

Agree about DL. I saw a K teacher post a daily schedule for DL and while I could see it working for a 5 year old, I can't imagine my kid being able to sustain focus on a computer screen for that long (it was a 30 daily group call, a 45 minute 1-on-1 call with the teacher, and then a couple optional offline lessons).

As for whether people can opt out of DL and keep their spot, I'm on the fence. The lottery is tough, there are always winners and losers, and it seems unfair to families who would be willing to try and work within whatever is being offered this year to be denied a spot so it could be held open for someone not participating. But I also see the bind that puts lots of families in, to decide between losing your spot or doing pointless DL with a PK student. The problem really highlights the degree to which a "good" lottery spot is a prize people get based on nothing but luck, which is what sucks about the system.

[Anonymous]

We have a rising PK-4 at a language immersion charter school. The DL learning this past spring for PK-3 class was ok. I think the teachers really tried but it's difficult to keep kids that age focused on a 20-30 minute zoom meeting. The rest of the activities were pre-recorded videos in the target language - songs, stories, etc. It was only about 1 hour of content each day. Totally manageable. I did like the fact my kid had DL each day because it helped create some consistency and routine.

We are sticking with PK-4 this fall even though I don't have high expectations for DL.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Rising PK3-- I'm not feeling good about DL at all- it's basically impossible for that age to keep their attention for longer than 10-20 minutes on a zoom call. If they do anything, it should be 2 days in person 3 days off so we don't have to pretend to log-in to DL 3 days a week.

I also hope they make an accommodation so that families who want to keep their kid home or get some other full-time care (nanny, preschool actually in session etc.) can do that without losing their spot and are guaranteed a spot at that school for PK4 the following year (if we're through this by then, which at this rate...who knows!)

If a family is getting a nanny or a parent at home you should be able to do the 20-45 minutes per day of writing practice, readalouds, art projects, weekly class meetings, etc rather than ask a school to not serve you and possibly lose out on their per pupil funding when they need all the resources they can get.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Rising PK3-- I'm not feeling good about DL at all- it's basically impossible for that age to keep their attention for longer than 10-20 minutes on a zoom call. If they do anything, it should be 2 days in person 3 days off so we don't have to pretend to log-in to DL 3 days a week.

I also hope they make an accommodation so that families who want to keep their kid home or get some other full-time care (nanny, preschool actually in session etc.) can do that without losing their spot and are guaranteed a spot at that school for PK4 the following year (if we're through this by then, which at this rate...who knows!)

If a family is getting a nanny or a parent at home you should be able to do the 20-45 minutes per day of writing practice, readalouds, art projects, weekly class meetings, etc rather than ask a school to not serve you and possibly lose out on their per pupil funding when they need all the resources they can get.

This. We have no idea how much DL we will do with our PK3 child this fall, but we definitely enrolled and will stay enrolled simply because we don't want to negatively impact the school by withdrawing.

I really don't like the idea that a parent could choose to send their kid to an in-person daycare for this year but retain their spot in a school program because of the pandemic. It would be different if a family opted out of in-person because of concerns about health and safety, but if they are willing to send their kid to in-person care elsewhere (so obviously not that concerned about health/safety), I think they should give up their spot to another family who cannot afford private care. Come on.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Rising PK3-- I'm not feeling good about DL at all- it's basically impossible for that age to keep their attention for longer than 10-20 minutes on a zoom call. If they do anything, it should be 2 days in person 3 days off so we don't have to pretend to log-in to DL 3 days a week.

I also hope they make an accommodation so that families who want to keep their kid home or get some other full-time care (nanny, preschool actually in session etc.) can do that without losing their spot and are guaranteed a spot at that school for PK4 the following year (if we're through this by then, which at this rate...who knows!)

If a family is getting a nanny or a parent at home you should be able to do the 20-45 minutes per day of writing practice, readalouds, art projects, weekly class meetings, etc rather than ask a school to not serve you and possibly lose out on their per pupil funding when they need all the resources they can get.

This. We have no idea how much DL we will do with our PK3 child this fall, but we definitely enrolled and will stay enrolled simply because we don't want to negatively impact the school by withdrawing.

I really don't like the idea that a parent could choose to send their kid to an in-person daycare for this year but retain their spot in a school program because of the pandemic. It would be different if a family opted out of in-person because of concerns about health and safety, but if they are willing to send their kid to in-person care elsewhere (so obviously not that concerned about health/safety), I think they should give up their spot to another family who cannot afford private care. Come on.

Well I’m sorry that you can manage working from home with your kids. My husband is an essential worker and out of the home. That leaves me home alone with three kids and a full time job. So I don’t think it’s unreasonable for me to expect the school to hold my spot if they can offer him no in school days. It’s a different calculation of some in school days are provided.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Rising PK3-- I'm not feeling good about DL at all- it's basically impossible for that age to keep their attention for longer than 10-20 minutes on a zoom call. If they do anything, it should be 2 days in person 3 days off so we don't have to pretend to log-in to DL 3 days a week.

I also hope they make an accommodation so that families who want to keep their kid home or get some other full-time care (nanny, preschool actually in session etc.) can do that without losing their spot and are guaranteed a spot at that school for PK4 the following year (if we're through this by then, which at this rate...who knows!)

If a family is getting a nanny or a parent at home you should be able to do the 20-45 minutes per day of writing practice, readalouds, art projects, weekly class meetings, etc rather than ask a school to not serve you and possibly lose out on their per pupil funding when they need all the resources they can get.

This. We have no idea how much DL we will do with our PK3 child this fall, but we definitely enrolled and will stay enrolled simply because we don't want to negatively impact the school by withdrawing.

I really don't like the idea that a parent could choose to send their kid to an in-person daycare for this year but retain their spot in a school program because of the pandemic. It would be different if a family opted out of in-person because of concerns about health and safety, but if they are willing to send their kid to in-person care elsewhere (so obviously not that concerned about health/safety), I think they should give up their spot to another family who cannot afford private care. Come on.

Parents are getting nanny’s, nanny shares, forming pods and generally being creative so we can work. If DL is an option people should be able to take it, whether the reason is for health and safety or not. I have to opt for DL and send mine to day care. I can’t work from home and I need before and after care so a hybrid model doesn’t work.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We have a rising PK-4 at a language immersion charter school. The DL learning this past spring for PK-3 class was ok. I think the teachers really tried but it's difficult to keep kids that age focused on a 20-30 minute zoom meeting. The rest of the activities were pre-recorded videos in the target language - songs, stories, etc. It was only about 1 hour of content each day. Totally manageable. I did like the fact my kid had DL each day because it helped create some consistency and routine.

We are sticking with PK-4 this fall even though I don't have high expectations for DL.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Rising PK3-- I'm not feeling good about DL at all- it's basically impossible for that age to keep their attention for longer than 10-20 minutes on a zoom call. If they do anything, it should be 2 days in person 3 days off so we don't have to pretend to log-in to DL 3 days a week.

I also hope they make an accommodation so that families who want to keep their kid home or get some other full-time care (nanny, preschool actually in session etc.) can do that without losing their spot and are guaranteed a spot at that school for PK4 the following year (if we're through this by then, which at this rate...who knows!)

If a family is getting a nanny or a parent at home you should be able to do the 20-45 minutes per day of writing practice, readalouds, art projects, weekly class meetings, etc rather than ask a school to not serve you and possibly lose out on their per pupil funding when they need all the resources they can get.

This. We have no idea how much DL we will do with our PK3 child this fall, but we definitely enrolled and will stay enrolled simply because we don't want to negatively impact the school by withdrawing.

I really don't like the idea that a parent could choose to send their kid to an in-person daycare for this year but retain their spot in a school program because of the pandemic. It would be different if a family opted out of in-person because of concerns about health and safety, but if they are willing to send their kid to in-person care elsewhere (so obviously not that concerned about health/safety), I think they should give up their spot to another family who cannot afford private care. Come on.

Well I’m sorry that you can manage working from home with your kids. My husband is an essential worker and out of the home. That leaves me home alone with three kids and a full time job. So I don’t think it’s unreasonable for me to expect the school to hold my spot if they can offer him no in school days. It’s a different calculation of some in school days are provided.

That sounds really hard. I hope you have support for your other 2! Unless this year is drastically different from last I think your kiddo could still do the read aloud videos, writing practice, teacher check ins, maybe in evenings or over weekends depending on attendance requirements. It was barely anything for my pk4 kid. No path forward is fair to all families and I have no idea what flexibility schools will have from OSSE

I think we all have to be prepared that, no matter what, all schools and other child care settings will end up closing except for emergency care for kids of medical providers and other narrowly defined essential employees. It will be really hard.

[Anonymous]

What am I doing? Going to stay in the country where DH and the kids have dual citizenship. Schools have reopened there bc they have a functioning central government. Just about ready to sell our house and make it permanent too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What am I doing? Going to stay in the country where DH and the kids have dual citizenship. Schools have reopened there bc they have a functioning central government. Just about ready to sell our house and make it permanent too.

I'm envious!

[Anonymous]

Just remember in Germany they don't even start any proper schooling until about age 5/6....and they've done great responding to Coronavirus. So maybe we should just all relax about the effect on our younger ones (I have a child nominally going into PK3) and admit this is really our concerns about our own tiredness and stress rather than theirs...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Rising PK3-- I'm not feeling good about DL at all- it's basically impossible for that age to keep their attention for longer than 10-20 minutes on a zoom call. If they do anything, it should be 2 days in person 3 days off so we don't have to pretend to log-in to DL 3 days a week.

I also hope they make an accommodation so that families who want to keep their kid home or get some other full-time care (nanny, preschool actually in session etc.) can do that without losing their spot and are guaranteed a spot at that school for PK4 the following year (if we're through this by then, which at this rate...who knows!)

If a family is getting a nanny or a parent at home you should be able to do the 20-45 minutes per day of writing practice, readalouds, art projects, weekly class meetings, etc rather than ask a school to not serve you and possibly lose out on their per pupil funding when they need all the resources they can get.

This. We have no idea how much DL we will do with our PK3 child this fall, but we definitely enrolled and will stay enrolled simply because we don't want to negatively impact the school by withdrawing.

I really don't like the idea that a parent could choose to send their kid to an in-person daycare for this year but retain their spot in a school program because of the pandemic. It would be different if a family opted out of in-person because of concerns about health and safety, but if they are willing to send their kid to in-person care elsewhere (so obviously not that concerned about health/safety), I think they should give up their spot to another family who cannot afford private care. Come on.

Well I’m sorry that you can manage working from home with your kids. My husband is an essential worker and out of the home. That leaves me home alone with three kids and a full time job. So I don’t think it’s unreasonable for me to expect the school to hold my spot if they can offer him no in school days. It’s a different calculation of some in school days are provided.

PP here. I think you misunderstood. Obviously if there is no in-person school people are going to have to do whatever they need to do to get by -- everyone is struggling with this situation (I would not say that I am "managing" particularly well). I meant that if there is in-person school and some families choose to send their kids to private daycare instead, I feel weird about saying the schools should save those spots for them when another kid could occupy it this year. If everything is DL, even kids going to daycare could probably participate with DL minimally. I was just talking about in-person slots. Some folks can't afford a private option and those who can shouldn't also get to hold on to DCPS slots that could go to students whose parents don't have the option of paying someone to watch their kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What am I doing? Going to stay in the country where DH and the kids have dual citizenship. Schools have reopened there bc they have a functioning central government. Just about ready to sell our house and make it permanent too.

I'm envious!

We would be doing the same except I, as an American, am not allowed to enter the country where DH and kids are dual citizens.