DL for years: How to prepare? What to do? Help me brainstorm.

[Anonymous]

Looking at the response of school/government/unions and what is happening with covid-19 (both in terms of spread and vaccine/treatment development), I think it's probable that full DL will be in place for years where we live. I am of course desperately hoping I am wrong. However, my default assumption at this point is that the earliest there will be some form of in-person learning will be fall 2022. (I don't want to debate the politics behind this in this thread. Please just assume in this thread that for whatever reason, full DL will exist until at least fall 2022.)

My kids are older (middle/HS) with SNs that were well-managed pre-DL. But DL was very challenging for them due to SNs. They were/are good students, but I would say that they learned a fraction of what they usually learn in spring DL. I am particularly worried about depression in one teen.

With that background, what would you do? I am trying to brainstorm what I should do. Our jobs can be done remotely but not easily out of the US.

Thanks!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Looking at the response of school/government/unions and what is happening with covid-19 (both in terms of spread and vaccine/treatment development), I think it's probable that full DL will be in place for years where we live. I am of course desperately hoping I am wrong. However, my default assumption at this point is that the earliest there will be some form of in-person learning will be fall 2022. (I don't want to debate the politics behind this in this thread. Please just assume in this thread that for whatever reason, full DL will exist until at least fall 2022.)

My kids are older (middle/HS) with SNs that were well-managed pre-DL. But DL was very challenging for them due to SNs. They were/are good students, but I would say that they learned a fraction of what they usually learn in spring DL. I am particularly worried about depression in one teen.

With that background, what would you do? I am trying to brainstorm what I should do. Our jobs can be done remotely but not easily out of the US.

Thanks!

I would consider
--hiring a teacher/tutor to come to your home for several hours each day
--having a parent take leave or quit to be able to focus on the school work
--consider moving to a rural area where school is more likely to be in-person

[Anonymous]

OP, I would consider mental health treatment for yourself

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, I would consider mental health treatment for yourself

not OP. This school is without a doubt DL. Next school is, depending on treatments and vaccine effectiveness/distribution effectiveness, is not out of the question DL. I think beyond that is unlikely at least for elementary. Fatigue will set in and the unemployed will decide to teach and basically unions will be busted and distracts will hand out one month training temporary certificates. Middle and high school may be DL for 3 or more years though.

[Anonymous]

Move

[Anonymous]

I agree OP. Unless there’s a vaccine this year that is mass distributed, we are out of luck for many years. We have a vacation home in Trump country. I will move there even though the schools are abysmal. I’d rather live among the nut jobs if it means my kids will actually learn! Thankfully, they are in elementary so I think the damage will be limited.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I agree OP. Unless there’s a vaccine this year that is mass distributed, we are out of luck for many years. We have a vacation home in Trump country. I will move there even though the schools are abysmal. I’d rather live among the nut jobs if it means my kids will actually learn! Thankfully, they are in elementary so I think the damage will be limited.

I don't get it. If the schools are 'abysmal', how would you children learn, and why wouldn't they learn where schools aren't abysmal with DL if you supplement/stay on top of it?
I'd understand living among the nut jobs if your kids were getting stellar education, but otherwise..

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I agree OP. Unless there’s a vaccine this year that is mass distributed, we are out of luck for many years. We have a vacation home in Trump country. I will move there even though the schools are abysmal. I’d rather live among the nut jobs if it means my kids will actually learn! Thankfully, they are in elementary so I think the damage will be limited.

I don't get it. If the schools are 'abysmal', how would you children learn, and why wouldn't they learn where schools aren't abysmal with DL if you supplement/stay on top of it?
I'd understand living among the nut jobs if your kids were getting stellar education, but otherwise..

I don’t know that you are correct but let’s say you are, I don’t think you need to move to somewhere where everyone is in virus denial. Maybe somewhere like VT or rural NH where rates have been low and I think schools may open even this year.

You could also look at small privates, either here or in more out of the way locations.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, I would consider mental health treatment for yourself

Barring an unexpectedly fast scientific breakthrough (which could happen, but is not the most likely outcome), years of DL is realistic. Those who think otherwise are delusional. There may be a few half-hearted attempts to go back next fall, but they won't stick.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, I would consider mental health treatment for yourself

Barring an unexpectedly fast scientific breakthrough (which could happen, but is not the most likely outcome), years of DL is realistic. Those who think otherwise are delusional. There may be a few half-hearted attempts to go back next fall, but they won't stick.

NP. Unfortunately, I agree with this. I'd estimate that DL will be in place for about three years. Pretty much any credible medical expert does not think this will blow over in a year. We very well might have a vaccine in a few months, but by the time it is distributed, I think initial outbreak of the pandemic will likely be over. https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2020/07/covid-19-vaccine-reality-check/614566/

I was laughed at in March when I said that there wouldn't be school next year, and here we are.

Yes, I do believe that teacher unions and school districts will be broken up across the country, but that isn't going to happen in a year. It is going to take some time, and local school board elections will need to cycle through.

[Anonymous]

Ok you guys are nuts. Don't you think a hard shutdown for 4-6 weeks followed by legit testing and contact tracing like they have done in all the "good" countries (Denmark, Iceland, Norway, Germany, France) would make more sense then having the country distance learn for years and years??

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I agree OP. Unless there’s a vaccine this year that is mass distributed, we are out of luck for many years. We have a vacation home in Trump country. I will move there even though the schools are abysmal. I’d rather live among the nut jobs if it means my kids will actually learn! Thankfully, they are in elementary so I think the damage will be limited.

I don't get it. If the schools are 'abysmal', how would you children learn, and why wouldn't they learn where schools aren't abysmal with DL if you supplement/stay on top of it?
I'd understand living among the nut jobs if your kids were getting stellar education, but otherwise..

I don’t know that you are correct but let’s say you are, I don’t think you need to move to somewhere where everyone is in virus denial. Maybe somewhere like VT or rural NH where rates have been low and I think schools may open even this year.

You could also look at small privates, either here or in more out of the way locations.

The house is in rural Virginia in the mountains. I generally think all elementary schools are find even if the district as a whole is terrible. I’m not rich this a family home that we inherited. I can’t afford private but I do telework so I can move.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ok you guys are nuts. Don't you think a hard shutdown for 4-6 weeks followed by legit testing and contact tracing like they have done in all the "good" countries (Denmark, Iceland, Norway, Germany, France) would make more sense then having the country distance learn for years and years??

sure - but people have to do it and the US have already shown they won't do it. We'll DL for three years when we'll finally go back with untrained teachers because all the real teachers will have quit rather than risk COVID and DL will be accepted as bunk after two and a half failed years of it.

[Anonymous]

My daughter is also SN (7th grade) and we finally had all the sensory/anxiety issues managed before COVID and then it came crashing. After 2 months of therapy (by zoom) which helped prevent issues (but didn't solve issues), we have found a solution for us for long term that I'm sharing in hopes it works for you (but each SN is different).

We are pulling DD out of school and enrolling her in a self-paced accredited online program for the classes she wants to take (just math right now which is fine). She will get a real grade for that class We are then letting her self-learn the rest using an ungraded self-paced, non-accredited program. She will get all As for these classes (meaningless because they are not accredited anyway).

If this continues until high school, I will enroll her full-time in the self-paced program.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ok you guys are nuts. Don't you think a hard shutdown for 4-6 weeks followed by legit testing and contact tracing like they have done in all the "good" countries (Denmark, Iceland, Norway, Germany, France) would make more sense then having the country distance learn for years and years??

Denmark's population - 5.8 million people
Iceland's population - 350,000 people
Norway's population - 5.5 million people
Germany's population - 83 million people
France's population - 67 million

US's population - 330 million

So, of the countries you've listed, the largest one is only 25% as large as the US. Adding to that, the US has 50 different state governments that have have tons of power. The division of power in the US is normally a great thing, but it makes a strong, uniform government response to something like this nearly impossible.

Since we're calling names, I'd say you're nuts to be comparing the USA to countries that have populations that are half the size of Pennsylvania.

This is not going away in the next few years.