My twins were slated to start K in the fall and we are skipping it. In the spring I taught them to read with the Learning Dynamics 4-weeks-to-read Boxed curriculum. We are learning to count to 100 and do basic math by doing board games and doing projects like I made them count a big bowl of fruit loops by color before eating cereal for lunch one day. They get to watch 30 minutes of educational tv every day (like documentaries, not like Dora is “teaching them spanish”). And we read a LOT. I bring a non-fiction and a fiction chapter boom with us to the park every day and read aloud while they eat. They are at or ahead of end-of-K milestones in most areas and we only do formal “school” for like 30 minutes a day per kid, and not at all on weekends. I don’t know what your relationship with her is but it is very easy to do homeschool for this age, and much more flexible than the nightmare that is DL per all of my friends who did it last year.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If her husband is a NIH employee, they really should not worry much about "educating" their K kid or their kid falling behind. The truth is that K is pretty much useless educationally for kids from educated families. For them, it is mostly social/emotional (which NONE of the kids are getting right now so everyone is in the same boat). Plus whenever they return to fulltime school, the lower elementary classes are going to be mostly review anyway. Bottom line is, with a kid whose parents are college educated and work at NIH, assuming the kid is neurotypical, you can do very little for K and the kid will still be fine when they start again.

This.

They can probably also afford a PT tutor if they really want him to learn to read this year.

I was going to say, I don’t think this is right unless the parents are willing/able to do a lot of work on reading to get ready for 1st grade. Of course that may well be true.

Anonymous wrote:If her husband is a NIH employee, they really should not worry much about "educating" their K kid or their kid falling behind. The truth is that K is pretty much useless educationally for kids from educated families. For them, it is mostly social/emotional (which NONE of the kids are getting right now so everyone is in the same boat). Plus whenever they return to fulltime school, the lower elementary classes are going to be mostly review anyway. Bottom line is, with a kid whose parents are college educated and work at NIH, assuming the kid is neurotypical, you can do very little for K and the kid will still be fine when they start again.

This.

They can probably also afford a PT tutor if they really want him to learn to read this year.

If her husband is a NIH employee, they really should not worry much about "educating" their K kid or their kid falling behind. The truth is that K is pretty much useless educationally for kids from educated families. For them, it is mostly social/emotional (which NONE of the kids are getting right now so everyone is in the same boat). Plus whenever they return to fulltime school, the lower elementary classes are going to be mostly review anyway. Bottom line is, with a kid whose parents are college educated and work at NIH, assuming the kid is neurotypical, you can do very little for K and the kid will still be fine when they start again.

Oh wow. Wasn't expecting people to trash her partner. He works at NIH and has crazy hours right now because he's working on COVID issues. Didn't think I'd have to specify that.

Where's her partner?

Anonymous wrote:Does she have a husband or a committed partner? If so, why aren't they helping? The kindergarten should be able to do a lot for himself. Give her birth control information.

OP don't do this unless you want to be an asshole.

Does she have a husband or a committed partner? If so, why aren't they helping? The kindergarten should be able to do a lot for himself. Give her birth control information.

Thanks for the suggestions, everyone. I know MCPS will be DL and I think that's what's making her nervous -- the idea of supervising that while having the infant. Her husband works full-time out of the house.

You can still bring over food. Just text her as you are dropping it outside the front door. Then when she opens the door to get it, you can yell hello from a distance.

Her older child won’t be going to school. Maybe send or drop off activities/toys to help keep him entertained. Offer to do shopping or errands for her if you are comfortable with that.

My MCPS K kid had no problems doing DL last year. I had multiple kids doing DL and an infant. It wasn't difficult once a routine was established.

I’d tell her to skip Kindergarten in MCPS. D.L. is miserable for that age (I had one last year) and she can “homeschool” a Kindergarten child with workbooks while the baby is sleeping. It will be less of a hassle than adhering to the public school schedule which won’t work around her infant.

Put a bottle of whiskey on the front porch and say a prayer.

MCPS is all virtual until February 2021.

She is also a Type I diabetic herself, so high risk for COVID. I talked to her last week and she said she is "terrified" at the prospect of dealing with an infant (she's due in 4 weeks) and a kindergartener who will be in MCPS and is an anxious kid to begin with.

How can I help her? Normally I'd bring over food to them, but she is understandably nervous about people coming over, given COVID.

Hoping the expectant and post-partum moms here can give me tips.