Anonymous
Post 07/21/2020 15:47     Subject: Is distance learning really much if an education for younger children?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Between trying to figure out how to help my small children with reading, writing and math, struggling with tech issues and working full-time, I’m starting to think full-time DL this fall will be a massive waste of time. Lots of stress without much accomplished. And this is coming from someone with some teaching experience. Why can’t schools just totally cancel everything until Oct 1? Parents are not certified teachers. True homeschooling families don’t function this way. Pay the teachers, let the virus numbers die down and start with hybrid. Extend the school year thru July. It’s a national emergency and it needs to be treated that way. All this comes down to is taking attendance. My kids would be better off watching ed programs on TV and doing paper worksheets.


There are a few Facebook groups dedicated to the topic. It is hard as hell, but people find creative ways to make it work.


Experienced teachers will always say children need structure-- 8 am class meeting. 9 am reading, 9:30 snack, 10 math lesson, 10:30 writers workshop, etc.

A structured day is not possible if both parents are working full-time jobs. I'd prefer to rely on Sesame Street to teach my preschooler basic phonics rather than screwing it up myself between work assignments and phone calls.


So do homeschool before and after you work. Your child can get up at 5.30, breakfast can be done by 6, homeschool 6.15-8. Then they can play (limited tv) until lunch. Have them play games involving math (chutes and ladders, reciting the numbers and counting the spaces on fingers!) during lunch. They play/nap during the afternoon, then one parent does homeschool while the other makes dinner. That’s all the time you need if your child isn’t reading yet (which would place them in preschool or kinder).


If you're talking about a child younger than K, I find it odd that you think they can just play unsupervised from 8-12 and again from 1-5...
Anonymous
Post 07/21/2020 15:19     Subject: Is distance learning really much if an education for younger children?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Between trying to figure out how to help my small children with reading, writing and math, struggling with tech issues and working full-time, I’m starting to think full-time DL this fall will be a massive waste of time. Lots of stress without much accomplished. And this is coming from someone with some teaching experience. Why can’t schools just totally cancel everything until Oct 1? Parents are not certified teachers. True homeschooling families don’t function this way. Pay the teachers, let the virus numbers die down and start with hybrid. Extend the school year thru July. It’s a national emergency and it needs to be treated that way. All this comes down to is taking attendance. My kids would be better off watching ed programs on TV and doing paper worksheets.


There are a few Facebook groups dedicated to the topic. It is hard as hell, but people find creative ways to make it work.


Experienced teachers will always say children need structure-- 8 am class meeting. 9 am reading, 9:30 snack, 10 math lesson, 10:30 writers workshop, etc.

A structured day is not possible if both parents are working full-time jobs. I'd prefer to rely on Sesame Street to teach my preschooler basic phonics rather than screwing it up myself between work assignments and phone calls.


This assumes two parents at home and a flexible work schedule. AND I don’t want to be a K teacher - that’s why I didn’t get my masters in education and chose a different field. I find it so insulting to teachers that any decent parent (really, mom) can just do their job well on a moment’s notice with no training or experience. Thats not true.

So do homeschool before and after you work. Your child can get up at 5.30, breakfast can be done by 6, homeschool 6.15-8. Then they can play (limited tv) until lunch. Have them play games involving math (chutes and ladders, reciting the numbers and counting the spaces on fingers!) during lunch. They play/nap during the afternoon, then one parent does homeschool while the other makes dinner. That’s all the time you need if your child isn’t reading yet (which would place them in preschool or kinder).


Nope, you COULD do homeschool with preschool/kinder as a single parent. I know several who did with 3-4 (dad was deployed military, mom was wfh; two others had a parent who walked out).

I understand that you don’t want to teach. But it’s not insulting to teachers to state that homeschool is possible. Stating that every child can get exactly the same education and opportunities at home and that teachers don’t matter would be insulting (and not true).
Anonymous
Post 07/21/2020 14:47     Subject: Is distance learning really much if an education for younger children?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Between trying to figure out how to help my small children with reading, writing and math, struggling with tech issues and working full-time, I’m starting to think full-time DL this fall will be a massive waste of time. Lots of stress without much accomplished. And this is coming from someone with some teaching experience. Why can’t schools just totally cancel everything until Oct 1? Parents are not certified teachers. True homeschooling families don’t function this way. Pay the teachers, let the virus numbers die down and start with hybrid. Extend the school year thru July. It’s a national emergency and it needs to be treated that way. All this comes down to is taking attendance. My kids would be better off watching ed programs on TV and doing paper worksheets.


There are a few Facebook groups dedicated to the topic. It is hard as hell, but people find creative ways to make it work.


Experienced teachers will always say children need structure-- 8 am class meeting. 9 am reading, 9:30 snack, 10 math lesson, 10:30 writers workshop, etc.

A structured day is not possible if both parents are working full-time jobs. I'd prefer to rely on Sesame Street to teach my preschooler basic phonics rather than screwing it up myself between work assignments and phone calls.


This assumes two parents at home and a flexible work schedule. AND I don’t want to be a K teacher - that’s why I didn’t get my masters in education and chose a different field. I find it so insulting to teachers that any decent parent (really, mom) can just do their job well on a moment’s notice with no training or experience. Thats not true.

So do homeschool before and after you work. Your child can get up at 5.30, breakfast can be done by 6, homeschool 6.15-8. Then they can play (limited tv) until lunch. Have them play games involving math (chutes and ladders, reciting the numbers and counting the spaces on fingers!) during lunch. They play/nap during the afternoon, then one parent does homeschool while the other makes dinner. That’s all the time you need if your child isn’t reading yet (which would place them in preschool or kinder).
Anonymous
Post 07/21/2020 13:32     Subject: Is distance learning really much if an education for younger children?
I have a similar plan to 13:27, though with more purchased curriculum.
Anonymous
Post 07/21/2020 13:32     Subject: Is distance learning really much if an education for younger children?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Between trying to figure out how to help my small children with reading, writing and math, struggling with tech issues and working full-time, I’m starting to think full-time DL this fall will be a massive waste of time. Lots of stress without much accomplished. And this is coming from someone with some teaching experience. Why can’t schools just totally cancel everything until Oct 1? Parents are not certified teachers. True homeschooling families don’t function this way. Pay the teachers, let the virus numbers die down and start with hybrid. Extend the school year thru July. It’s a national emergency and it needs to be treated that way. All this comes down to is taking attendance. My kids would be better off watching ed programs on TV and doing paper worksheets.


There are a few Facebook groups dedicated to the topic. It is hard as hell, but people find creative ways to make it work.


Experienced teachers will always say children need structure-- 8 am class meeting. 9 am reading, 9:30 snack, 10 math lesson, 10:30 writers workshop, etc.

A structured day is not possible if both parents are working full-time jobs. I'd prefer to rely on Sesame Street to teach my preschooler basic phonics rather than screwing it up myself between work assignments and phone calls.


So do homeschool before and after you work. Your child can get up at 5.30, breakfast can be done by 6, homeschool 6.15-8. Then they can play (limited tv) until lunch. Have them play games involving math (chutes and ladders, reciting the numbers and counting the spaces on fingers!) during lunch. They play/nap during the afternoon, then one parent does homeschool while the other makes dinner. That’s all the time you need if your child isn’t reading yet (which would place them in preschool or kinder).
Anonymous
Post 07/21/2020 13:27     Subject: Re:Is distance learning really much if an education for younger children?
Ok, here’s a way for homeschool to work with a parent who can work remotely and supervise (Not kinder!):

-Learning without tears, get the set of handwriting, writing and journal
Your child does one page per day per book. If they bring you the book immediately, you can track how much time it’s taking, even if you’re on a conference call and just smiling/waving when they bring them to you.

-learning without tears, keyboarding
Let them go at their own pace.

-Khan academy, ela starts in second grade, math is available all the way down to early math, grammar is separate
Set yourself up as both parent and teacher. Assign 1-3 lessons per day, including review lessons. For new lessons, assign the video that goes with the practice (math). You can have them work on it in your office space, that way you know they’re doing it and not playing.

-BBC Bitesize Science and Social Studies
https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/subjects/z2pfb9q
https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/subjects/z2tsr82
I wouldn’t recommend ELA, due to differences in spelling and what UK vs US schools require. Math is taught much differently, khan academy is a better choice for US students. But their science is excellent, including online experiments, and their social studies is amazing, albeit with a Commonwealth emphasis (easy enough to supplement or not worry about).

-Read Theory
https://readtheory.org/
Short reading comprehension passages and questions, optional writing. The site grades multiple choice and true/false, you evaluate writing. It adjusts the level (comprehension) of the passages based on the student’s demonstrated capability, and every passage has a reading level, so you can track whether it’s a comprehension or reading issue. One passage per day.

-Have your child pick a novel of their choice (from a list, find options online by grade level)
One chapter (or up to ten pages, depends on chapter length) per day.

-Novel tie-ins
https://www.lwtears.com/resources/worksheet-maker-lite
Make worksheets using vocabulary and spelling on learning without tears’ worksheet maker (free, but you have to have an account). Cross curricular: your child can work on spelling and vocabulary that tie in to a book they want to read, and if you plan ahead, you can have them access bitesize that goes in as well.

-ck-12 Flexbooks
https://www.ck12.org/fbbrowse/
Free online textbooks. I loooove them! Middle school geology was a huge hit when I had 5th/7th use it together.

-Local library resources
Some states have statewide resources, others just have local resources. I found fantastic history and government resources in my state’s resources, and the link was on my local library page (never would have thought to look for it elsewhere). Most libraries have a “What to read next,” recommendations based on popular books for kids who want something similar.

Wfh and dl is untenable. But I know several families who wfh and homeschool successfully. Frequently, it involves a parent only working part time (if one or more children are in kinder), moving around work hours to teach when kids are most focused and/or using more online resources than parents would prefer.

The alternative is to buy curriculum. I much prefer putting my own together, and (with the exception of learning without tears) everything above is completely free.
Anonymous
Post 07/21/2020 12:47     Subject: Is distance learning really much if an education for younger children?
Anonymous wrote:Schools that are using Zoom to deliver DL to young students are wasting everyone's time. My kid didn't sit still for storytime in his classroom, let alone at his house, in front of a screen. That's just not happening.

But, after watching my very young kids closely over the past six months, I firmly believe that educational TV is the way to go for now. Is it ideal? No. But given the circumstances, educational TV is educational enough that kids keep learning and entertaining enough that parents get a break to work or clean (or God forbid, sleep). And 98% of US homes have TVs. It won't be a hundred percent reach, but it's a heck of a lot better than what you get with computers.

Educational TV is a reasonable compromise under the circumstances. There's TONS of good programming out there too. It needs to be front-and-center in any educational plans for fall, particularly with young children.


It doesn’t teach them to read, write or do math. It’s fine for preschool and science, social studies (somewhat) and music for elementary ages.
Anonymous
Post 07/21/2020 10:42     Subject: Is distance learning really much if an education for younger children?
Anonymous wrote:Schools that are using Zoom to deliver DL to young students are wasting everyone's time. My kid didn't sit still for storytime in his classroom, let alone at his house, in front of a screen. That's just not happening.

But, after watching my very young kids closely over the past six months, I firmly believe that educational TV is the way to go for now. Is it ideal? No. But given the circumstances, educational TV is educational enough that kids keep learning and entertaining enough that parents get a break to work or clean (or God forbid, sleep). And 98% of US homes have TVs. It won't be a hundred percent reach, but it's a heck of a lot better than what you get with computers.

Educational TV is a reasonable compromise under the circumstances. There's TONS of good programming out there too. It needs to be front-and-center in any educational plans for fall, particularly with young children.


Except that watching TV isn't interactive.

Also, you're saying your child will sit still in front of a TV screen but not a computer screen?
Anonymous
Post 07/20/2020 18:29     Subject: Is distance learning really much if an education for younger children?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Between trying to figure out how to help my small children with reading, writing and math, struggling with tech issues and working full-time, I’m starting to think full-time DL this fall will be a massive waste of time. Lots of stress without much accomplished. And this is coming from someone with some teaching experience. Why can’t schools just totally cancel everything until Oct 1? Parents are not certified teachers. True homeschooling families don’t function this way. Pay the teachers, let the virus numbers die down and start with hybrid. Extend the school year thru July. It’s a national emergency and it needs to be treated that way. All this comes down to is taking attendance. My kids would be better off watching ed programs on TV and doing paper worksheets.


There are a few Facebook groups dedicated to the topic. It is hard as hell, but people find creative ways to make it work.


Experienced teachers will always say children need structure-- 8 am class meeting. 9 am reading, 9:30 snack, 10 math lesson, 10:30 writers workshop, etc.

A structured day is not possible if both parents are working full-time jobs. I'd prefer to rely on Sesame Street to teach my preschooler basic phonics rather than screwing it up myself between work assignments and phone calls.



But if you are homeschooling you are able make those hours flexible. There is no reason the “class meeting” has to start at 8:00am. You could have a class meeting at dinner, followed by a child led presentation on something you gave them to read or watch that day. After dinner is writers workshop while parents clean up, then you all sit together and do math. At night parents and kids take turns reading (or learning phonics) out loud before bed.