What are parents doing specifically with young elementary kids? Our rising third grader can be somewhat independent, but we practically had to strap the rising first grader to his chair to get through his one Zoom of the day back then. The thought of four or however many hours of Zoom MCPS settles on for both of them has me panicking, and I'm not a panicky person by nature.

DH and I both telework FT, but he's in an essential sector and can't do much childcare. So it's almost all going to be on me, and I'm not sure how that's going to work for a full year or more.

Anonymous wrote:We're going to put a new desk and chair in one of our rec rooms, along with a bookcase and a cabinet for school supplies, so our tutor will have everything she needs to teach our rising 1st grader. It's so important they have a dedicated space for school work to help with concentration.

Wow hardcore supermom. Give me a break for a kindergartner . Can’t imagine what you will do when your kids in high school

I have three kids. In the spring, we let them all sort of set their own schedules. Two out of the three had absolutely NO contact with their teachers. Assuming we are doing this again this fall, I think I'm going to mandate some time where they all overlap and can sit at the table and work together. When I let them set their own schedules, it truly felt like it never ended. I think if I can get them all to compress the time a little bit and do their work in view of each other, they'll get done faster and might zone out less. Fingers crossed.

Anonymous wrote:We're staying at the beach for Sept/Oct/Nov.

Kides already have a few friends who will be coming down for some time. WE both WFH and are siezing this moment as an opportunity.

One of them PTA Bitches will report ya.

We're staying at the beach for Sept/Oct/Nov.

Kides already have a few friends who will be coming down for some time. WE both WFH and are siezing this moment as an opportunity.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We're going to put a new desk and chair in one of our rec rooms, along with a bookcase and a cabinet for school supplies, so our tutor will have everything she needs to teach our rising 1st grader. It's so important they have a dedicated space for school work to help with concentration.

It's also important to teach resilience and problem solving. You're working on the same dining room table I am, kiddo. This is life now.

LOL. You seriously won't buy your kid a desk?

We're home schooling. We live in Fairfax and were very unhappy with spring, and with the "choices" for fall. We figured it would be less stressful to just do our own thing. We did outsource reading (kid has dyslexia) & math, which is hugely helpful. Our jobs thankfully allow us to work from home with no issue as well as flexing out schedules. We're view this as an opportunity to get DC caught up. The Dyslexia and touches of ADHD have impacted their learning more than we knew.

I bought basic school supplies from Target and Staples. We already have a desk, I picked up a few learning based games/activities off Amazon and have a few new subscriptions to online learning activities. We based our plan off the SOL's and feel prepared, but I guess we'll see!

Anonymous wrote:We're going to put a new desk and chair in one of our rec rooms, along with a bookcase and a cabinet for school supplies, so our tutor will have everything she needs to teach our rising 1st grader. It's so important they have a dedicated space for school work to help with concentration.

It's also important to teach resilience and problem solving. You're working on the same dining room table I am, kiddo. This is life now.

Anonymous wrote:We're going to put a new desk and chair in one of our rec rooms, along with a bookcase and a cabinet for school supplies, so our tutor will have everything she needs to teach our rising 1st grader. It's so important they have a dedicated space for school work to help with concentration.

Is this real? If it is, and you are this serious about schooling - your kid likely knows all the First Grade curriculum. A tutor?

We're going to put a new desk and chair in one of our rec rooms, along with a bookcase and a cabinet for school supplies, so our tutor will have everything she needs to teach our rising 1st grader. It's so important they have a dedicated space for school work to help with concentration.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Will an iPad with keyboard work well enough for virtual? DL in Fcps.

no it will not. BB collaborate did not work well on my kid's iPad. We had to buy a new laptop.

It worked fine for us. Got a cordless keyboard and mouse. But the screen was a bit small. Fine for spring but I would want a laptop for a full year, especially if you have an older elementary or older kid.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Dumb technology question. In the spring I would always be able to remind them "5 minutes until your zoom starts", for example. But I won't be able to do that in the fall. Since they may need several similar reminders during the day, just setting a regular timer won't help . What can I use to schedule alarms that specify "Larla's math zoom" or "Larlo's reading group" etc.

I want this too, and not in a phone. Kids are 3rd and 1st and I need them a hair more independent, but can’t trust them to watch the clock.

Is there a good watch that does this? One you set up from an app, not manually. Those manual alarm watches are a pain to set.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Dumb technology question. In the spring I would always be able to remind them "5 minutes until your zoom starts", for example. But I won't be able to do that in the fall. Since they may need several similar reminders during the day, just setting a regular timer won't help . What can I use to schedule alarms that specify "Larla's math zoom" or "Larlo's reading group" etc.

I want this too, and not in a phone. Kids are 3rd and 1st and I need them a hair more independent, but can’t trust them to watch the clock.

Buy each kid an alarm clock with multiple alarms. This is an example of one that can set 5 alarms:
https://www.amazon.com/Nument-efficiency-medicine-remind-nursing/dp/B00JDFU080/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=Nument&qid=1595173964&sr=8-1

Another thing I'm doing is teaching kids how to cook. Friends and her husband got very sick and could hardly get out of bed. I'm making sure kids could fend for themselves for a few days, including using a can opener.

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