Your plan sounds like it will work out for you, assuming you don’t have misgivings about FCPS handling the whole virus thing... I figure my kid will have all of his afternoons after DL free to work on projects, or play, as the situation demands. Once he has virtual classmates we plan to reach out and schedule in-person meet ups too. Whatever the decision is that we make, we made it clear that the decision is ours as parents, not his. We take the blame for whatever happens! It definitely shouldn’t be on his shoulders, though we are taking his feelings about it all into account. This all sucks. Thanks for sharing your thoughts.

They're supposed to be doing their schoolwork at home, the other days! That's why we're setting up small group study type of thing for the days the kids are out of school, so they can continue to socialize and work together (virtually).

I even told her that she'll end up in a class with all boys (she always did, on group projects), but she was okay with that, and that's about the biggest deterrent I could think of.

Can’t you guys meet up outside of school? Her friends are only going to be at school 2 days a week and will need something to do on their off days. I am certain it will be more fun and safe for the kids than anything FCPS can do under the circumstances? Parks are open, some sports are happening, yards and decks, hiking trails and beaches. Winter will be hard but it always is. Lots of warm clothes to buy I guess. I mean, “school” sounds about as fun as a Monday morning staff meeting, in a pandemic. I know my kid will be begging not to go if we send him. Seriously I can hear the whining about it now. He was all about it until I explained what it would be like. I think he’s still willing to try it, but I know him and it will be awful for all of us, with no way out!

Anonymous wrote:^^ what a hellscape. Why would I send my kid into that unless I had to? At least the diner can take off his mask during his meal, and get out of there as soon as he’s done. Not that I’m planning on signing up for that experience, much less paying for it. Are any of you that are choosing to send your ES kids in “for the socialization” really thinking about what it will be like for them? It took me about a week to come to terms with the facts, but now I just can’t even fathom sending ours if we have other options. Maybe it hasn’t sunken in yet.

I have made it very clear to DD, what school will be like. I even warned her that all her friends could end up on the opposite schedule, and she doesn't really care. She wants to see people, and she's a homebody who normally doesn't care, one way or the other. We've been taking drives (she doesn't go out otherwise), so she can see someone besides the same 3 faces she sees every day. She's willing to put up with the inconvenience of masks and social distancing, so she can see other human beings. If her friends were doing DL, she would have been okay with it as well. But, their parents don't have the same work flexibility that I do, and DL in the spring was extremely hard on them, so they're choosing to go with in-person.

Anonymous wrote:We are European and choosing to go back to our home country for a year, because the schools are open there and the covid statistics looks a lot better than here.

They might not let you back in. Many countries are banningtravelers from US, Brazil, and China.

^^ what a hellscape. Why would I send my kid into that unless I had to? At least the diner can take off his mask during his meal, and get out of there as soon as he’s done. Not that I’m planning on signing up for that experience, much less paying for it. Are any of you that are choosing to send your ES kids in “for the socialization” really thinking about what it will be like for them? It took me about a week to come to terms with the facts, but now I just can’t even fathom sending ours if we have other options. Maybe it hasn’t sunken in yet.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our preference is DL. However, DD wants to see some of her classmates at least, whichever option we choose, and so far, all her friends are doing in person. It would be a no brainer if we had some assurance that DL will be with kids from her school, and especially with a teacher from her school, but in the absence of that, we're leaning in person.

+1

For my ES kids, not being guaranteed classmates and teacher from same school is concerning. But I think most will have at least some kids from school, and large centers might have teacher from same school. They probably won’t guarantee anything because they need to accommodate ratio for in person first. I am more worried about teacher because we love teachers at our school. As for friends, they will be grouping with neighboring schools and I will think of it as an opportunity for kids to meet new friends. Mine are still young and would do fine with it.

I think we have figured out sort of a way around all this. DD and her friends are all doing in person. That leaves 3 days of being left up to their own devices. We're forming a small study group of the girls, so they can get together (virtually) on the days they're not in school, to do homework, and to learn new material. It might mean that they're only doing this once a week (Monday), but 3 days of peer interaction and studying is better than 2 days. A friend of mine has kids a grade level ahead, and has given me some of their school work, and combined with whatever is online for FCPS, I think I can cobble together a curriculum, and make sure that the girls do whatever little extras they can do from home, to keep up. I have work flexibility, thankfully, and can supervise if necessary.

This isn't directly related to schooling but I read this this morning in the WaPo food review article:

The server details the catch of the day, which we have him repeat. Masks stand in the way of easy communication as well as viruses.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/food/hand-washing-stations-temperature-checks-qr-codes-a-dispatch-from-inside-3-reopened-restaurants/2020/06/28/6a7eb610-b6d5-11ea-a8da-693df3d7674a_story.html

Communication in the classroom is going to be interesting, to say the least.

We are leaning toward DL. The risk and uncertainty isn’t worth whatever is going to happen at school on those two days. With distance learning we can plan for the whole year, and hire private help as needed to accommodate our work schedules. We are fortunate it’s an option for us, but we are even willing to make big sacrifices to make it work. As in selling the house and moving. I just don’t trust the county to manage the public health aspects of this. The possibility of further shut downs in the fall is real, and the uncertainty is a productivity killer. Our son is in ES—he can make up the losses in education later, he can’t get new parents if one of us were to get sick and die because he brought it home. Luckily he’s motivated to learn without being in class. We will be okay, it’s just going to suck—not as much as it would suck otherwise I think. I feel confident that if schools resume normal operations because of a vaccine and widespread immunity, we will go back.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our preference is DL. However, DD wants to see some of her classmates at least, whichever option we choose, and so far, all her friends are doing in person. It would be a no brainer if we had some assurance that DL will be with kids from her school, and especially with a teacher from her school, but in the absence of that, we're leaning in person.

+1

For my ES kids, not being guaranteed classmates and teacher from same school is concerning. But I think most will have at least some kids from school, and large centers might have teacher from same school. They probably won’t guarantee anything because they need to accommodate ratio for in person first. I am more worried about teacher because we love teachers at our school. As for friends, they will be grouping with neighboring schools and I will think of it as an opportunity for kids to meet new friends. Mine are still young and would do fine with it.

We are European and choosing to go back to our home country for a year, because the schools are open there and the covid statistics looks a lot better than here.

Anonymous wrote:Our preference is DL. However, DD wants to see some of her classmates at least, whichever option we choose, and so far, all her friends are doing in person. It would be a no brainer if we had some assurance that DL will be with kids from her school, and especially with a teacher from her school, but in the absence of that, we're leaning in person.

+1

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DL. My gifted kid is now able to work just as hard at home and do 3x the learning. She is thriving at home with self directed projects and multiple online curricula beyond what’s offered by school. It’s actually been nice to have more time for this. We will benefit from not having the uncertainty of trying to make the hybrid situation work, and dd will probably learn more at home.

This mindset is so strange to me. Elementary school and especially the way that Fairfax has structured their gifted program is about socialization, the peer group and social learning. The academics become more important in later years.

It *was* entirely about socialization for my child. That’s why we are choosing DL. If she isn’t going to get the benefits of socialization in school (and I believe she wouldn’t with that option) we are choosing DL so at least she can learn at her own pace.. We will try to work broadly in subjects, but my only concern is how much more ahead she will be in 2021. I feel like she won’t be the only one.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:NP. I'm honestly surprised that anyone would choose DL. If conditions deteriorate in Fairfax, then the schools will reclose. If not, then why keep kids at home?

I personally like DL because it's less hassle. Having a schedule 4 days a week works better than 2 days a week. I really don't think that the 3 days with some sort of generic asynchronous work that may or may not be aligned with what the teachers in class are doing, is going to work, which then means that I have to figure out how to give more meaningful work.

It’s a uniform curriculum.

AAP teacher- I am pretty sure whatever the county purchased to help supplement asynchronous learning will not be geared to AAP kids. AAP teachers were left to fend for themselves this spring. I personally did not mind as I had a lot of freedom to do learning experiences that actually challenged the kids. I plan on using the asynchronous days to reinforce skills from the previous day and introduce new curriculum that we will be doing the following day.

As a college professor, statements like this really confuse me. Don't you have a set of materials that you follow and teach each year? Like, presumably you know fourth grade is time to learn about angles and geometry. Can't you teach that even without "district provided materials"?

Yes, I know the standards and what I need to teach. I am saying any materials the county had available for teachers to use were not geared towards AAP students during DL. So any stuff they buy, won’t be either.

Anonymous wrote:From the parent questionnaire, it looks like they want the kids to wear masks the entire day. I can understand while on the bus and even whenever not in the classroom, but not for 7-8 hours straight. That isn’t healthy and I’d that’s the case, DL.

Masks are annoying and uncomfortable but they aren't unhealthy or determinative, IMO.