Way too early to say. Might send them August through Thanksgiving and then homeschool until we are out of flu season paired with a potential recurrence of Covid. I am a former teacher, so I am totally fine with homeschooling if needed. My kids are young elementary, so homeschooling is much easier because of their ages. Fully aware of compulsory attendance law. Can disenroll, put into a homeschooling program, and then can re-enroll when I feel it is safe.

My nieces and nephews' school district in Pennsylvania is offering multiple options for the fall:

Traditional School with Technology Integration Model
Online/Cyber School Model
Hybrid Model (secondary)

They have already reached out to parents asking for their selections. I understand that they need to start gathering information for planning purposes, but I wouldn't be ready to make that decision yet. For us, it depends on what the situation looks like in 3 months.

LCPS has already stated full time distance learning will be an option for anyone who doesn’t want to/doesn’t feel safe to return in 2020/2021 school year.

I will not be sending my kids if it’s business as usual, but would consider sending them with mitigation/social distancing (like one of the half time/alternating models.)

Rising 7th and 4th graders.

Yes, would sign up for a pilot program now.

Yes. 1st and 3rd grade. I know no one in "real life" who is planning on pulling their kids.

Yes - PreK. Rolling the dice

Anonymous wrote:Yes, assuming school will be some semblance of normal & kids will actually get recess. Otherwise, we might just homeschool.

I'd rather my kids go <5 days per week and actually get recess and lunch. If they have to be treated like military cadets to be in school 5 days forget it.

Anonymous wrote:I will absolutely send them if schools open.

The point of closing was to slow the spread, flatten the curve. We're not going to eradicate this entirely. My kids need an education (virtual isn't cutting it) and the social interaction. And I need to get back to work. I have no intention of keeping us all home for the next year or two. If that happens, we'll quit your jobs and move to the country somewhere.

If society looks in September what it looked like in early March, in October we will have what we would've had in April without closing. The closing will have been for almost nothing.

We need more testing, more contact tracing, and most likely, smaller groups of kids at school at a time.

I may try to transfer to my son's school or have him transfer to mine so that if there are closures for individual schools we will be covered. We'd also be limiting our exposure to a smaller group

Yes, assuming school will be some semblance of normal & kids will actually get recess. Otherwise, we might just homeschool.

I will absolutely send them if schools open.

The point of closing was to slow the spread, flatten the curve. We're not going to eradicate this entirely. My kids need an education (virtual isn't cutting it) and the social interaction. And I need to get back to work. I have no intention of keeping us all home for the next year or two. If that happens, we'll quit your jobs and move to the country somewhere.

OP here. I see a lot of people online (not DCUM) adamant about not sending their children, and it concerns me. Although I very much understand the conundrum and I’m not dismissing their concerns at all. I share many of them!

This will be a difficult decision for schools. I wonder what the fall out will be, if any.

It pains me to say it, but no. DH is immunocompromised so I don’t see how I can send them to their overcrowded public schools. I have zero faith in the ability of elementary school students to follow the rules on masks, social distancing etc.

Based on what I know now, Yes. My young teen needs interaction with peers, and an interactive learning environment. Badly. If schools don’t reopen in the fall I will be deeply, deeply concerned for his mental health and that of his generation.

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Anonymous wrote:I really fail to understand why parents think they’ll have a choice. Schooling is compulsory in this country up to age 16.

I don't know if public school will have a choice (I tend to doubt it, but who knows) but OP's question assumes there is a choice. Also, homeschooling is a legal choice.

As for me, I will send my kids. If schools open I am sure that my job will expect more from me and we both work. I'm not too worried about my kids being harmed by it although I'm watching the information that's coming out about this kawasaki-like illness carefully.

Of course homeschooling is a legal option, but you have to actually fill out paperwork for that and then prove that you have educated your child.

I doubt many of the people who claim they’re not sending their kids in will take the time to do that. They just expect to be given an exception.

The USA is one of the developed countries where it's easiest to homeschool. In other countries, homeschooling is forbidden and you need to jump through a ton of hoops to educate your child out of school, and your child still needs to pass certain state certifications otherwise they're sent back to school.

Here you sign a piece of paper, possibly fill out a few forms in some states... but it's not burdensome.

It can be in MD. Depends on the county and on which reviewer you get. An umbrella organization is an option but that's more burdensome than you claim.

So true. I homeschool in Montgomery County, Md and go through their reviews. I believe reviewing through the county gives the highest level of "legitimacy" -for lack of a better word- to my homeschooling review. I know of 2 umbrellas which homeschoolers consider secular and unschool friendly, even though religious organizations are the only legal umbrellas in Maryland. I fear that, if Md ever took a closer look at these umbrellas, many homeschoolers would find themselves up Sh1t's Creek.

Really? Is MPNL still around? I was with them for 2 years and never thought they were religious...