How is your school operating in the Fall?

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klunick

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I just looked online as to what he is taking this year.
Honors English
Honors Algebra 2
Honors Physics
AP World History
Foundations of Technology
ROTC 3
Financial Literacy/Money Management

He enjoys English, History, and ROTC so he should do well in keeping up with those. He's loves technology so that should keep his interest. He sucks in math so that I'm worried about as always. The Money Management class is an elective so no big deal how he does in that really. Not sure how he'll do in Physics. He did well while in school in Chemistry last year but lost interest when it went online.
 

neely

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He sucks in math so that I'm worried about as always. Not sure how he'll do in Physics.
Physics involves a lot of mathematics, it's an essential part of the curriculum. You may want to have him consider an alternative science course or think about getting some help in the class for him. Just a suggestion, you know your son best.
 

MoochNNoodles

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Have you asked him how he thinks he can do better at staying on task? Part of that just sounds like a typical teenager needing to learn. My parents used to leave a list of chore to do every day in the summer. It's amazing how fast we could clean a house half an hour before they got home. :crazy:

Maybe you can create some kind of accountability system for/with him. A schedule or checklist you review daily with something to show you he did what he needed to. I like the idea of having a friend to help each other stay accountable. Then you could check in less often; maybe once a week? If he feels some responsibility over the system you use; he might like that. That depends on personality. I can see that working with my DD; but not DS yet. DS needs frequent supervision (he's younger of course). Maybe it's a first born/second born thing. My DD will get up and do school work before I even get up and sometimes the night before; but DS will dawdle right in front of me. :rolleyes2: And sometimes that means enforcing consequences. I have struggled to find ones that work too. He's both sweet and strong willed while DD is eager to please and will get upset when DS is in trouble! He's harder to homeschool because of it. But I just figure he might not get caught so much in a classroom too. It's something he needs to learn and probably the hardest part of homeschooling to me. I know I'm not alone in that.

I think the hardest part of this online/hybrid schooling is that it really does require parental involvement in a way most have never had to do. And since parents aren't the ones making the lesson plans and assignments; you have to also figure out what they were supposed to do. Hopefully teachers will have some kind of summary that parents can access too.
 
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klunick

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Have you asked him how he thinks he can do better at staying on task? Part of that just sounds like a typical teenager needing to learn. My parents used to leave a list of chore to do every day in the summer. It's amazing how fast we could clean a house half an hour before they got home. :crazy:

Maybe you can create some kind of accountability system for/with him. A schedule or checklist you review daily with something to show you he did what he needed to. I like the idea of having a friend to help each other stay accountable. Then you could check in less often; maybe once a week? If he feels some responsibility over the system you use; he might like that. That depends on personality. I can see that working with my DD; but not DS yet. DS needs frequent supervision (he's younger of course). Maybe it's a first born/second born thing. My DD will get up and do school work before I even get up and sometimes the night before; but DS will dawdle right in front of me. :rolleyes2: And sometimes that means enforcing consequences. I have struggled to find ones that work too. He's both sweet and strong willed while DD is eager to please and will get upset when DS is in trouble! He's harder to homeschool because of it. But I just figure he might not get caught so much in a classroom too. It's something he needs to learn and probably the hardest part of homeschooling to me. I know I'm not alone in that.

I think the hardest part of this online/hybrid schooling is that it really does require parental involvement in a way most have never had to do. And since parents aren't the ones making the lesson plans and assignments; you have to also figure out what they were supposed to do. Hopefully teachers will have some kind of summary that parents can access too.
He is 16. Too old for me to have to monitor him. I told him before if he failed it was on him. I would get on him about staying current. If he chose to slack off, he pays the consequences. I have never been a hovering parent and I don't plan on starting now. :lol: If he can't stay on task on his own, he won't be able in a few years in college where I really have no say.
 

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I am in college entering my second year of studies. Everything is 100% online for me. We are design students and majority of our courses are hands on training in studio. Not sure how this is going to work. We had some major assignments coming up for second year but since we will be at home, they have been postponed.

As a 21 year old (almost 22) I can say that I work much better when I'm down to the last hour. I've always been like this. If there is no pressure to hand something in, I find it extremely difficult to motivate myself to do it. I've been like this since high school and I've never missed a deadline.
 
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klunick

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I am in college entering my second year of studies. Everything is 100% online for me. We are design students and majority of our courses are hands on training in studio. Not sure how this is going to work. We had some major assignments coming up for second year but since we will be at home, they have been postponed.

As a 21 year old (almost 22) I can say that I work much better when I'm down to the last hour. I've always been like this. If there is no pressure to hand something in, I find it extremely difficult to motivate myself to do it. I've been like this since high school and I've never missed a deadline.
My youngest has always been more of the easy going type person as opposed to his Type A personality older brother. I have always been a "do it now and get it over with" type person so his lackadaisical approach last quarter had me nervous as heck!
 

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Physics involves a lot of mathematics, it's an essential part of the curriculum. You may want to have him consider an alternative science course or think about getting some help in the class for him. Just a suggestion, you know your son best.
He might not have a choice - my high school required bio, chem and physics I believe.

MoochNNoodles MoochNNoodles - I'm the oldest and I dawdled over homework in front of my mom, so it's just luck your and klunick klunick 's oldests are the responsible ones!
 

aliceneko

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I work in a pre-school but we're having to obviously follow the government guidelines for safe reopening as well. We've already opened up to key worker's children, and since they have been back and the new normal at our nursery has been successful, we've also allowed other children to return. We still have over half of the children absent, though, and I think that'll probably remain the case until September. We don't have any online classes for the children yet so we've been able to be a bit more flexible.
 
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klunick

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Gov Hogan made the announcement today that all MD schools are able to open. Counties need to decide for themselves. I hope our schools decide to open back up. :crossfingers:
 

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One local school has already had to go online, not just because people tested positive, but because too many teachers are out sick, they don't have enough adults to legally have the kids in the building :/. Another one has so many positive tests that parents are pulling their kids out even though it's technically still open. I'm sure they'll go online soon.

Office pool is guessing the rest will go online within 2 weeks.
 
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klunick

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I found out our Board of Education members had approved opening back up except for one member who disagreed. He/She bullied the rest of the members until they said schools would be online. :argh:
 

Willowy

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USD is up to almost 250 cases. With a total case count of almost 500, now that county is figured at 1300 cases per 100,000 residents, which makes it a rather extreme hot spot! But that county has a permanent population of 14,000, and the college adds another 10,000 (well most years anyway. I'm not sure exactly how many students they have this year), so the numbers are a little wonky. It's still pretty bad though. So far only 2 deaths but school only started 2 weeks ago.
 

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After our recent spike, public schools went back online. It's up to each individual school to work things out. I have a friend who is the English teacher at two elementary schools and both schools are doing things entirely differently. One is staying online throughout September, but the other might go back to in-person in a couple of weeks. They don't do live classes, just recorded lessons.

I work at a private academy (cram school). We were forced to go online only by the government this week, but will probably have students back as soon as next week (we teach p/k/elem). Right now we're online doing live zoom classes with almost a full regular class schedule.

We've had students in school since April and so our kids know the routine. Masks always on, wash hands frequently and use hand sanitizer, stay at your spot at the desk (they have plastic dividers). Temp checks twice a day and no unregistered visitors allowed. A lot of other smaller schools aren't as fastidious which is why all private academies were forced to close for a while. As businesses, we suffer a huge loss with classes online. Something the public schools don't have to worry about as they're publicly funded.
 

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School is set to start next week for us (Ontario, Canada). The government has said that schools will open as usual...but they have put a few rules in place. Class sizes will be smaller for the little ones. It will be mandatory for students grade 4 and up to wear masks, and "highly recommended" for the little ones. They have increased cleaning and disinfection. They have allocated extra funds to upgrade the ventilation systems in the schools. Teachers have to wear masks and shields or goggles. They are supposed to be creating student "pods" within the class room, so kids will only be able to work with and eat with "their pod" when doing things that require closer contact.
No more use of lockers, to limit loitering/mingling in the hallways. And no more cafeteria for lunch, students will be eating in their class.
The government has also allowed the school boards to implement any extra measures they feel necessary based on region, infection rates etc...
And although schools are open, all parents have the choice whether they would like to send their kids or not, as the government has also implemented an online platform for distant learning. If you choose on-line, you have to stick with your choice, but can reevaluate in November and opt send your child to school then.
Kids also must stay home if they show ANY symptoms...this will be strictly enforced...so no more sending your kid to school even if all they have is a little sniffle.
 
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klunick

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Day 3 of virtual school for my kiddos. Today was bad, oldest kid cried, youngest kid yelled and broke his pencils and I cried. Even poor Domino couldn’t take it. View attachment 350610
Sorry to hear things are not going well in your house. Mine was a battle zone last quarter with trying to get a 16 year old to do his work. He ended up spending the last day to submit work playing catch up.

Thank God the school had time this go around and came up with a different approach to make it more like regular school. It is a video conferencing approach using Teams. They take attendance and have blocks of classes from 9am-3:30pm with breaks throughout the day. It is going so much better in our house.

Hopefully things fall into a rhythm at yours and peace will be restored. :hugs:
 
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klunick

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I would imagine most have had a full week or so of schooling by now. How's it going for your kids?

I am happy to report that my youngest is doing so much better than last quarter. The new systems makes it seem like a regular school day and is keeping him on track. He has plenty of breaks during the day as well. Plus he has to be up and ready by 0900 and can't sleep until 1pm like last time.
 

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My God-son is really struggling. Hes in the 4th grade and was sick to his stomach by the end of last week. They are still having technical issues often and it sounds like just doesn't retain information delivered like this. So he will be homeschooling soon. His older sister is a senior this year and she's doing fine with it. I have seen some of the schedules from friends with elementary age kids in different states and it's overwhelming looking. I assume they will be adjusting as they see how things go.
 
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klunick

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My God-son is really struggling. Hes in the 4th grade and was sick to his stomach by the end of last week. They are still having technical issues often and it sounds like just doesn't retain information delivered like this. So he will be homeschooling soon. His older sister is a senior this year and she's doing fine with it. I have seen some of the schedules from friends with elementary age kids in different states and it's overwhelming looking. I assume they will be adjusting as they see how things go.
The neighboring County to us was having log in issues the first few days. County near where I work also had issues as well as a faulty help line where parents would call and then get hung up on. My oldest is a Sophomore in college and absolutely hates online learning. He said he would rather be face to face with the professor. He also said that only half the class will log on and do the work. I asked the youngest how things were going with him. He said it's better than last quarter but he also wishes he was in school. I am really hoping since Gov Hogan said schools can reopen, they will before too long.
 
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