topic Re: Anybody now home schooling? in Community Chat

Anybody now home schooling?

patbz — Tue, 14 Apr 2020 21:10:43 GMT

My grands are now living with us. Their Dad is a single parent who is still working a couple days a week. The problem is that their school district is giving them four hours of homework per day (they are 7 and 9 so they need supervision). I'm pretty sure that they don't get that much instruction daily at "real" school (what with crafts, music, recess). How does a single parent who works do this! With two kids, two grades apart, how does this get done? I'm here all day and I'll help when I can but th is ridiculous. My older grand is a little behind in school so he can't help.his brother. I have bought grade appropriate work books etc but we want them to have opportunity to learn. In my opinion at their ages they should be assigned two hours a day. What about single parent families with 3, 4, 5 kids.

Re: Anybody now home schooling?

jeanlake — Tue, 14 Apr 2020 21:22:01 GMT

@patbz Blessings to you. That does seem like a lot of work for younger ones. I'm sure you feel as if you're all in school. My son lives nearby and is also a single dad. It takes a village, doesn't it? Peace to your household.

Re: Anybody now home schooling?

Kachina624 — Tue, 14 Apr 2020 21:29:13 GMT

Ive also wondered how parents manage this. I was talking to my sister whose daughter is a middle school teacher. She said she's not getting a lot of cooperation from her kids. Spends a lot of time tracking them down to find why they haven't done their work. Then she has to see that her own 10 year old does his... he has a set schedule and she makes sure he sticks to it.

I have a feeling most kids won't get a lot out of this experience.

Re: Anybody now home schooling?

PA Mom-mom — Tue, 14 Apr 2020 22:11:39 GMT

@patbz My daughter is overseeing her 10 and 13 year olds in their school work. It is coming from the school, so there is organization, but there are so many teachers and styles of teaching! It takes all morning and some of the afternoon. She has my older grandson do his piano and drum practice while she helps the 10 year old. It has finally come together, and she said everything is working. My 13 year old grandson will be entering high school in the fall and hopes to qualify for AP courses. Don't know how that's going to work out. She can't imagine how families are doing it who have working or single parents. God bless all those parents and grandparents on the front line!

Re: Anybody now home schooling?

ninjawife — Tue, 14 Apr 2020 22:57:29 GMT

My DD is a senior in high school and was just scraping by before school closed. She had ADHD so I have been closely monitoring her participation in on line classes and making sure she gets her assingments done each day. It's been a struggle becasue I am also working from home full time but I actually think it will be to her benefit because she has a much better chance of graduating by having me so involved.

Re: Anybody now home schooling?

Sage04 — Tue, 14 Apr 2020 23:10:50 GMT

My niece and nephew are 15 and 17. Their days are filled with school work and they love it. They get up every morning, get dress and act as if they are in school. Those who are ahead now get Fridays off so they are happy about that. I told my sister that her kids are strange.

Every year she pays about 600 per child for a month of summer school which is in June so that they can get ahead. Strange.

They have already visited the Colleges they want to attend.

Re: Anybody now home schooling?

Sage04 — Tue, 14 Apr 2020 23:18:53 GMT

I don´t know how to Post this but has anyone seen this?

Go to youtube and look up Kounty Wayne calling Teacher Ms Johnson. That´s so funny. There are other versons but I love his.

Certain things he´s saying, I don´t understand but it´s still funny.

Re: Anybody now home schooling?

shoesnbags — Tue, 14 Apr 2020 23:44:05 GMT

@patbz wrote:
My grands are now living with us. Their Dad is a single parent who is still working a couple days a week. The problem is that their school district is giving them four hours of homework per day (they are 7 and 9 so they need supervision). I'm pretty sure that they don't get that much instruction daily at "real" school (what with crafts, music, recess). How does a single parent who works do this! With two kids, two grades apart, how does this get done? I'm here all day and I'll help when I can but th is ridiculous. My older grand is a little behind in school so he can't help.his brother. I have bought grade appropriate work books etc but we want them to have opportunity to learn. In my opinion at their ages they should be assigned two hours a day. What about single parent families with 3, 4, 5 kids.

@patbz

I really do sympathize with you having to handle home schooling as a grandparent. Your grandsons are blessed to have you in their lives. But I have to take issue with the idea that they don't get in four hours of instruction at their "real school." Recess nowadays isn't usually as long as it was when we went to school, and it's highly unlikely your grandkids are having music and "crafts" every day. I think you'd be surprised if you were to sit in on an average school day at a "real" school just how much instruction goes on. If anything good does come out of this horrible CV situation, it may just be that families have more appreciation for what teachers accomplish every day. Meanwhile, God bless all parents and grandparents who have to become instant teachers.

Re: Anybody now home schooling?

FLtricia — Tue, 14 Apr 2020 23:49:44 GMT

I am home schooling my 10 year old grandson and supervising his 13 year old sister. We had option of paper packet in lieu of computer, so he is doing paper and she is on computer.

The computer learning is so so at best. This morning she spent 45 minutes texting with a teacher trying to get her into the classes on line. Lots of glitches in system. It is hard for her as she is frustrated by the time she finally gets on line.

With my grandson, he and I work through a subject, take a 10 minute break then he picks what's next. It takes us about 3 hours of study time each day. Some days are better than others, but overall I would say it has been positive.

Teachers for both do call to see how things are going which is good.

This will be a time they will never forget. They will tell their children and grands about living through the pandemic.

Re: Anybody now home schooling?

patbz — Wed, 15 Apr 2020 00:40:21 GMT

@shoesnbags : You make some good points but the nut of the issue is that 4 hrs of one on one is much more attention/ focus then the equivalent time in any classroom.

Re: Anybody now home schooling?

Sage04 — Wed, 15 Apr 2020 01:09:03 GMT

@FLtricia that´s great. Make sure they take breaks and don´t forget Lunch Break lol.

If the children don´t turn in their homework, the teachers get in touch with the parents.

When my niece checks her 10 year old son´s work on the computer, he tell her he doesn´t know who erased it, so of course she makes him do it right there and then.

Re: Anybody now home schooling?

Sage04 — Wed, 15 Apr 2020 01:38:33 GMT

@patbz when your grandkids go back to school, check their work (I´m sure you do) and you would be surprised at how much they learned staying with you.

Re: Anybody now home schooling?

Sage04 — Wed, 15 Apr 2020 01:58:16 GMT

@shoesnbags you are correct. My husband volunteered for years after he retired at an Elementary school. He said he learned a lot and this was a College Graduate. He was surprised at the work the kids were given.

My 15 year old nephew receive a Presidential Award in Elementary School, one in Middle School and expects one in High School. Elememtary School did him good.

Re: Anybody now home schooling?

wildcat fan — Wed, 15 Apr 2020 01:47:36 GMT

Hello @patbz and all others who are homeschooling now 😊 I think you are awesome! ❤️

I'm surprised to see so much work for the little ones. I teach middle school, and we were told that our students should have no more than 2 hours of assignments per day. The elementary students are supposed to have less than that. Originally, there was an expectation that all teachers (like art and PE) would post activities as well, but they changed that after the first week to have 20-30 minutes of math, science, language arts, and social studies each day.

I heard through the grapevine (don't know for sure if it's true) that some districts have given packets but consider them "enrichment" and not to be included in the students' grades. At our school, we're balancing some assignments completed for accuracy and some get 100 just for turning something in (participation grade).

As an educator, I appreciate families like you who are pitching in to help. I'm thinking about our students day and night. Each day I post that I'm here to answer questions if they need me. Other teachers have set hours, but I answer all day and night if I'm awake. I've had students message me at 2:00 a.m. and turn in work at 4:00 a.m. I realize that I can't really set normal school hours because some are still in bed in the morning, and they are doing fun stuff during the day, so they're just getting around to school stuff around 7:00 p.m. Some have parents who are essential workers, so they are taking care of younger siblings during the day.

Re: Anybody now home schooling?

Sage04 — Wed, 15 Apr 2020 01:54:19 GMT

@wildcat fan here in Georgia, the teachers at one of the High Schools decided to give the students a day off. Fridays are now designated as ask ¨The Teacher´s Day¨. The students are happy because of all the work they were given.

Re: Anybody now home schooling?

Sage04 — Wed, 15 Apr 2020 01:56:18 GMT

@wildcat fan don´t know how you do it. Did you always want to be a Teacher? Some people were born with it lol and you certainly are.

Re: Anybody now home schooling?

wildcat fan — Wed, 15 Apr 2020 02:07:11 GMT

@Sage04 wrote:
@wildcat fan here in Georgia, the teachers at one of the High Schools decided to give the students a day off. Fridays are now designated as ask ¨The Teacher´s Day¨. The students are happy because of all the work they were given.

That sounds like a good plan @Sage04 . I'm doing Virtual Field Trip Fridays. We've also been listening to podcasts and doing digital escape rooms, so I'm trying to change it up a bit to keep their interest. I do live chats once or twice a week for them to ask me questions, but they're also able to send me emails outside of that time.

Re: Anybody now home schooling?

wildcat fan — Wed, 15 Apr 2020 02:12:13 GMT

@Sage04 wrote:
@wildcat fan don´t know how you do it. Did you always want to be a Teacher? Some people were born with it lol and you certainly are.

Thank you for the morale booster @Sage04 😊 Working in these unchartered waters has made me question a few things, so I needed to hear that. ❤️I have it in my blood with grandmothers who were teachers. I used to "play school" with my dolls when I was little.

Re: Anybody now home schooling?

Sage04 — Wed, 15 Apr 2020 02:49:34 GMT

@wildcat fan I knew it lol

Make your grandmothers proud.

Re: Anybody now home schooling?

Still Raining — Wed, 15 Apr 2020 15:13:39 GMT

DD had too few laptops and too many kids, so I sent over one more laptop yesterday.

Odds are good that the grand kids will never again talk to me. Sure would like to have them over again 😪 anyway.