Coronavirus (Fortuna: loan, accredited, special needs)

[Tulemutt]

Originally Posted by Matthew_MI

CA is a loonie liberal cesspool. Enjoy your misery everyone

I’m not one bit miserable ... not since I left Minnesota in the 60’s.

[wac_432]

It's fairly simple and straightforward to unenroll your student from public school and homeschool. Most homeschool organizations will provide you with about $2500/year/kid to purchase educational materials, sign up for classes, and outside instruction, etc.

I'm considering whether it is worth while for our two elementary-school-aged children. If the virus continues to burn through the population at the rate it's going (Rt between 1.1 and 1.2), we won't see a natural decrease in viral activity until October at the earliest. Any vaccine isn't going to be deployed before Christmas.

Now that the schools are getting comfortable unloading a good % of their responsibilities on parents, it's a good bet we can write off the entire first half of this school year, regardless of what the science says about kids not transmitting the virus. Since we have to homeschool them anyway, and I seriously doubt the quality of instruction we're going to get from the public school district is going to be on par with what we can provide ourselves, is a shot at in-class instruction next semester worth 5000 dollars in savings? Will enough Taekwondo studios, sailing classes, surfing classes, museums, zoos, piano teachers, etc. be open to spend that money on classes and instructional materials?

Then there's the social responsibility aspect. I don't really want to take additional money away from our school district, since it is really not their fault they can't reopen. I also don't intend to homeschool our kids long-term.

We will probably keep them in our district's DL program, but this is a good opportunity for any SAHP who are thinking about it to try out a semester or a year of homeschooling.

I wonder if there will be a sharp drop in enrollment if people flock to homeschooling? I wonder how the schools will deal with this, and the huge reduction in funding? In my HCOL area, they were already facing dramatically shrinking numbers of students.

Here's a link for any interested parents:
https://medium.com/alenas-journal/wa...s-f2e50639a5d2

[evening sun]

Originally Posted by 2sleepy

The Ukraine Evangelical mega church near here moved their services to rented buildings after the county gave them an order to stop having services in their church (over 70 people came down with Covid and one died). As far as I know they are still having services away from their church. I had a discussion about this on facebook and someone who claimed to be a member of that church said it's their right to hold services without masks or social distancing because God decides who will live and who will die /sigh

This makes me mad. They can worship however they want, as long as it does not endanger their community, which clearly it does, as they do their thing, without masks, & in close proximity & then go to the same stores we do, therefore putting others at risk. It is very selfish behavior, imo. I am very upset at the Pastor, in my community, who is one of the people suing Newsom, over the right to sing.

[JohnS_15]

Originally Posted by wac_432

It's fairly simple and straightforward to unenroll your student from public school and homeschool. Most homeschool organizations will provide you with about $2500/year/kid to purchase educational materials, sign up for classes, and outside instruction, etc.

I'm considering whether it is worth while for our two elementary-school-aged children. If the virus continues to burn through the population at the rate it's going (Rt between 1.1 and 1.2), we won't see a natural decrease in viral activity until October at the earliest. Any vaccine isn't going to be deployed before Christmas.

Now that the schools are getting comfortable unloading a good % of their responsibilities on parents, it's a good bet we can write off the entire first half of this school year, regardless of what the science says about kids not transmitting the virus. Since we have to homeschool them anyway, and I seriously doubt the quality of instruction we're going to get from the public school district is going to be on par with what we can provide ourselves, is a shot at in-class instruction next semester worth 5000 dollars in savings? Will enough Taekwondo studios, sailing classes, surfing classes, museums, zoos, piano teachers, etc. be open to spend that money on classes and instructional materials?

Then there's the social responsibility aspect. I don't really want to take additional money away from our school district, since it is really not their fault they can't reopen. I also don't intend to homeschool our kids long-term.

We will probably keep them in our district's DL program, but this is a good opportunity for any SAHP who are thinking about it to try out a semester or a year of homeschooling.

I wonder if there will be a sharp drop in enrollment if people flock to homeschooling? I wonder how the schools will deal with this, and the huge reduction in funding? In my HCOL area, they were already facing dramatically shrinking numbers of students.

Here's a link for any interested parents:
https://medium.com/alenas-journal/wa...s-f2e50639a5d2

These are excellent points. I am facing a similar situation and have similar thoughts.

[JGC97]

It turns out what I thought was true about the virus is not true after all. Sunlight does not kill the virus.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/...us/2931170001/

So going forward, it would seem that we're never going to be rid of this thing and masks are now and will forever be a daily party of life. Never realized how much I took for granted that I could go into public without wearing a face covering. Kiss those days goodbye forever

[joosoon]

Originally Posted by wac_432

We will probably keep them in our district's DL program, but this is a good opportunity for any SAHP who are thinking about it to try out a semester or a year of homeschooling.

If school was just about the instructional material, I'd agree. I get what you're saying, but even a flawed DL program has value beyond what I can provide and ours is a household with an education background. Too much of what makes school, school, is missing if kids are away from campus. Then there's the magnet programs which simply don't work if not done as in-person instruction (especially any of the language immersion ones). On top of that is the missing social aspect and as you wondered, will substitute activities like piano class or Taekwondo even be a thing next year? One of ours is in Scouts and that's all on Zoom now which totally defeats the purpose of interaction. Basically, life has ground to a halt for kids and it sucks. My biggest issue with DL/homeschooling is the fundamental problem that kids are at home doing it. Nothing is more distracting than having kids surrounded by the comfort of home when it comes to school work.

[joosoon]

Originally Posted by HereOnMars

It turns out what I thought was true about the virus is not true after all. Sunlight does not kill the virus.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/...us/2931170001/

So going forward, it would seem that we're never going to be rid of this thing and masks are now and will forever be a daily party of life. Never realized how much I took for granted that I could go into public without wearing a face covering. Kiss those days goodbye forever

Sunlight doesn't/didn't kill the virus that causes polio but we've moved on. This isn't permanent. Keep positive.

[wac_432]

I thought our Covid-19 response was going to be "science-based"

https://www.google.com/amp/s/mobile..../idUSKCN24G2IS

Meanwhile schools are closed but bars and wineries are open!

Originally Posted by joosoon

If school was just about the instructional material, I'd agree. I get what you're saying, but even a flawed DL program has value beyond what I can provide and ours is a household with an education background. Too much of what makes school, school, is missing if kids are away from campus. Then there's the magnet programs which simply don't work if not done as in-person instruction (especially any of the language immersion ones). On top of that is the missing social aspect and as you wondered, will substitute activities like piano class or Taekwondo even be a thing next year? One of ours is in Scouts and that's all on Zoom now which totally defeats the purpose of interaction. Basically, life has ground to a halt for kids and it sucks. My biggest issue with DL/homeschooling is the fundamental problem that kids are at home doing it. Nothing is more distracting than having kids surrounded by the comfort of home when it comes to school work.

I agree. However, with no in class instruction, there's really no reason to stay in the public school system.

If you have a really dynamic teacher who provides hours of unique material every day, and you are willing and able to plunk your kids down in front of a screen for hours on end, maybe.

Sadly, during the spring, our teacher treated DLing like an early summer vacation and was barely present online or otherwise. I don't see any reason to keep kids in a half-assed DL program like that, when you could homeschool and get resources for zoo trips, outdoor classes, surf/sail/swim lessons etc.

Since we are being forced to homeschool, might as well unenroll from public school and do it with homeschool organizations that have spent years developing their home curriculum, rather than ones slapping something together over a couple of weeks like the public schools have.

[CA4Now]

Originally Posted by wac_432

Meanwhile schools are closed but bars and wineries are open!

Bars and indoor wineries are closed.

Originally Posted by wac_432

Since we are being forced to homeschool, might as well unenroll from public school and do it with homeschool organizations that have spent years developing their home curriculum, rather than ones slapping something together over a couple of weeks like the public schools have.

Homeschool organizations are heavily focused on field trips to museums, zoos, places like The California Science Center, etc, which are obviously now closed.

My kids are grown, but I remember a few of their friends' parents taking on homeschooling, and the parent has to have a lot of patience, ability to discipline, and knowledge of science, algebra, writing, etc. It is MUCH harder than it looks.

I recall attending a homeschoolers' adaptation of a Shakespeare play in the parents' backyard, with all the kids in costumes and a set designed by the students. Parents, other relatives, and friends sat on folding chairs. Even that type of instructional event would be considered risky now.

[V8 Vega]

Taxpayers are getting taken to the cleaners, teachers getting paid for doing nothing.