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We have 5 kids in school. Every single kid has a different schedule of zoom meetings, different websites they are supposed to be doing, etc. It is a nightmare t

We have 5 kids in school. Every single kid has a different schedule of zoom meetings, different websites they are supposed to be doing, etc. It is a nightmare to try to organize. Hopefully this will be a wakeup call for the school district to figure out an organized way of doing this for the next time. Ideally there would be a single place we could go that would show everything for all of our kids on one page with what they should be doing that day and the links. Instead we are getting text messages from this teacher, emails from another, we've even received snail mail letters!

binarymax 7y ago
Noting from the other side, my sister is a teacher with 175 students. She’s required to assign work, grade, and give personal feedback to all of her students. She was able to do this in a straightforward manner when school was on-site. Now it’s a lot of overhead to chase things down when all the students and parents have their own schedules and communication preferences.
- duderific 7y ago
  Between your comment and the GP, it's easy to see that any "distance learning" is only a stopgap that we've been forced into, and is not scalable or desirable for any length of time.
  - binarymax 7y ago
    I'm not sure. I don't think 100% distance learning "is the future" but it can certainly be improved. With many things becoming remote, there are obstacles AND opportunities.
  - irrational 7y ago
    Whether it is scalable or desirable is debatable. But what, I think is not debatable is there will be a time in the future where self-isolation is required again. The schools need to prepare now for when that happens.
deleted 7y ago
[deleted]
betterattrib 7y ago
I hope they do this even without a "next time". I have 2 kids in school and keeping up with the communication channels is an absolute nightmare even in good times. The district has a website for their school, the school has its own independent website, some teachers have their own Wix website, the PTA has a website, there are at least 2 or 3 "information portals" provided by the district, different email platforms, etc, etc. And when a kid moves on to the next grade or next school, much of this resets. Unless you have a stay at home parent managing the information, you're lucky if you find out about just the major issues...forget all the daily/weekly things you need to keep up with.
- karatestomp 7y ago
  I've noticed the same thing but haven't been able to come up with a solution that isn't just saying "stop being such absolute jackasses when it comes to communication, schools" (and then having them actually do that) or yet another communication channel that may or may not take off enough to make me some money but, however well-functioning and well-intended, won't actually solve the problem, instead adding to it by creating one more way for schools to disjointedly spam parents.
dumbfounder 7y ago
3 kids here, pre-k, 1st and 2nd grade, so no self-directed learning of any kind going on. 2 working parents, one of us working much harder than normal during this time. We are doing our best to have school directed by our au pair, but her English isn't great so learning new material is not really possible. We just focus on the basics, have them read, write, do math, art, throw in a bit of science, and line up as many zooms with their teach/classmates as we can handle. I was pushing too hard for a while, and the kids were getting upset, which stressed me out, which stressed them out. Came to a head when my 1st grader was screaming at me that he didn't want to do a book report and then literally ran away down the street with me chasing after him. I made a decision to stop stressing that day. I eased up on the deliverables, shortened the school day, and made sure we prioritize de-stressing. Now my wife likes me again. Without an au pair it would be bedlam and they would learn absolutely nothing, and I recognize that we are far ahead of a lot of people in terms of resources, so I think barely anyone is going to actually have a good experience with at-home schooling unless the kids are older, can actually manage the schooling themselves, and are actually motivated to do so. Or you have one heckuva stay-at-home parent.
- dbcurtis 7y ago
  You have my sympathy. Two things are working against you: 1. You are being asked to do something you did not sign up for, and 2. You were blind-sided and did not have time to prepare. We home schooled our child from the time we noticed pre-school was not exactly going great, until the day they left for college. (They were given a choice at middle school and high school to stop homeschooling, but they chose to stick with it.) We chose, we had time to prepare, and yet it was work. Some things that make homeschooling easier: 1. Adjusting parent work/career to make time. Unfortunately, not so much an option for you. 2. Coops groups. Not an option for anybody during lock-down. 3. Curriculum themes. The way home-school parents handle multiple kids in different grades without going crazy is to pick a theme and assign appropriate work to each kid, example: The next 6 weeks everybody's world history is going to be South America, so 2nd grader does 2nd grade work product, middle schooler does middle school work product, high schooler does high school work product. But as a parent, at least the search space for resources is cut by 2/3's over having everyone do something different. I suspect your school isn't thinking that one through for you, either. Frankly, if your school district lets you get away with it, it might be a good chance to try "unschooling" for a while. Unschooling is: Study what you want, but you must work on something. It will be an opportunity for the kids to learn how to be more self directed. ("unschooling" should not be confused with "raised by wolves" -- I've seen that, too, call unschooling, but the result isn't quite the same.) First grade is a little young for that to work well, though, I must admit, unless they have already developed a reading habit. But heck, maybe even that is OK -- "read what you want, but you must read for X minutes." Kindling a love of reading at that age goes a long way later on. Anyway, hang in. De-stressing is an important goal. I remember when mine was little and just starting violin -- at some point when the stress-meter was climbing, I decided it was more import that practice be fun every day than to accomplish everything that the teacher assigned every week. That was the right call, trust me.
Hnrobert42 7y ago
I have chosen to not have children because I don’t want to place a burden on this planet nor do I want to do the work required. Of course, I wouldn’t wish this stress on you, and it brings me no joy to hear of it. But I also have little sympathy.
- bpodgursky 7y ago
  > I don’t want to place a burden on this planet nor do I want to do the work required One of these is true.
  - Hnrobert42 7y ago
    You don’t know that.
- amiga_500 7y ago
  The end of the line, ah well.
  - Hnrobert42 7y ago
    Are you saying it is good that my genetic line will not continue? That society will ultimately benefit because my genetics are so terrible? And this because of a Hacker News comment? Seems a bit harsh.
karatestomp 7y ago
> Ideally there would be a single place we could go that would show everything for all of our kids on one page with what they should be doing that day and the links. Fucking exactly this. Even before this, schools had a communication problem. There'd be frequent emails, most of them without relevant or useful content, texts to tell me there was an email I should go read (WTF, just put the part that matters in the text!) and then an app with notifications which may or may not also generate an email directing me to the app, and most of which were also not helpful. They communicate way, way too much, and the wrong things, and in the wrong ways. I've gained a lot of sympathy for parents in my partner's classes who say they missed an email or whatever—the schools spam parents with irrelevant crap. Bring back fliers in backpacks, a message notebook that always comes home, and calls when things are really important. Ditching the tech entirely would be an improvement. Even with the Covid thing I'm not sure the tech's all that helpful. Bus-delivered weekly physical materials (they're out delivering meals anyway) and regular ol' books would be easier to manage.

binarymax 7y ago

Noting from the other side, my sister is a teacher with 175 students. She’s required to assign work, grade, and give personal feedback to all of her students. She was able to do this in a straightforward manner when school was on-site. Now it’s a lot of overhead to chase things down when all the students and parents have their own schedules and communication preferences.

duderific 7y ago
Between your comment and the GP, it's easy to see that any "distance learning" is only a stopgap that we've been forced into, and is not scalable or desirable for any length of time.
- binarymax 7y ago
  I'm not sure. I don't think 100% distance learning "is the future" but it can certainly be improved. With many things becoming remote, there are obstacles AND opportunities.
- irrational 7y ago
  Whether it is scalable or desirable is debatable. But what, I think is not debatable is there will be a time in the future where self-isolation is required again. The schools need to prepare now for when that happens.

deleted 7y ago

[deleted]

betterattrib 7y ago

I hope they do this even without a "next time". I have 2 kids in school and keeping up with the communication channels is an absolute nightmare even in good times. The district has a website for their school, the school has its own independent website, some teachers have their own Wix website, the PTA has a website, there are at least 2 or 3 "information portals" provided by the district, different email platforms, etc, etc. And when a kid moves on to the next grade or next school, much of this resets. Unless you have a stay at home parent managing the information, you're lucky if you find out about just the major issues...forget all the daily/weekly things you need to keep up with.

karatestomp 7y ago
I've noticed the same thing but haven't been able to come up with a solution that isn't just saying "stop being such absolute jackasses when it comes to communication, schools" (and then having them actually do that) or yet another communication channel that may or may not take off enough to make me some money but, however well-functioning and well-intended, won't actually solve the problem, instead adding to it by creating one more way for schools to disjointedly spam parents.

dumbfounder 7y ago

3 kids here, pre-k, 1st and 2nd grade, so no self-directed learning of any kind going on. 2 working parents, one of us working much harder than normal during this time. We are doing our best to have school directed by our au pair, but her English isn't great so learning new material is not really possible. We just focus on the basics, have them read, write, do math, art, throw in a bit of science, and line up as many zooms with their teach/classmates as we can handle. I was pushing too hard for a while, and the kids were getting upset, which stressed me out, which stressed them out. Came to a head when my 1st grader was screaming at me that he didn't want to do a book report and then literally ran away down the street with me chasing after him. I made a decision to stop stressing that day. I eased up on the deliverables, shortened the school day, and made sure we prioritize de-stressing. Now my wife likes me again. Without an au pair it would be bedlam and they would learn absolutely nothing, and I recognize that we are far ahead of a lot of people in terms of resources, so I think barely anyone is going to actually have a good experience with at-home schooling unless the kids are older, can actually manage the schooling themselves, and are actually motivated to do so. Or you have one heckuva stay-at-home parent.

dbcurtis 7y ago
You have my sympathy. Two things are working against you: 1. You are being asked to do something you did not sign up for, and 2. You were blind-sided and did not have time to prepare. We home schooled our child from the time we noticed pre-school was not exactly going great, until the day they left for college. (They were given a choice at middle school and high school to stop homeschooling, but they chose to stick with it.) We chose, we had time to prepare, and yet it was work. Some things that make homeschooling easier: 1. Adjusting parent work/career to make time. Unfortunately, not so much an option for you. 2. Coops groups. Not an option for anybody during lock-down. 3. Curriculum themes. The way home-school parents handle multiple kids in different grades without going crazy is to pick a theme and assign appropriate work to each kid, example: The next 6 weeks everybody's world history is going to be South America, so 2nd grader does 2nd grade work product, middle schooler does middle school work product, high schooler does high school work product. But as a parent, at least the search space for resources is cut by 2/3's over having everyone do something different. I suspect your school isn't thinking that one through for you, either. Frankly, if your school district lets you get away with it, it might be a good chance to try "unschooling" for a while. Unschooling is: Study what you want, but you must work on something. It will be an opportunity for the kids to learn how to be more self directed. ("unschooling" should not be confused with "raised by wolves" -- I've seen that, too, call unschooling, but the result isn't quite the same.) First grade is a little young for that to work well, though, I must admit, unless they have already developed a reading habit. But heck, maybe even that is OK -- "read what you want, but you must read for X minutes." Kindling a love of reading at that age goes a long way later on. Anyway, hang in. De-stressing is an important goal. I remember when mine was little and just starting violin -- at some point when the stress-meter was climbing, I decided it was more import that practice be fun every day than to accomplish everything that the teacher assigned every week. That was the right call, trust me.

Hnrobert42 7y ago

I have chosen to not have children because I don’t want to place a burden on this planet nor do I want to do the work required. Of course, I wouldn’t wish this stress on you, and it brings me no joy to hear of it. But I also have little sympathy.

bpodgursky 7y ago
> I don’t want to place a burden on this planet nor do I want to do the work required One of these is true.
- Hnrobert42 7y ago
  You don’t know that.
amiga_500 7y ago
The end of the line, ah well.
- Hnrobert42 7y ago
  Are you saying it is good that my genetic line will not continue? That society will ultimately benefit because my genetics are so terrible? And this because of a Hacker News comment? Seems a bit harsh.

karatestomp 7y ago

> Ideally there would be a single place we could go that would show everything for all of our kids on one page with what they should be doing that day and the links. Fucking exactly this. Even before this, schools had a communication problem. There'd be frequent emails, most of them without relevant or useful content, texts to tell me there was an email I should go read (WTF, just put the part that matters in the text!) and then an app with notifications which may or may not also generate an email directing me to the app, and most of which were also not helpful. They communicate way, way too much, and the wrong things, and in the wrong ways. I've gained a lot of sympathy for parents in my partner's classes who say they missed an email or whatever—the schools spam parents with irrelevant crap. Bring back fliers in backpacks, a message notebook that always comes home, and calls when things are really important. Ditching the tech entirely would be an improvement. Even with the Covid thing I'm not sure the tech's all that helpful. Bus-delivered weekly physical materials (they're out delivering meals anyway) and regular ol' books would be easier to manage.