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It's a way to make the best of a bad situation, not a long-term alternative to brick-and-mortar schools. Providing funding for childcare services (from public

It's a way to make the best of a bad situation, not a long-term alternative to brick-and-mortar schools. Providing funding for childcare services (from public school budgets) would also be a good idea, but if we are going to have large-scale child-care services, why not just re-open schools? If the point of closing public schools is to minimize the amount of social contact in order to keep the spread of the disease low, then it necessarily means more parents will need to care for their children at home. Homeschool pods and charter schools make this process less of a pain. Btw, not all homeschooling families are well-educated. Many do it for religious reasons, or because they have concerns about the safety of the school environment, or because they have a child with special needs that aren't accommodated by the public school system. Charter schools that facilitate homeschooling have teachers who are resources for the parents and a variety of pre-packaged curricula that parents can choose from.

danans 6y ago
> It's a way to make the best of a bad situation, not a long-term alternative to brick-and-mortar schools. Agree 100% > Providing funding for childcare services (from public school budgets) would also be a good idea There is no money in public school budgets for this. The pandemic hasn't lowered expenses for public schools by any appreciable amount. > but if we are going to have large-scale child-care services, why not just re-open schools? If the point of closing public schools is to minimize the amount of social contact in order to keep the spread of the disease low, then it necessarily means more parents will need to care for their children at home. The idea is to provide financial assistance to help low income parents pay for child care when they must leave the home for work, and do so in smaller pods to minimize disease transmission. Parents with high incomes and/or high work flexibility or work from home jobs are already forming these pods and hiring college students as childcare/tutors. Poor families with inflexible work are not able to do this. These pods are a net increase in cost, since the safety and care function was previously provided by the school facilities and staff has been lost. As you say, it's making the best of a bad situation. The problem is that only people with particular privileges either in job flexibility or income can afford to make the best in the situation. > Btw, not all homeschooling families are well-educated. Many do it for religious reasons, I'd argue that from a literacy perspective, a religious home schooling family is better educated than many others even if they don't have secular credentials. The Bible isn't that easy to read, after all.

danans 6y ago

> It's a way to make the best of a bad situation, not a long-term alternative to brick-and-mortar schools. Agree 100% > Providing funding for childcare services (from public school budgets) would also be a good idea There is no money in public school budgets for this. The pandemic hasn't lowered expenses for public schools by any appreciable amount. > but if we are going to have large-scale child-care services, why not just re-open schools? If the point of closing public schools is to minimize the amount of social contact in order to keep the spread of the disease low, then it necessarily means more parents will need to care for their children at home. The idea is to provide financial assistance to help low income parents pay for child care when they must leave the home for work, and do so in smaller pods to minimize disease transmission. Parents with high incomes and/or high work flexibility or work from home jobs are already forming these pods and hiring college students as childcare/tutors. Poor families with inflexible work are not able to do this. These pods are a net increase in cost, since the safety and care function was previously provided by the school facilities and staff has been lost. As you say, it's making the best of a bad situation. The problem is that only people with particular privileges either in job flexibility or income can afford to make the best in the situation. > Btw, not all homeschooling families are well-educated. Many do it for religious reasons, I'd argue that from a literacy perspective, a religious home schooling family is better educated than many others even if they don't have secular credentials. The Bible isn't that easy to read, after all.