I know a lot of moms here are having a good experience with remote learning, but we are not. My 7 year old is truly starting to unravel - he'll have epic meltdowns, refuse to go back to school after breaks, scream at us- he's so stressed with the workflow and sharing his space with his parents/ missing his friends. The couple days a week he's there are 1000% better but overall it's bad. I truly don't know what to do - would love to hear from others whose kids are having challenges. super worried about him.
does he get a ton of exercise during his remote days? try that.
he's online from 9-3 and then he goes for exercise but until then he doesn't have time.
We got one of those small trampolines for our son to jump on during breaks
how does he like it? I've heard they're great but worried about it possibly tipping over?
Just skip the remote stuff. It’s not good for them. It’s harmful not helpful at that age.
100%. I wish we could just opt out if that's the only option - but I dont think the school will allow. then do I move to get in person full time?
That’s what we did. Remote was terrible for our young kid so we moved for in person.
@Anonymous Meet with the teacher. If I were you I would say that you will read with DC for 1/2 hour a day on at-home days, and you'll also print up the math and have him do that too, but that the meetings and any other online work is not possible for him. They have to work with you. I personally find the insistence on screen-learning for little kids to be abusive.
My son is 14 and we live together in a small apartment. His sleep schedule is absolutely insane (and all his friends are up at crazy hours joking around online without their parents being aware of it). Every day there is some kind of conflict between us. I need to go downstairs constantly for fresh air and to avoid an argument. I keep telling myself this must be harder on him than it is on me- I can't image how I would have handled pandemic as a child. As for me, I work from home and the only time I get a small stretch of focused concentration for work is when he is taking one of his 'day naps' (usually between Zoom classes and on his lunch hour). When he is awake I am the on-call cook, dish-washer, problem solver, class/lesson fact-checker, note-taker, delivery service... I have been so unproductive- haven't had a full night's sleep for the past 6 months because of my son's nocturnal free-time. The situation is impossible. I looked in the mirror today and it looks like I aged 6 years since March.
First of all and most importantly - it sounds like you are doing an amazing job in a crazy situation and I hope you find a way to tell yourself that. I feel like what's so damaging about the situation is these kids are finding out who they are; only covid stopped that process in its tracks. Zoom is fine if you know who you are and you are not using zoom to discover that. You can't find out who you are in a square facilitated by a teacher. To me the kids who are doing ok are the ones who are somehow with a bunch of other humans every day during this. The ones like ours who are stuck with their family and very little other interaction - it sucks! And it is terrible for their parents esp if you work full time. Ditto on ageing.
Are you in nyc? If so, why not let them go to the playground every day. We were away for a bit and then when we got back to nyc I’m July and ds started playing with other kids daily, he turned into a different child’s. Night and day. And it’s been great since
@Anonymous 100% but he does go for usually more than 2 hours a day after school. it def helps but still we're in this space. he really likes structure WITH socialization so i think the playground does not scratch that itch.
I have an almost 7 year old ds. I learned a few lessons from last spring when he was in a horrible mood and refused to leave his room and would not do assignments. 1. He needs to socialize, once he had friends he was seeing he was excited to leave the house, he goes the park everyday and is super excited to socialize. 2. He will not do independent work on his own. I’ve accepted that he’s not built for doing it. I have a tutor for 2 hours on his remote days and they’re helping him work through his assignments so with these changes- that I had to argue with dh for, my son is doing well
how many hours of asynchronous/ synchronous does he have? mine has 6 hours of synchronous with small breaks.
That’s a ton of live time. You must be in private. we get about 2 hours of synchronous, but interspersed throughout the day. Like 15 on, 30 off, 15 on. Etc
we are in private. It's crazy to me how much there is - 6 hours a day with prob 1.5 hours breaks in between. The saddest thing is he WANTS to learn, he wants to see his friends - but it's also making him nuts. I feel like he's in this weird experiment that we'll find out was totally fine for some kids and super not for others - but too late. And I have to advocate for him in the interim.
take him to the playground everyday!!!
he goes for at least 2 hours after class every day - still he's so frustrated.
Set up obstacle courses around the house for him to do between sessions. Have him skip rope, do jumping jacks, sit ups, push ups, go noodle, yoga / meditation. He needs ways to regulate his emotions.
I had to put my DD (9) on meds (anti-depressant). More than 2hrs on screens/day does that to her She's adhd, and her issues are amplified through online "learning". What helped as well was strict online/screen monitoring = no screens except for school. I'm counting the days until we can do real school again.
Do they have PE or any sort of movement during the day? My DC started remote and they had 30’ of PE and 20’ of movement built into the schedule every day. he did it in the apartment but it def help.
TBH, I found breaks for this age group to make things worse. we did that in the spring (in preK) when he would have one class then play then have another one. He would get into something independently only to be yanked from it for the class. This year (K) his schedule was continuous 8:30-2:30 (with lunch break) and that was much better. also have you considered in person remote? NORY has it and I think asphalt Green. You drop him off and they monitor remote school. Maybe something to consider. GL!
Yes, also have a 7 year old. Yesterday was our fully asynchronous day. He had assignments for writing, math, social studies, health and two reading assignments. It sounds like a lot but in total, he had to write 6 sentences, film a 20 second video, and do three pages of math problems. It took seven hours.
omg this is my 7 year old. I must say "what are you working on now?" and "why aren't you working on that thing now?" 500 times a day. meanwhile she has choreographed 73648450 dance routines. I'm going to jump out a window soon.
@anonyc yep, and when I offer to take a break from my work and help him get something finished up, he's like "no, no I've got this, I'm doing it..." and waves me off ...20 minutes later I check in, and he's still typing the same sentence 🤦♀️
I looked and it’s a great idea but our school won’t allow other pods for hybrid kids
This is not reasonable, don't know how they can do or enforce that if they are not open full time.
How can the school mandate that and what is their reasoning ? What if you had to go to work ?
their reasoning is the kids can't socialize with other kids outside their cohort for reasons virus. but it's insanely hard to jump thru these hoops.
My child is like this, a learning center for remote days is life-changing. Not as good as actual school but solves 80% of this.
which one do you use? I dont think our school will let us.
Then tell your school to open full time. Or else provide an at home teacher.
There are many. I use a tiny one in my neighborhood. Many community based organizations are running them.
Also what school will not let you? And what are they expecting you to do for childcare? Not everyone can supervise their kids all the time, especially essential workers.
100%. Our school seems to have remarkably few parents who are in the position of inflexible work situations. we are in the minority, seemingly.
why dont you see what options are available- there are a bunch- not sure where you live but there is nori, greenwich house, and a bunch of others. Also, if 9-3 online all day doesn’t work for you- speak up. Maybe tell them ds is not doing well and he will be on for 30 min to an hour and have him do something else- tutor, outside time, whatever. Its not like what the school says is the law- you should figure something else out that will work for your family.
I think you’re right. It hasn’t occurred to me really to say no to any of this but honestly I think I probably should. it’s too much
Yes. Take him Out keep him busy busy busy . Let him see other kids, things will get better