To think if you can keep your kids off school beyond September, you should?

[user8558]

Firstly I want to make absolutely clear that by "can" I mean people in similar circumstances to myself. I've no job anymore due to coronavirus, my industry will be one of the last to find its feet so I'm likely unemployed for the forseeable. Fortunately my partner is able to cover bills etc with his income.

I'm a bit wary of schools going back in August. For me it feels too soon.

However, I also know it's not soon enough for many other families. That working parents are struggling and for many other reasons kids are really missing school.

Am I being unreasonable then in thinking perhaps that people like myself, with nothing better to do anyway (and have the mental resources) are doing everyone else a favour by keeping our kids home to make life easier for teachers and other kids trying to manage in cramped schools? To make social distancing in the classroom easier for those who need and want to be there.

parents should properly homeschool rather than relying on teachers work I think you're right

This is nonsensical virtue signalling "I am such a perfect parent". Teachers are professionally trained to teach.

Most parents are not, and even if they are teachers, they are not qualified in every subject.

Teachers teach and parents are parents.

Kids need to get back to school unless their parents prefer to make home-schooling arrangements for them which it appears that the OP does.

I can see where the OP is coming from with "if your kids don't need to be in school don't send then in" but "need" is quite subjective and a lot of kids do need to be in school for social reasons even if they are amazingly self-motivated with their learning (which isn't anything for the "perfect" parents to preen themselves about either, you're just lucky that's their personality type). Others get bullied in school and this is probably an amazing respite for them - they will not be at all anxious to get back, quite the reverse.

I don't strictly "need" to send my y1 back. I am part time and WFH at the moment. Dh is only required to go into work 2 days a week due to volume of work and there is very little he can do at home. So we have been able to.juggle and get through home schooling.
However, the change in ds this week has been incredible. He is an only child was massively struggling with not being around other children. Yes school is slightly different but he accepts that. He has been living with the world being different since March.He is so happy to be back, comes out with a huge smile every day. Instead of a stroppy grumpy 6 year old who had reverted to toddler style tantrums I have my happy chatty little boy back after 1 week at school.
We all need to make the best decision for our children and families at the moment there is no "should do."

My ds is 15 and in year 10. He is desperate to go back Monday but this part of the country is very shambolic in many things. He has 3 mornings next week then 2 mornings the week after then a week nothing then the final week one day only. One morning a week might have suited mine best but this is what we have been given. It's a joke given that his dad's family live 100 miles away so no interaction with them for a long while as Boris doesn't permit this plus I have no family support of my own so ds only has his friends beyond his boring mum.

I won't have a job to go back to I don't think as I have no childcare for Ds. So I could keep him off, but he's desperate to go back to school. He's 8 and most of his socialising is done at school. Cubs and football won't be back for a long time so if he does get the chance in September to return I will let him.

Why on earth is being in a position to keep one's children off school beyond September and doing, it mean you're doing everyone a favour?

Children need to be allowed to interact with other children. Keeping most children at home, as they are at the moment, is certainly not doing a great many of them any favours at all.

Home education is, surely, a commitment a parent makes because they feel it's best for their individual child's education and well being, well hopefully that's why they do it, not because they've got nothing better to do.

I'm sure there are numerous people who are fully able to home educate their children. I'm also sure that a great many of them would feel it's more important that their children go to school and have
regular interaction with other children and other adults.

My dd is year 10 so GCSE's next year. I'm allowing her to go back for half a day next week which is all that is on offer at the moment. I feel she needs at least some teacher contact.

Yabu.

Most people are not equipped to effectively teach their child at home.

Furthermore children need to be in an environment where they can interact with peers.

Nope. We are both lucky enough to be able to flexibly work from home and will be for the foreseeable. However, DD has been back in school this week (she's year 1) for half days. She's a completely different child from how she was last week - happier, more engaged, more energised. It's like the fog has lifted from our family. Being in school is huge for them.

@iamapixie

I am undecided on this. What Covid19 data there is simply does not support the utterly disproportionate fear about it, so in an ideal world, I would want schools opened to all ASAP. BUT we're living in odd times where people have been scaremongered into not wanting to leave their homes so I do wonder if it would be better to have an approach where any parent who doesn't want their child back must de-register and home educate, and teachers with concerns about going back can perhaps then help with that home education via online platforms. Parents and teachers who want schools to educate children in the normal way ie in classrooms can go back. I would cert ainl

People who make this argument are missing the point. The main issue about schools which is becoming increasingly evident is that opening them fully as normal, would cause a big increase in community spread. This is why schools will be unlikely to open normally in September and over the winter period.

*The main issue about schools which is becoming increasingly evident is that opening them fully as normal, would cause a big increase in community spread

Can you link to this evidence please? I’ve been following the studies quite carefully on this for various reasons and haven’t seen anything that suggests this yet, I must have missed some.

I don't think the "social distancing" or the "bubbles" will even be possible long term. I can't see how reopening the schools doesn't mean back to "normal" - schools have neither space nor staff to do otherwise.

It is outrageous that we have accepted for our kids to be taught in crowded classrooms for so long, but there you go.

I guess if half the parents decided to keep the kids at home, it would make the reopening easier in a way, but I don't think it would be fair on the children.

Send them or keep them because of their own well-being, not because of your own situation.

If your a qualified teacher and can handle however many children you have home schooling then fear not - carry on. My two are back at school and thank god - they were high crawling up the walls and begging to be sent back. We had no capacity, not that much patience and between us - I don’t even know if my marriage can survive this. This will give us a fighting chance. So for me - YABU. Kids need structure and stability, and education.

Home educating one keen child is a world away from educating a resistant child, children of different ages, children with additional needs or any mix of the three.

School has a lot more benefits than just formal education.

If you want to remove your child from school, than do so. Don't judge anyone else for making a different decision.

Both now and in 'normal times' I send my kids to school because I think it is the best thing for them (to be educated, to socialise and all of those other wonderful things that school provides); not because it means i get some peace and quiet to get on with my job.

I find it utterly baffling that anyone who usually buys into the 'school is a good thing' mindset would actively choose to keep kids at home if there is no good reason to do so (shielding) etc.

I think if you want to and feel you can educate your child to the required standard and that they won't miss socialisation etc then you should. I don't think it should apply to anyone else. If you are asking should everyone who is a SAHP and can educate their kids keep them at home then I think No. My DH is a SAHP and is already busy enough without having to educate my DD and DS too. Also we pay tax so our children can be educated in a school by qualified professionals. I am not concerned about the virus spreading. Personally I would send my kids back tomorrow if I could.

No way. I'm not keeping my children away from their friends and a proper education a moment longer than necessary.

DD is aobut to go into year 10. I'm not going to let her miss her GCSE work especially as she's doing 3 sciences and drama and certainly needs to be in school for the practical side of those. She needs the routine as well, being cooped up at home trying to follow distance learning is a nightmare for her.

DS is 7. He keeps asking to go back. He loved school and it was a massive plank o his world that's just been pulled from under his feet.

Both schools are providing a good distance learning experience. DD has full time table via teams. DS has video lessons and teachers easily available to support him via video link but ..

they both still need our support They need us to buy materials often at short notice - books, craft materials etc. . Internet connection isn't always perfect and 7 year old especially has trouble drawing a line between home life and school life so its hard to get him to work.

Its not just about being able to do something, its about what's best for the child.

The main issue about schools which is becoming increasingly evident is that opening them fully as normal, would cause a big increase in community spread.

Do you have any evidence for this? as I have seen studies that contradict this and as far as I'm aware there is no conclusive study that determines whether children carry and pass on the virus yet.

I find it utterly baffling that anyone who usually buys into the 'school is a good thing' mindset would actively choose to keep kids at home if there is no good reason to do so

to be fair, depends what the school is offering.
Kids accepted at school this month have seen everything fun cancelled: sports day, all the school trips, plays, movie nights, assemblies..

When your school have a lot of outdoor space and the kids enjoy a fun day, it's not the same as kids pretty much stuck in a classroom with a TA all day, separated from their friends who have been sent in a different "bubble".

to be fair, depends what the school is offering.
Kids accepted at school this month have seen everything fun cancelled: sports day, all the school trips, plays, movie nights, assemblies...

Yet mine still says it’s better than ‘normal school’! Yesterday they had ‘indoor Olympics’ with games of tiddlywinks etc in the classroom as it was raining, she said it was the best day she’d ever had at school! Kids tend to find fun everywhere. But then mine doesn’t go to the movie nights as she hates sitting still watching films.

I would happily keep mine home longer. However there's four of them and they're enjoying being home together. The school is sending some good material for us to homes chool and we've found some resources that really work for us so the older two are keeping up with their work. It has massively benefitted my two year old to have his siblings home, he is now counting to 20 and starting to recognise some letters because he is watching reception work my 5 year old and I are doing together. The local children on our street are staying home too so they've been able to have socially distanced interaction with other children. Its not bad at all for my kids but they're lucky to have that experience. Some only children will have zero interaction with peers, some children will be struggling with homeschooling and really need that classroom based learning. Just because a parent can in theory, keep their child at home, they shouldn't feel they have to.

I do not send my child to school for childcare or to give me some peace or because of work ( as I work from home 85% of the time anyway and when I'm not at home DH would be) nor is it because I could not home educate her if I had to, I could; she has done all her online learning she is self motivated, she is 10, she follows instructions and gets on with it, researching things herself she might even progress further and fastest than in school but education is not solely about academic progress though this is the main purpose

She needs to go to school ( and to a lesser extent tennis club swimming youth group) because she needs to interact with other children, she has not seen or played with another child since March she has a garden playdate booked next week, she is getting used to working on her own without interuptions and getting stuff done in 2-3 hours , she is not stupid she realised weeks ago that this meant at least 1-2 hours a day at school on wasted on crowd management and minor faffing, she will probably be less tolerant of people messing around.

In Scotland they have a policy called GIRFEC ( getting it right for every child) apart from the very obvious lie you can't get anything right for all of the people all of the time, the best you can hope for is getting it right for most of the people most of the time, then is the fact that they are not getting it right for even 10% but none of that means I should keep my DD out of school she should have been back weeks ago, I believe right at the begiing shut down was necessary but it has been clear for at least 4 weeks if not longer that children are not at risk themselves unless medically vulnerable that children have few if any symptonms and therefore are unlikely to be the cause of spreading it so instead of being super spreaders they are actually repsonsible for far fewer than normal infections so they also pose very little risk to staff to my mind half of all classes should have been back from 1st June 3days one week 2 the next or vice versa and everyone back apart from vulnerable in July in England and in August in Scotland

YABU. You are worried about the “abnormality” of it? You can’t shield your children from the real world; you’d only be doing them a disservice by doing so.

They need to be able to adapt to change and learn to be resilient, not hide away from the worlds problems.

Can you link to this evidence please? I’ve been following the studies quite carefully on this for various reasons and haven’t seen anything that suggests this yet, I must have missed some.

There have been a few studies recently check out Christian Drosten work in Germany and others which show high viral load in children even asymptomatically. There are research projects underway I believe in Germany and other countries monitoring schools but they are countries with lower rates of transmission than we have. There is a lot of modelling to round school opening effects and Israel in particular has seen a lot of closures in Senior Schools in particular after reopening. There is some evidence from France too but I am afraid I haven't got the link. Most Senior Schools that have reopened mandate masks for pupils which helps and hopefully would be something we would do in UK.

I agree OP.

It's a bit like the stance our private nursery has taken here.

Let's say 40 places at a manageable level, instead of usual 60.

So 20 cannot go.

30 are key workers, 10 we were asked to apply for. So child struggling, parent struggling, etc.

I was able to say leave my place for someone else.

It doesn't mean my child's education, development, mental health isn't important.

It's just that what was being asked was us to look at our community as a whole and for people to honestly say who could and could not continue at the moment. Three months from now I might be saying I can't continue and need support.

The same is being asked for schools, starting times for schools and level of time in schools.

I appreciate that's not the position everywhere.

Ah I haven’t missed anything then, I’ve seen all those studies. None of them have indicated that opening schools causes a huge increase in community transmission.