To ask what is happening in America in relation to kids and schools.

[Disastermagnet27]

Just interested to know what's happening to America right now. Are children in school or are they all still homeschooled? Is it different in different states?

Different in different states. I believe some states schools are still closed.

Where I am in Texas schools are open but we have the choice of in person or virtual. One of mine went back to in person 2 weeks ago. One still virtual, they have assigned teachers that handle the virtual classes. We have about 75% of students back to in person

My friends in Texas got a choice of online or going into school.

My friends in Florida have kids in school, but they all have to wear masks at all times (age 5+). They could home school but their parents are all out at work.

My son lives Virginia his daughter in 2 days week then home school.

Other son lives in conneticut in full time, but wife works yale working from home

My friend's kids (8 and 6) in Los Angeles have been learning at home since last March. Not had contact with any other child in that time, apart from at a distance.
I feel grateful that our schools in the UK went back, even if only for a while.

It varies from state to state and even from locale to locale within states. Traditionally, there is a high degree of local control over schools in the US.

We are in NC. Here the local city school boards decide as to whether schools are open. Our children were last in school March 13th 2020. It's been remote and virtual since then.

My BF in Midwest had a choice of in-person or virtual and they chose virtual. They can change their minds at end of each term. It’s a proper online program not ‘cut and paste’ that my kids are getting here.

Different in different states. In California where cases are huge they haven't physically been in school since March.

It's different between states and also often again between different counties within an individual state. Where we are the students have all been DL since last March. There was supposed to be a hybrid option of 2 days in school and 3 days home but they only managed it for 2 weeks before saying the community numbers were too high.

We've chosed DL for the rest of the school year just so that it's consistant and we know where we are. It's working quite well for us. Teachers have been amazing.

Wow, so some kids haven't been in school since March 2020? That must be really difficult for them.
I'm definitely grateful for being in the UK then.
How are kids coping with not having seen their friends for a year? Is there any face to face interaction between children at all?

Different in different states and inside the state, different in various counties (districts). The public (state) schools are different from the private and religious schools. The county I live in offers distance learning for students, but the private school my son attends requires in class attendance.
FYI: After only three weeks of in-class attendance my son tested positive for covid. I am now showing symptoms too.

Friend in LA has a child in public school- they haven't been to school at all this academic year. They have three hours of online learning a day- they've never met their class teacher, or some of the class mates in RL. Friends and spouse can work from home, I've no idea about people who can't, but from what I understand their lockdown is more self regulated than the UK, so maybe they just call in help from friends and family.

My godsons in LA haven’t been to school for nearly a whole year.

@Disastermagnet27

Wow, so some kids haven't been in school since March 2020? That must be really difficult for them. I'm definitely grateful for being in the UK then. How are kids coping with not having seen their friends for a year? Is there any face to face interaction between children at all?

My middle child is doing better grade wise with more one on one at home. He’s hasn’t missed his friends really. His sports club started up again late last year so he sees other kids there. He saw his friends early on in the pandemic but we cut it back. My oldest is happier in school. He kept up with his friends on the Xbox but hadn’t seen anyone in person. He had one class at school I had to take him for which they did after hours, then a band class once a week before school so saw some peers there.

My youngest is preschool and we’ve privately bubbled with her best friend so she and I, and the other two get to see them in person at least. She goes to gymnastics class every week. It’s not very strict here at all, but we took a family decision to hunker down as much as we could (I have autoimmune conditions and don’t know how it would affect me). We’ve been to the zoo once, a museum, maybe 3 times to a restaurant in the past year.

My DD plays online games with a group of friends - chatting via apps like discord as they play. In the summer we had a few socially distanced playdates on our summer vacation but it was quite stressful getting them to all stay six feet apart.

She's missing being able to see her friends normally but is being a really good sport about it. And we're lucky that academically she's doing very well with distance learning.

We tend to do more things together as a family to make up for the lack of peer time.

Family in Minnesota back since last week

My niece is doing a rota system with one week in and the next remote, to keep cases down.

Where I live in Indians kids haven't been off at all..at the start of covid last year they switched to 100% online learning. At the start of this school year all parents had the choice of 100% online learning or hybrid (in school every other day & virtual learning)

Elementary aged children are able to be in school full time.

I can't believe in this day & age all schools can't offer online learning in the UK. It's such a shame for the children tbh..

Our school is offering online learning from year 2 upwards ( live lessons on google classroom) and a mix of online activities and worksheets for the younger ones.

Some schools are doing half days too. A friend sends his kids to school just for the mornings but the kids wear masks all day (his kids wear children’s n95 masks)

My nephews haven’t been to school since last March, and no prospect of returning any time soon.

There is talk of my cousins children possibly being able to return 2 mornings a week as of some time in February. She lives in LA with her kids. It is not compulsory, and I don’t think they want to go. She isn’t keen either

We’re in Washington. Our state school district has been out since last March. I teach in a private school and we’ve been in all year offering a choice of DL via livestream or in person. Everyone is masked. It’s really tough on the state system though - really a case of haves vs have nots as to whether kids are in school or not. Some school districts are being really proactive and some are barely sending work home.

I notice from talking to friends and siblings in the U.K. that they call it “homeschooling”. Distance learning (where schools provide curriculum etc, however sparse) is definitely not called homeschooling here. The genuinely “choosing to homeschool” community, which is big and vocal in our area, would be pretty pissed off if we called it that!!

My friend is a teacher in California (North) and she's at home working and presenting classes online.
Another friend (same school district) Showed me pics of her little girl "at school" she's at a desk in her room, online with her Kindergarten teacher. She's never actually met the teacher or been in the school.

Family in California home schooling since March