Is anyone considering keeping their child at home when schools go back?

[Chollok]

Just that really, considering keeping my reception aged DS at home after 8 March for a number of reasons. Wondered if anyone else was doing likewise?

No. My eldest has been at college throughout but the others are desperate to go back.

No way don't be so ridiculous

@Ch3rish yes it was meant in jest. Boris said he'd give teachers and parents 2 weeks notice, understandable for teachers but I doubt many parents need that much notice.
@Happymum12345 I'm sure the Queen is preparing your CBE as we speak

@bonbonours

I understand that a lot of people are desperate to get their kids back to school both for the sake of their own sanity and the kids' well-being. But don't you think if they reopen schools too soon it will just drive another increase in cases and push any return to something like normality even further off again. I'd prefer an additional month of staying at home now if it meant it allowed case numbers to drop enough that we could be in a much better position by the summer. Reopening anything including schools too early will just prolong the agony and mean more lockdowns or restrictions for longer.

i think it's all the accompanying reopens that made it spread last time, and schools copped the blame. hopefully this time they will stick to their word and not open non essential shops bars etc until later. obviously teachers should be vaccinated asap though

Gosh no. I can't wait for my dc to be back at school with their friends, learning and playing together. Homeschooling is a perfectly valid choice if you have the resources to do it and can build up the social networks your child needs.

Absolutely not.

Yes

Hell no

Yes but ours have been at home all year since March 20 (clinically vulnerable) Really had hopes of getting them back this year (school year) but I won't be shocked if that doesn't happen now.

Are kids actually all going back on 8th?

Yes, my dc will go back approx 7-10 days after the Easter holidays

If the schools return on 8 March that is

No! Dc2 currently at the attached nursery anyway. In for a penny!

Yes, Wales where 3-7 year olds return after half term. My youngest will stay home with her siblings.

Hell to the N - O

Are kids actually all going back on 8th?

I expect it will be staggered but seems fairly likely reception will be in the first group.

i think it's all the accompanying reopens that made it spread last time, and schools copped the blame. hopefully this time they will stick to their word and not open non essential shops bars etc until later. obviously teachers should be vaccinated asap though

But in that case why did cases not drop during the November lockdown, when everything you mention was shut but schools were open?

Not my toddler no, I’m literally counting the days until nursery reopens.

My older daughter is CEV though so I’m unsure on her.

Cases did drop down in November, R number was at 0.8 at the end of Nov and then Christmas shopping started.

My son is also in reception and he made amazing progress with writing at home, but this could have been acheived with working with him after school too, obv in a class of 30 noone is going to stand over him all day, but he went backwards with things like using cutlery, getting dresses and going to toilet alone.

He misses his friends too, every child in his class was asked their witsh for next term on zoom call and they all said they want to go back.

Any particular reason your child doesnt enjoy school? Language barrier maybe? Is he scared of something?

No!

I'm considering it OP.
Ideally I would like my 14 year old to have had both vaccinations before returning to school. Statistically my 14 year old is unlikely to have the severe form of the Covid but I am concerned about viral transmission to other members of our household, especially if my child was to have Coronavirus asymptomatically.

Close relatives both in their 50s, have been hospitalised; one ventilated, for many weeks. Both relatives by the way are normal BMI with zero underlying health conditions.

An established genetic link to the severe form of Covid 19 was reported in December/Jan.

God no. They need to be in school.

Nope. My 4 are desperate to be back.

DH and I have noticed that DC4 (reception) has come on in leaps and bounds with his reading as he has had one-to-one time every day.

Even with that, he's better at school. Leaving aside the fact his writing is going backwards (and I'm not pushing as I have not a clue what I'm doing!), he left his last 2 class zoom calls after 5 minutes because they were just making him too sad. .

@Sexnotgender are you not concerned that your toddler, if they return to nursery, may asymptomatically transmit the virus to your CEV older child?

Any particular reason your child doesnt enjoy school? Language barrier maybe? Is he scared of something?

Class sizes are too big (we are in London, this isn't a resolvable problem unless we go private), he finds noise overwhelming, as I do (I have ADHD), he is better with some flexibility and control over how he spends his day. Multiple reasons really.

We do a zoom every day with his class because I feel pressured to participate but he hates them tbh.

I am trying to get the balance right between making him do certain things that are out of his comfort zone but necessary and forcing him to do things he hates.

I was v similar to him as a child (possibly he also has ADHD as I know there is a strong genetic link) and my mum with the best intentions constantly tried tried push me to socialise, to go to extra curricular activities, to sort of assimilate with the whole culture of school if you like. In the end it didn't do me much good. All the things I hated as a child I still hate as an adult, and I think it would have been better for me to have been nurtured through being who I actually was than attempting to make me fit in better with the accepted norms iyswim. I think my mum thought if I didn't learn to do x,y,z then I wouldn't be able to lead a happy and well adjusted adult life but you know what - I have. I have a job where I can work from home and manage my own time flexibly. I have a small circle of close friends I see individually rather than in a group. I have a loving DH who respects and understands me and I him.

I have never been anything but very very encouraging about school to my son and if he enjoyed it I'd have been delighted for him. I suspect with something like forest school, smaller class sizes etc he would love it but I feel increasingly strongly that at the moment, he is thriving at home when he wasn't at school. That may not be the case in a year, I don't know.

I do think there is a big prejudice in this country against homeschoolers, with people thinking they are either the hippy or religious types (I'm neither!!!). I just want to do what is right for my son , for the child I have, and I don't think there is a one size fits all approach to that necessarily.