Schools returning, lateral flow testing, multiple children. What to do?

[Yellownotblue]

DD is in secondary school and her school (independent) will be inviting children to get tested next week, ahead of returning on 8 March. Her school is miles away and I will need to drive her there, wait for her to get tested and drive back.

I have a younger DS in primary school. He is 9, fairly sensible and not anxious. He’s very compliant and wouldn’t do anything stupid or dangerous (eg play with matches).

I have to decide whether I take him with us to DD’s school (which would mean him missing online lessons with his own school), or leave him home alone for an hour or so. 90 minutes max.

We don’t have any family here that can look after him, and DH is abroad for work. I could give my neighbour a head’s up, she’s a good friend and she has an au pair who we know, so in an emergency DS could knock on their door. I can’t imagine this happening though - it would have to be a very freaky occurrence. We’re in a safe neighbourhood.

Would you leave DS home or take him to DD’s school?

Can he access his lesson online on his phone? I know a number of our pupils have done this while having to travel.

Leave him or if particularly anxious leave him but with a live phone or WhatsApp video call and a neighbour on standby? Or get him to come along & stay in the car whilst you go in?

He can access lessons on his iPad. He is very independent and attends all lessons online, he doesn’t need supervision. But he doesn’t have a phone and wouldn’t be able to attend lessons in the car.

@Yellownotblue

He can access lessons on his iPad. He is very independent and attends all lessons online, he doesn’t need supervision. But he doesn’t have a phone and wouldn’t be able to attend lessons in the car.

Could he use your phone? Or hot spot? I just feel 9 is a bit young for more than 10 mins but you know your son.

I’d leave him at home. Presumably he could call you on FaceTime if he needed to? I’d check in with him a couple of times while you’re out and also let the neighbour know. He’ll be fine

Like Riga said, if you have data on your mobile you could use it as a hotspot and he can do the lesson on his iPad in the car? I don't think I'd leave a 9 year old for that long (though my parents would have left me, but different times and I was very sensible).

What does he think?

I'd leave a sensible 9 yr old if I was close by but I'm not sure I'd be comfortable with being a 'long drive' away. What if something happened to you, or there was an incident on the road that held you up significantly?

What would happen if you broke down or something like that and didn't get home for a few hours?

Personally I would not leave a 9 year old in those circumstances but I don't know your son.

I think I’d take my 9 year old, she wouldn’t want to be left that long at home on her own.

As others have said I’d take the iPad and she could watch the lesson in the car using my phone data.

I wouldn't do this. I would let the school know he can't attend properly and let him access the lessons from your phone or take the morning off.

Ask school to send over some work he can do in his own time. For me, he’s too young to be left that long

I would leave a sensible 9yr old home alone no worries (well, about neighbour snitchers to social services yes huge worries, but not about anything else that might happen)

Getting LFTs for DC is full of similar problems for us so we decided not to. I have work meetings that clash, DC have lessons that clash (up to 1 hour to miss, same DC being tested), me having to drive DC so they can get to work afterwards. Expensive parking if I drove...

For my DC, at 9, one would be begging to be left, and one begging not to be. The confident DC though would actually only be confident for about 45 mins- 1 hour before needing reassurance.

I’d be concerned the 9 year old’s school wouldn’t be happy with safeguarding knowing DC was alone at home.

I have a 10 year old. In this situation it wouldn’t cross my mind not to take him.

He would do lessons from the car, or we’d just excuse ourself for the period of time and I’d probably ask him to bring a book to read while we waited.

I wouldn’t contemplate leaving him for that period of time and distance.

I’d take the iPad in the car and use my phone’s hotspot then he can still do the lesson.

He accesses lessons on your phone or you tether his device in the car. Simple. Take him with you.

Who cares if he misses a couple of hours of home school?

No way would I leave a 9 year old at home for that long and I was a good distance away.

If he is happy, can be contacted AND you have a friendly neighbour that can be called in an emergency I’d leave him.
But plan b take him and try and access lesson in the car with a hotspot
Failing that I don’t think it would be that bad really to miss the lesson. A friend teaches gcse classes remotely and she has several missing every day (which is obviously bad, but your child doesn’t need to worry about GCSEs yet and it’s not your fault his school is closed )

I would take my 9 year old with me without a doubt. Too long and too far away. Either you find some way to get him online in the car or he misses a bit of school. It’s not the end of the world.

Phone his school, we have moved house during home schooling and messaged my youngest's teacher to explain that she wouldn't be getting as much done while we were doing this. They were completely understanding of the situation.

I would take him with me and I have a 9 year old DS too and one in secondary.
I would see if I could get the lesson up on my phone in the car. If not though, I would just inform the school why he won’t be there that day.

Thank you all, it’s good to see a range of opinions and ideas. I hadn’t thought about hotspot from my phone. Still I feel like it’s a very remote risk leaving him at home. DH and DS also think it would be fine. He’s not remotely bothered about it, and not because he wants to get into mischief 😁.

Not to dripfeed, but I don’t drive, so DD and I will have to Uber to her school and back. I’d rather not have DS as an extra passenger if we can avoid it (and also him trying to attend online lessons in a parking lot if it’s raining!)). But also I’m not worried about breaking down, as I would just call another Uber.

I think on balance the easiest is to leave him here, with DD’s phone so he can call me if needs be, and I can check on him on FaceTime and by phone. The worst that’s going to happen is he’ll be playing Among us with his school friends once lessons are over. I will also let my neighbour know.

Thank you all for your views 🙂

I wouldn’t leave my 9 yo at home for more than a few minutes. And their school says there needs to be an adult in the room while they are on their live online lessons (which we don’t always manage as working ourselves, but they would not be impressed if they knew no adult in the house)

Couldn’t you ask your DD school if you could pick up a LFT and do it at home?

Otherwise I’d take your DS with you. He’s not going to miss a great deal and can catch up (if needs be) afterwards.