Prepping for a Pandemic... 15

[FuckThisWind]

A lot of us have been here before. We Prepped for Brexit. Some of us are Heathcare workers. We prepare for the worst every day. It's difficult to predict what will happen in our lives. In our lifetime. Will we get Cancer? Will a huge meteorite wipe the world out?

One thing is for sure, this new virus is either affecting us, or is going to affect us all very soon. You are all already onboard. I hope you are prepared and much as you can be. And in the meantime this thread is here to support us all.

This week will bring many new challenges. We are almost certain to have some sort of lockdown. Like other parts of Europe. We aren't special. We aren't different. We are all
fragile souls. But I hope we live to tell the tale.

God Speed.

Re soap, use shower gel if soap is out. I imagine shampoo would do the job too.

Anyone know what time the post COBRA briefing is today?

@PancakeFiend If we are home educating is there any regulated educational boards that will assess their competence here in the U.K.? What form of social interaction do homeschoolers provide for the kids other than occasional classes as such? Can you please guide me on this so I can be more well informed. Thank you

@MoonlightMistletoe I left the aloe plant out this winter on a friend’s advice and it went bad really quick. I am trying to revive it now. Yours look fine except you need to plant it in separate pots if there are more than one or may be trim it somehow?

@Sprayitall - I home school and the whole social thing is the thing most people worry about, and under normal circs is just a non issue. There are normally plenty of regular social groups, as well as the usual non home-ed specific classes my DC attends on a weekly basis. The problem is that all those are either being cancelled (with good reason) or I am about to stop my DC from attending them for a while.

Re: inspection, your LEA (local education authority) may get in touch with you if you dereg and say you wish to home educate. If the schools are closed but you haven't deregged, then the school continues to be responsible for setting some work and providing and education. Hope that helps a bit.

@Sprayitall Home educating during a lockdown is a completely different situation! Friends who home ed are out and about with friends every day, at groups and activities, meeting up to play. But this will stop in the same way that the schools will close. So self isolation is the very opposite of the usual experience of home education!

An old school friend teaches in Spain , she is sending out lessons , blogging and answering emails during school hours to support the pupils. I imagine it will be similar here if schools shut

@Sprayitall I'm a Home schooler...you are not checked or tested. The local education authority will often ask to visit you can outright decline or tell them not right now especially when you are busy establishing your home school routine.I
If you refuse a visit then you have to inform by letter an outline of your intentions.
However if you have not withdrawn then you aren't actually home educating. The education welfare office still has the authority and in normal circumstances will enforce your DC returning to school.

There is a Home ed section on MN.

It's become habit checking in here instead of going out at lunchtime. I should go out for a walk really. Skimmed through but no time to fully catch up

Someone said the government was following scientific advice. Why is the advice for the UK different to everywhere else? Why does it differ from the WHO advice?

I have enough soap but prepped rather than stockpiled. Hope they get more in soon.

Hi @Sprayitall, as the others have said, socialisation isn’t usually a problem for home educated children but at the moment it’s going to be different. We are still going to small outdoor meets at the local beach but we’ve stopped going the hall meets, although they are still going on at the moment. I know there’s a Facebook group set up for people home edding because of the virus to help and advise, run by long term home educators, would you like me to find the link?

No idea how we are supposed to know if we’ve had it or not with the lack of testing. My daughter has had a high temperature since last night is completely wiped out and has spent much of this morning asleep. She has a bit of a cough and has complained of a sore throat and that her head hurts a bit. Just thinking unless she’s really poorly we’ll never know if it’s a bug or Coronavirus which seems crazy.

Oh I understand it now.. home education during lockdown is going to be hard I understand. I am so scared to read about this in twitter (things are getting scary with one person saying even young ones are affected and are being buried in Italy) @VenetoResident is that even true? I have kept dd home as she had mild temps yesterday but schools are still open and working normal with emphasis on singing and washing hands

In normal times home ed groups in my region are thriving with hall meet up at least once a month (doing science fairs, show and tell, sports day etc) weekly park meet up alongside monthly visits to museums etc.
Alongside the added bonus that the usual memberships type place (botantic gardens, Zoo, science museum etc) are quiet at the weekend.
It can actually be overwhelming fitting in all the usual HE weekly social activities alongside schooling and normal kids after school groups.

For home educators, there is a great book called Free Range Education (just looked it's still available in paperback) which is very comforting. It was my go-to when I was home edding my children. They have all turned out to be quite well rounded individuals, with some decent qualifications between them.
One preferred school and went back after a term, and found himself ahead in maths. Year 7. All I'd done was run through the basics and sung times tables in the car with them.
Children will learn things just by being children. They are little sponges.

@PancakeFiend yes please .. can you share the link if possible. Dd is bright so it will be immensely helpful if it’s lockdown. Thank you

Please will people stop throwing out the term 'deschooling'.

It is nonsense & if you'd like to tell your local LA you are 'deschooling' then it is a bit like saying

"Actually we are not bothering to fulfil our legal duties with regards to the ongoing full time education of our child & we think school is crap"

Yes, there are some children who become EHE after traumatic experiences either in school or whilst attending school & just as the children who still attend school afterwards have to come to terms with it, so do those who EHE.
Teachers don't let them sit in the park for a year processing their feelings & neither do decent EHE parents.
They do their best to support the child as they ensure that child continues to receive an education.

Yes, there can be an adjustment period as both parent & child learn the differences between in school & out of school learning, just as there is an adjustment period for a child moving schools or from primary to secondary.
You work through it & face challenges as they come.

You don't get to take 6 months off as if you are being deprogrammed from a cult & need to 'recover' from school which is basically what 'deschoolers' think.

I personally think it is also a highly offensive term & is practically guaranteed to put up the back of the LA along with all those extremely hardworking & dedicated teachers who do their best in an overstrained underfunded system.

I'm sure you could give the LA a worse impression if you meet them as you breastfeed a ten year old wearing Princess Leias hairdo & a vampire dress whilst throwing lentil confetti around, but you'd have to work at it.

Deschooling is the sort of nonsense that gives EHE a bad name & I have personally reported families who follow this (e.g. 'play video games for 6 months darling whilst you recover from the trauma of school instead of receiving an education because honestly I haven't thought this through & do not have the skills to provide you with the education or support you need')

There is nothing wrong with school for the majority of children.
There are in fact many children who would not be best served by EHE & who would always do better in school.

Children who are temporarily being educated at home (due to in this case Coronavirus) who thrive in school have no need to 'deschool'.
Neither does any EHE child who has responsible parents who care about their education or wellbeing.

You LA should have an information page relating to EHE which will tell you who deals with it in your area.
Some LAs contract out, others keep it inhouse.
When you deregister from school, the school informs the correct dept in the LA & they usually begin by either doorstepping you & asking you to fill out a form or by writing to you & asking you to fill out a form.
Normally they will ask for an interview to talk about your EHE provision, then arrange follow up meetings or for you to send reports from that point on.
This varies person to person & LA to LA.
You are not legally required to have a meeting & can send a report instead for them to assess, but if you refuse to provide any information this can be a reason to begin the process of issuing an SAO which will force your child back to school.

Honestly, they all say they 'help' but the most help you are likely to get in the majority of areas is a list of websites.
There is NO financial help.
If you are lucky, you may live in an LA where they keep a list of exam centres who will accept external candidates for IGCSE or A level but you will still have to pay for these yourself in most areas.

On your LA website there will be their own local policy.

You also need to read both the LA & parents guidelines published by the government.

www.gov.uk/government/publications/elective-home-education

I have spent over a decade helping people who have problems with EHE.
I am pro EHE.
Deschooling is NO part of good quality EHE, but it has led to thousands of families running into problems with their LA.
It is like MLM for EHE.

Sorry, rant over.
Can you tell I really hate the term 'deschooling'?

Phew have caught up at long last.

I am sure this will have already been asked but I have been here since the first thread (namechanged several threads ago) and can’t remember seeing an answer.

Do we know what temperature kills the virus. i.e. how hot does food need to be?

Also do we know if freezing kills the virus?

I have been reading since the first thread and I prepped for Brexit and for living in a small Norfolk village :)

DH has Chronic Lung disease, bronchiectasis, and normally operates on about 2/3rds of his lungs. Papworth Hospital has told us a cold could kill him

Now we are self isolating (I work from home anyway) and his friends are giving him loads as "it would be better to get it early"

Well for him it wouldn't! We already do it unofficially during flu season and ask people with bad colds not to visit!

Frustration!!

I am somewhat in shock that all our preps are going to be used! You make plans hoping never to use them and we are going to!

Was having a melt down this morning after reading that Ocado were cancelling orders yesterday and then started to rationalise my situation.

I am self isolating because of age / underlying health issues and haven’t been to a shop for two weeks now. I am relying on a food delivery of Veg etc later in the week to feed me for the next 10 days.

The idea it might not arrive was scary, until I reminded myself that my Gran lived through two world wars and my parents were children in WW2. I checked out the WW2 rations and soon calmed down.

I really hope we are not going to get to that stage but when you look at how little people survived on it is sobering and made me realise I really need to stop stressing.

That twitter account and the Drs account, jeez

I have never had to take DCs temps, you know if they are hot but now I am thinking how hot or a pattern of temps would be useful

I only have the under the tongue/arm stick kind which I was worried about disinfecting anyway, are the no touch forehead ones as accurate as they need to be for this and generally worth it? If so I don't mind investing, are Braun considered to be the best? Tia

@Snugglepumpkin don't be so rude deschooling is perfectly valid and if someone wants to Google for more information necessary to use.
Just because you are doing it does not mean to have to tell LEA if you have withdrawn.
As I said a SHORT time not 6 months.

@Reastie don't buy the shoes now and guess the size. Go on the Clarks website and buy one of their feet measurers then when the time comes measure your little one's feet and go on Facebook market place and search whatever the size and width is and buy second hand. Or even buy new on the Clarks we site.
All my daughters shoes have been immaculate and her exact size and bought for £5-£8

Does anyone know where the government's guidance on travelling in relation to the virus is now - they used to have a list of places to avoid visiting, advice about self-isolating upon return etc? It used to be on the webpage that shows the daily update in our numbers.
I've looked at the travel page, but it's not there either. My friend is returning from Spain, and I wanted to see if they need to isolate, and if so how long for.

@Sprayitall I hope yours springs back to life soon! Do I pull those weeds out (if they're weeds) ?When I bought it there was only the one and a few weeks later I saw sprouting next to it so I'm not sure if it's one or not now, sorry I'm absolutely clueless it's the first proper plant lol.

I popped to the supermarket today for some last bits, I’ve managed to avoid it thus far thanks to online shopping and my preps. It was alarming. A very strange atmosphere. No toilet roll, pasta, rice, potatoes, tinned goods, flour, sugar, bread, long life milk, hand gel, soap, paracetamol....the list goes on.
Lots of elderly people looking bewildered. One very sweet looking old lady began swearing loudly about the lack of long life milk, asking how can she self isolate if she can’t buy food. There was even a priest in full vestments with a trolly heaving with food. It was like something out of a apocalyptic film.