The joys of home online learning.

[Borris]

I take my hat off to any teachers out there. You have my deepest sympathy and respect.

Having spent the morning coaxing, cajoling, shouting and pleading at/with just one of our three grandchildren to do her online school work properly, I am ready to throw in the towel. Spending all that time playing catch up with her alone meant that the younger one missed a scheduled zoom meeting with her teacher and class. Mind you we were given the wrong information which didn't help (by the one that was causing all the trouble). So it seems we are not up to the job at present. Fortunately, we only have the three little darlings for a few days. Mum is on jury service and dad is working from home. I suppose that if we had them permanently we would be able to get into a much better routine with an organised schedule. I suspect that many parents and grandparents are experiencing similar torture. My heart goes out to the teachers who have to try and keep the whole thing on the rails.

We were sent this recently which just about sums up the situation for teachers and parents alike.

 

[kurienp]

Loved the song/poem by the girl. Truly sums it up for both parents and teachers.

 

[Ladymuck]

I'm homeschooling my little cherubs on Mondays and that's challenging enough, computers, tablets microsoft teams, online lessons alongside 2 squabbling siblings who are sick of the sight of each other. Its very chaotic but hopefully like you said we will get into a routine. They arw with grandparents for the rest of the week, who'll deserve some equavilent of a bravery and courage award after this lockdown!

 

[subthree]

Yep, that video just about sums it up. I am truly sick of Zoom and MS Teams. Appreciate that lots of families have had horrific times over the last year, but the kids are also suffering.

 

[Sunstoner]

This lockdown home schooling is a hell of lot more intense than the first lockdown. I guess as the technology has been put in place to better cope with children being at home and the excellent organisation by the wonderful teachers too.

Its definitely about the routine and keeping our kids away from each other too.

Our 2 youngsters are doing brilliantly and sticking with it (so far) with the help of their full time homeworking mum who has and is doing a sublime job at keeping things and them in line.

Our girls have shown a great commitment to getting their work done because they know once its done its playtime!

 

[Amarillo]

Hi Boris,

If mum is on jury service, the children are entitled to attend school. However, depending on their age you may not want them mingling at school - primary pupils are much safer than secondary pupils both for symptoms and infecting parents or childcare support.

With Clare working at a hospital (Guys) our two (5&7) are at school, and are benefitting greatly from small class sizes - especially so Jack, the younger one.

It made me chuckle that Ben was pictured on the school newsletter this week. While all his friends claimed a desire to be a professional footballer or fashion model, Ben was holding up a picture of the Houses of Parliament declaring his ambition to be a politician!

 

[soulstyledevon]

Hi Boris,

If mum is on jury service, the children are entitled to attend school. However, depending on their age you may not want them mingling at school - primary pupils are much safer than secondary pupils both for symptoms and infecting parents or childcare support.

With Clare working at a hospital (Guys) our two (5&7) are at school, and are benefitting greatly from small class sizes - especially so Jack, the younger one.

It made me chuckle that Ben was pictured on the school newsletter this week. While all his friends claimed a desire to be a professional footballer or fashion model, Ben was holding up a picture of the Houses of Parliament declaring his ambition to be a politician!

Ours has been back too Amarillo.
Lessons with usual teacher and teaching assistant. Getting taught like any other regular school day.
Only 7 in his class, normally 28.
It’s seems un-fair to me. I wish they would get all the kids back to lessons.

Will be interesting to see what standard the kids are at come summer compared to home schooled children...

 

[Borris]

As grandparents we are not the decision makers. We just assist their parents within a childcare bubble when required. Anyway the jury service has been cancelled due to their being no heating in the Courts. So all three are now back at home and no longer our direct responsibility.

 

[Amarillo]

Ours has been back too Amarillo.
Lessons with usual teacher and teaching assistant. Getting taught like any other regular school day.
Only 7 in his class, normally 28.
It’s seems un-fair to me. I wish they would get all the kids back to lessons.

Will be interesting to see what standard the kids are at come summer compared to home schooled children...

Our boys are in classes of about 15 pupils from 90 pupils in their year. It looks like the three teachers are doing one week on, two weeks off, and they have several teaching assistants per class.

I don’t think there was a need to close down primary schools. Young children are not getting Covid in large numbers, and teachers appear no more in danger than the population as a whole.

I hope they fully reopen primary schools after half term. I’m expecting teaching unions to insist on priority vaccinations for teachers first then a three week wait for the vaccinations to take full effect. If I’m right we are looking towards the second half of April before a full return to primary school.

 

[soulstyledevon]

Fully agree @Amarillo .

We have had a bit of heat from family/teacher friends about sending ours back.

Mainly because only one of us is a keyworker.
As far as I’m concerned, schools should be open, especially Infant and Primary. We have met the schools keyworker criteria. I would rather he’s getting a proper education.
From speaking to some parents. It sounds like home schooling is near to impossible, especially with younger kids...

This pandemic could have critical effects on the next generation.

 

[Amarillo]

Fully agree @Amarillo .

We have had a bit of heat from family/teacher friends about sending ours back.

Mainly because only one of us is a keyworker.
As far as I’m concerned, schools should be open, especially Infant and Primary. We have met the schools keyworker criteria. I would rather he’s getting a proper education.

Many schools are pretending that both parents need to be keyworkers for a school place. Our school insisted on the occupation of both parents when requesting a keyworker place to further befuddle the illusion.

I’m very grateful we have places for both boys, and all they have missed of school is six weeks while I attempted to home school. Even though I have a teaching qualification, I found trying to teach my own two far harder than a class of 30!

 

[Amarillo]

After all that optimism of having both boys at school we had the dreaded letter this evening: a positive case of CV in the younger child’s bubble, and please keep Jack isolated at home for 10 days.

It’s just as well I prepared for such an eventuality by ordering loads of fun maths equipment: a trundle wheel, plastic bucket balance scales, weights, plastic callipers, measuring cylinders, measuring beakers, tape measure, stopwatch, fake money and a clinometer.

My secondary problem is how to get Ben to school while Jack is having to isolate at home?

 

[soulstyledevon]

Nightmare.
Been there last year. Annoyingly it was one of the kids in the after-school club. He only goes for an hour 3 days a week...

At least you only have to home school for 10 days.
Have a great week, Mr Amarillo

 

[andyinluton]

Sounds like your school is not organised. Our youngest I appreciate she’s slightly older than yours, logs online first thing in the morning to get previous days results, & has set tasks for the day including video presentations from the teachers.
Teacher is available via email or zoom all day.
Due to either us isolating or her due to positive classmates she’s managed about 3 weeks in school since September.
We have 2 key workers out of 4 adults & wouldn’t use that as a reason to keep her in school. Main reason is how other parents are behaving, we had one family before Xmas had one child test positive but still sent siblings to school. Someone else got upset when we wouldn’t let our daughter attend a birthday party in a house where everyone was supposed to be isolating.

 

[GrumpyGranddad]

Received the following from my daughter in law who’s a head teacher. A good example of the rapid spread of Covid:-

I know we are all being careful, just thought I would share the following. After speaking to my sister just now, I see how quickly it spreads with asymptomatic carriers. My sister works as a carer in assisted living. On Tuesday through weekly work testing, she tested positive for Covid (no symptoms and has been working 1-1 with very elderly dressing, feeding etc), her partner is a kidney dialysis paramedic he tested negative on Monday, isolated on finding out about my sister, then tested positive on Friday (also has no symptoms). My niece is also positive (also no symptoms) she works on the hospital wards. All three of them, until the first positive test, were going about their daily business spreading Covid. Only because of weekly testing in the assisted living was this picked up. Thankfully no symptoms, but the amount of people inadvertently spreading this virus is so worrying.

 

[66tim99]

Received the following from my daughter in law who’s a head teacher. A good example of the rapid spread of Covid:-

I know we are all being careful, just thought I would share the following. After speaking to my sister just now, I see how quickly it spreads with asymptomatic carriers. My sister works as a carer in assisted living. On Tuesday through weekly work testing, she tested positive for Covid (no symptoms and has been working 1-1 with very elderly dressing, feeding etc), her partner is a kidney dialysis paramedic he tested negative on Monday, isolated on finding out about my sister, then tested positive on Friday (also has no symptoms). My niece is also positive (also no symptoms) she works on the hospital wards. All three of them, until the first positive test, were going about their daily business spreading Covid. Only because of weekly testing in the assisted living was this picked up. Thankfully no symptoms, but the amount of people inadvertently spreading this virus is so worrying.

To me this is the most worrying aspect of it. That and the number of people I’m hearing about who will choose not to have the vaccine.

 

[GrumpyGranddad]

To me this is the most worrying aspect of it. That and the number of people I’m hearing about who will choose not to have the vaccine.

Agree.
The government will never get the entire population vaccinated for all the reasons we know and of course the big problem is that being vaccinated doesn’t prevent a person from carrying/spreading it to others (as far as we know). Nightmare scenario.

Close to my heart at the moment. My dad who’s in a nursing home was tested positive for Covid 2 days ago. He’s 95 next month!! Can’t even visit him.

 

[66tim99]

Agree.
The government will never get the entire population vaccinated for all the reasons we know and of course the big problem is that being vaccinated doesn’t prevent a person from carrying/spreading it to others (as far as we know). Nightmare scenario.

Close to my heart at the moment. My dad who’s in a nursing home was tested positive for Covid 2 days ago. He’s 95 next month!! Can’t even visit him.

Sorry to hear that. He’s come through a lot in 95 years and can come through this.

 

[Amarillo]

Received the following from my daughter in law who’s a head teacher. A good example of the rapid spread of Covid:-

I know we are all being careful, just thought I would share the following. After speaking to my sister just now, I see how quickly it spreads with asymptomatic carriers. My sister works as a carer in assisted living. On Tuesday through weekly work testing, she tested positive for Covid (no symptoms and has been working 1-1 with very elderly dressing, feeding etc), her partner is a kidney dialysis paramedic he tested negative on Monday, isolated on finding out about my sister, then tested positive on Friday (also has no symptoms). My niece is also positive (also no symptoms) she works on the hospital wards. All three of them, until the first positive test, were going about their daily business spreading Covid. Only because of weekly testing in the assisted living was this picked up. Thankfully no symptoms, but the amount of people inadvertently spreading this virus is so worrying.

I’m curious. Is it your daughter-in-law writing about her sister, or is she just passing on an unverified account?

 

[GrumpyGranddad]

I’m curious. Is it your daughter-in-law writing about her sister, or is she just passing on an unverified account?

Her sister (in Southampton).

 

[GrumpyGranddad]

Sorry to hear that. He’s come through a lot in 95 years and can come through this.

Thanks.

 

[Amarillo]

Her sister (in Southampton).

That is very scary. I had previously understood that asymptotic carriers were not spreading the virus in great numbers. Perhaps the Kent variant is spreading asymptomatically in greater numbers.

 

[WelshGas]

That is very scary. I had previously understood that asymptotic carriers were not spreading the virus in great numbers. Perhaps the Kent variant is spreading asymptomatically in greater numbers.

That's the problem with Covid 19. Asymptomatic infections can still spread it very effectively, even more so with some of the new variants, and if not part of a continuous screening programme will not be found out. Even though the Lateral Flow quick tests used for the screening programmes may not be 100% effective they still pick up a large number of asymptomatic cases who should then be quarantined which will reduce the total number of asymptomatic cases and hence curtail the spread.
These asymptomatic cases don't request the more effective PCR tests because they don't have symptoms .
Vaccination, although it protects the vaccinated against severe disease it is not 100% effective at preventing infection and the evidence is not yet available to say whether a vaccinated person who gets infected may not pass on the virus even if they are asymptomatic . Once the adult population is protected from serious illness and/or death then only the unvaccinated will be at risk and until a large proportion of the world population has been vaccinated there will still be problems. That's why I, personally, think foreign travel, including to Europe , is going to be severely restricted in 2021, not necessarily from the UK side but the other end, depending on the vaccination rates in the recipient country.
If it can be proven that vaccination prevents onward transmission then foreign travel may well proceed normally.

 

[paul_f]

That is very scary. I had previously understood that asymptotic carriers were not spreading the virus in great numbers. Perhaps the Kent variant is spreading asymptomatically in greater numbers.

We are in Kent and my wife is a part time teacher at our children's school.
We have kept our kids at home (7&9), although we can send them in if we want. Their online work is very good, although they do occasionally need help.
We know of quite a few people in this area who have had Covid recently. All seem to have got it from their children who have been at school. They have been cautious and are working at home - so it seems it may have been asymptomatic children.

 

[Amarillo]

We have weekly ONS Covid tests. The turnaround time for results is about 5 days by post, although possibly faster if positive and by phone. With Jack at home due to close contact with a confirmed Covid+ person it will be interesting to see the result of Saturday’s test.

Keeping a 5 year old at home and separate from the rest of the family is close to impossible. Last night he slept alone in his room while Ben slept on a mattress on the floor in our room. I’ve spent all morning trying to set up the spare bedroom for Ben which has been used as a home office.

Home schooling has been a bit of a non starter today!