My son is 12 and going into 7th grade … at home. Here’s why…our true life experience. We had to be at aschool by 12 to do a no contact Chromebook pickup. We had to wait there for 45 minutes. (That’s another story.) We watched ADULTS try to stand in line with masks, six feet apart. Here’s what we discovered.
1)They never stayed 6 feet apart.
2) When they got to the door, several leaned in, face tp face, with the person holding the door ‘to hear better’.
3) Over 1/3 didn’t have masks
4) Of those with asks, some were on their chin or in their hand.
5) Those with masks on correctly were taking them off to get a drink…and left them off to swallow.
6) They picked up Chromebooks that were passed from hand to hand after being breathed on and hugged them to their chests.
7) After using both hands to hug them to their chests, they took off their masks.
And this was adults for only 45 minutes. Now think of kids being asked to behave for hours, day after day.
It won’t work. Dont even try.
What AM I going to do? We did that no contact Chromebook pickup. He’ll attend class via a platform like Skype or Zoom. He’ll interact with his friends. He’ll be able to spend the day without a mask and stay healthy. He can drink without fear and have lunch at the table. He can go out back at ‘recess’ and shoot hoops or talk with his friends on Skype or Xbox. He can stay educated and healthy.
I asked him if he would rather attend with his friends. He said, “NO!”. ‘I don’t want to sit in one chair all day and not touch anything with a mask on when it’s…insert…today it’s 115…degrees. I don’t want to worry about getting sick.’
I asked if he would miss interacting with teachers. Well, he’s done online school for a semester. Not what we had last spring, but actual online school. He said that he got to interact with his teacher. She called upon him when he raised his computer hand. And he liked being in his pj’s most days. (Saved on my laundry!)
I can see no reason not to school remotely. I can see EVERY reason for not going into a classroom this year.
Homestead Hippie 