Coronavirus and Walt Disney World general discussion

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DCBaker

Premium Member
have the new numbers come out?

The state report is delayed, but here are the current numbers (just not all of them - so it doesn't show the full picture)

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Miss Bella

Well-Known Member
There are about 2.5 million homeschool students in grades K-12 in the United States (or 3% to 4% of school-age children). That is, there were an estimated 2.5 million in spring 2019 [note 1]. It appears that the homeschool population is continuing to grow (at an estimated 2% to 8% per annum over the past few years).

As for how many have jobs, I’m not sure.
Homeschooling is a full-time job when you have grade school kids. Not only that but they are too young to be home alone all day. Parents that homeschool do it by choice. They have dedicated their lives to it. Underprivileged kids will not get an education unless they go to school.
 

milordsloth

Well-Known Member
that's why I said time needs to be taken to improve remote learning. Finding ways to make it easier for teachers, students, and parents

But then again, the social aspect of schools is also very important for kids to become well-rounded people. There's got to be a balance.
 

DisneyDebRob

Well-Known Member
Homeschooling is a full-time job when you have grade school kids. Not only that but they are too young to be home alone all day. Parents that homeschool do it by choice. They have dedicated their lives to it. Underprivileged kids will not get an education unless they go to school.
I believe you are still not getting my point. I am not advocating for home schooling. I said that in the first post on this. I am merely saying it could be done for a period of time until parents, teachers and anyone else involved feel its safe enough to have everyone back. It was done from March until the summer recess. It was tough for some while others adjusted.
 

hopemax

Well-Known Member
I think starting now, time needs to be spent improving and developing ways for remote learning to be effective
Tough to do with elementary school kids. Who barely understand what school is, let alone have any sort of study habits, K-3 especially.

We should have had a plan to prioritize opening elementary schools, accept the accompanying risk that comes with that level of reopening, like we would by restarting non-critical medical care. Told people, sorry you have to wait to go to bars and eat inside restaurants because we need to make sure kids can go back to school. If there were no spikes, work in higher grades as a mixture of in person and remote learning.

Instead, people didn't even think about where schools would fit into the phases. I assume because too many people thought that case declines meant that by the time Aug/Sept came the virus would be such a non-issue that of course schools would reopen.
 

Miss Bella

Well-Known Member
But then again, the social aspect of schools is also very important for kids to become well-rounded people. There's got to be a balance.
True. Homeschoolers put a lot of effort into their kids having a social life, but now there are no sports, no clubs, no homeschooling groups etc. Kids getting any kind of organized socialization is impossible right now.

Schools keep a lot of high school age kids out of trouble. Not all these kids have great parents that keep an eye on them.
 

Andrew C

You know what's funny?
I believe you are still not getting my point. I am not advocating for home schooling. I said that in the first post on this. I am merely saying it could be done for a period of time until parents, teachers and anyone else involved feel its safe enough to have everyone back. It was done from March until the summer recess. It was tough for some while others adjusted.
Lots of kids already started falling behind by just doing a couple months of this at the end of the year. I don’t think we can afford to do more of that. The education of so many took a hard stop.
 

Chi84

Premium Member
Disclaimer: it’s not literally a cult

Disclaimer: a sense of humor makes life less boring
Hint: If what you're saying is intended to make people feel bad or foolish (e.g. homeschooling is a cult), it's not a joke (or at least not a good one).

People write the nastiest insults here and then when someone calls them out on it, they claim to be joking. Not directed to you specifically, just something I've noticed here quite a bit. There was another thread where people were implying that others were fat and ugly and then berated those people as being humorless when they objected. That led to the iconic line by The Mom: "I think posters should not tell jokes because they don't seem to be very good at it."
 

Miss Bella

Well-Known Member
Lots of kids already started falling behind by just doing a couple months of this at the end of the year. I don’t think we can afford to do more of that. The education of so many took a hard stop.
My kids have been homeschooled since day one. I was fortunate when they were young to only have to work two days a week. It was a full-time job. I didn't spend my time on Disney boards back then. I was on homeschooling boards. I spent hours and hours researching curriculums and different ways to teach. Parents that work full time don't have the time or the desire to do this. Young children thrive with one on one teaching, but you have to have the time for it.
 

mellyf

Active Member
I don't understand how schools can operate in less than 2 months. It seems like the worst of everything all at once. Kids in the same classroom for hours, likely not distanced, who knows about masks. We know there's not enough teachers to keep classroom sizes down. Then after a nice long day being around the same kids (and their teacher) they go home and take it all to mom and dad, and maybe grandma too.

And some of those teachers, who may not be at risk, are going home to a spouse that is. :( I would LOVE to get back in the classroom. Safely. I always thought it would be great to teach from home. (In my pjs, lol.) However, after being faced with the reality, I realized pretty quickly that I love being WITH my students. And I missed my colleagues, so I really was not as anti-social as I thought. :D But returning to the classroom needs to be safe for all. I know some parents in our district are planning to home school if the decision is made to return. In our town, we also have a significant number of low-income families who will not have that option. It's a tough situation all around, and I wish I had the answer. :(

After the guidelines for Illinois schools were published (which included masks), I read comments from many parents (across IL, not in our town necessarily) who said they were going to send their kids without masks, and get a dr's note if necessary. Their child was NOT going to wear a mask. I know it won't be easy for kids. It's not easy for most of us. (And I'm skeptical that the guidelines were written by anyone remotely acquainted with what a classroom is like.) But at this point, imo, it's the right thing to do to keep everyone safe. But then again, Illinois had protests against our governor (who - imo- definitely has his faults, but *overall* seems to have handled this situation appropriately), who was compared to Hitler, with the shutdown. Pictures of him w/ Hitler's mustache on protest signs. We've gone from a high back during the peak, of over 4000 new cases/day to less than 1000, with much more testing now. Our percent positive the last two weeks has been 2.6 and 2.7. He has said he has no hesitation in sending regions back to Phase 3 if the numbers warrant it.

In case anyone thinks I have no criticism of him though - he's kept funding flat for education for the coming year, and school districts have 60+ pages of new guidelines to follow. But the state is supplying 12.5 million masks!! Illinois sucks when it comes to education. (Sorry - soapbox)
 
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