I'm guessing that the hostess and bridge know it would be hard to pay attention to the Zoom attendees if the times overlapped, so they made them separate. But a half an hour of Zoom small talk probably is the limit of what is fun. I agree that your plan sounds great and not in the least offensive.

The two oldest are getting computers. Last year the oldest got a laptop and they spilt juice on it, so probably desktops. This will help them with some school stuff, but they also love to play games together. Right now that means one playing and the others watching, so being able to play simultaneously will make it easier to reduce overall screen time, strangle enough. Our four year old may end up with a tablet. The two year old??? Not tech, for sure, but it might be a bunch of balloons or something. We'll probably also get them PJs and things like that. Probably a joint board game or outdoor toy. There is so little they need or even seriously want. I have to come up with a suitable list to pass around the family, and it's tough.

I haven't had terribly much experience with this as a parent yet, but I found diagramming interesting enough as a student to do the basics voluntarily. At some point, though, it became more about the intricacies of the diagram than of the language, so I lost interest. I think it's very valuable to be able to discuss the grammar of a sentence and to see the roles of each word and phrase. If diagramming is helping, that's great. If the time and energy it is taking could be better spent on something else, by all means move on. It is only a tool, not an end in itself.

All this is interesting. My kids are little, eight and under, and are fantastic about playing. They play deep, immersive, complicated games, they mess with stuff, they invent things (that generally don't work very well, but that's part of it). I've been focusing on getting school done quickly and well to give them lots of time for this play. I feel like adding in "fun" elements that slow down the process would generally lead to less overall fun as well as less overall learning. It's been interesting to me that as we've gone through BFSU (Building Foundations of Scientific Understanding), almost all the demonstrations are old news to them, things they'd already discovered through their own play. Our brief lessons help give them vocabulary to describe what they already knew. When I was in college taking education classes(middle and high school level), we were encouraged to make things "project based" and gamified, while also being told we'd need to make sure to hit a whole list of standards, do test prep, stay on top of paperwork, etc. To me, this sounded essentially impossible to do in the time constraints, and I'd seen young teachers at my middle and high schools try that sort of thing with us and completely burn out. I think that's part of why I'm suspicious about "gamified lessons." I'm confident with how things are working with my children, but I don't know that what is typical for them is typical for all children, so I'm curious to hear about other people's experiences and what they've learned by reading and studying. I'd hate to advise a new homeschooler at the park, for example, based only on my experience if it turns out my experience is particularly unusual.

Thank you for this. It is nice to know this is a real thing, at least to some people, and not something I'm totally being nit picky about.

As I read various things, some here and some in Facebook, I'm starting to see that there are two different meanings when people say their children learn though playing. In practice, I'm sure there is some overlap, but it seems like some people use this the way I do, that as children are playing, using their imagination, manipulating the world around them, building things, etc, they are learning lots and lots which makes them stronger, more capable, more observant, better at communication, etc. Others seem to mean primarily that lessons for young children should be done by making the lessons into games, like throwing bean bags at letters or math questions, flash card games, etc. Often, though, people just mention that children, particularly young children, learn best through play. I'm not knocking either way, but I'm curious. When you use or hear this phrase, "learn through play" are you primarily describing child-initiated/controlled play or adult-initiated/planned play?

I feel you on this! My almost 2 year old is interested, but not really ready yet. I've done this 3 times, generally while my husband was gone on military stuff, just the way it has fallen. I keep telling him I'm going to leave town and expect a potty trained toddler upon my return. Mostly I'm joking...

I follow that group and participate some, but it does irk me frequently. I'm annoyed that people will go off on religious people as though we are a homogenous block of ignoramuses (not that I'm looking for praise of religion in that group, but people make sweeping statements that aren't close to fact-based), and then all questions that show a pride in being liberal and "woke" without really understanding the issues. Like, over and over, "I'm buying a map, but I want the one that is right and doesn't distort things." Some people try to explain, but others jump in with what they remember from that episode if the West Wing and no discussion takes place. Or "What history should I teach so I don't teach my kids whitewashed junk" but they aren't looking for anything that will talk about the work of historians and how to look at source material, they just want a different book they can trust as perfect and true.

I haven't heard of one, and I think I would have if it were common as the"chicken community" around here had been really encouraging vaccinations. I keep ours in the fridge, at least in the summer, as it's hot around here. It would likely be fine, but... In cooler weather I've left them on the counter, though.

Another difficult aspect is that with many of these beliefs, there is a similar belief that can be rationally held, even if many disagree with it. For example, there are many who do believe this is an absolutely awful pandemic but who are seriously concerned about the economy. When they talk about their concerns and look for ways to address the economic issues, if they get lumped in with the conspiracy theorists by their audience, this also destroys reasonable conversation. The same is true for the support of various political figures. I know I have to remind myself that I need to listen to people who disagree with me, though I can walk away if it turns out they are nutty on this particular issue. Similarly, if someone agrees with me but is nutty, I should pay attention that I don't give them more credit than they are due.

My garden is pretty small, but interesting enough things have happened in it. My biggest advantage is having four young children, so it's always plausible to jump up and say, " I'd really better check on the kids."

We were discussing things recently and my father in law made a demonstrably false statement. Sitting right beside a computer, I fact checked him (we'd been fact checking other aspects of the conversation earlier, so that wasn't too rude.) I quickly showed it was false, but he said that my source was no good. I found another, also no good. Finally I asked him what source would be trustworthy, and he told me he doesn't accept any source at all. He just goes with his gut, which is why he likes a certain politician he says does the same. All that to say, never discussing anything like that with him again. When there can be no facts, there can be no beneficial discussion. We'll stick to things that can be readily observed locally, like how it garden is doing.

I put my name on the contact list/filled out the survey for stage 3 vaccine study for this one. If I get a call, I'll read all they give me and anything else I can find, but I've been in stage 3 studies before. I have absolutely no allergies and never any reaction stronger than soreness at the site of vaccine, so I figure, if they have to test it on someone, it's safer for it to be people like me. Plus, my husband is police and in the National Guard. He is exposed a lot, and if I can help our family be protected, I will. I'll keep y'all updated, if I do join the study. I completely understand those who believe they should wait and think it's wise to not jump on bandwagons of any sort.

Wow! Sounds like they've done some creative problem solving. Glad they've kept you on track.

I am so thankful none of our teachers ever did that. I hear about it all the time and can't understand how any teacher could sit through class after class after that without suffering severe mental health decline.

As I Lay Dying and Song of Solomon by Morrison, both in tenth grade. Too many books about death that year, and the teacher gave quizzes in inane details every day, which would ruin just about any book. Reading Faulkner trying to pay attention to things like "what color was the blanket?" Ugh! And Morrison was too much for me at 15. The amount of sex/nudity etc distracted from any actual points being made. I've enjoyed other bills by her since then, but I haven't been ready to try that again.

I mean sharing an image from my computer. Right now, I think I'm going to go with Zoom and just plan from the beginning to take a 5 minute bathroom break when the time runs out, but I'll investigate Skype more if that doesn't seem to be working.

That's a very good point! Especially if we set that from the beginning and say we'll take a 5 minute wiggle/bathroom break.

I have Skype and I think most people are familiar enough with it that it won't seem like "oh no, another platform to learn." Do you know if it has screen sharing?

I've inherited an elementary homeschool book club, aimed at ages 5-9, because the founder moved and I don't want it to die, but it's pretty new and small still. Basically, there are one or two other families who participated last year and then a whole bunch of people who say they are interested. We're going to be meeting online, at least for the first bit. I could really use some advice about platforms for online meetings as well as generally running the thing while online. When we met in person, we read a book (Mr Popper's Penguins, The Last of the Really Great Whangdoodles, etc) a month, then met to discuss it, play a game, do a craft, and have a snack, if there was one that seemed related to the book. For online, we're going to meet 2 times a month. First time will be to discuss whatever books the kids are reading for pleasure that they want to share with each other, second time to discuss a chapter book. My big 2 questions are: 1. What platform should I use? I know about Zoom a bit, but I'd have to pay if our meetings go longer than 40 minutes, right? 2. Does anyone have suggestions that will make things go better? I'm thinking sending out basically an agenda to the parents beforehand so they know what to expect and help their kids focus. I'm leaning towards having kids do a craft in advance and then show the results to each other during the meeting instead of spending time crafting together online. Some kids hate crafts, and I think I'll lose them completely if they are sitting there watching other kids make something. For example, we're doing From the Mixed up Files of Mrs Basil E Frankweiler first. For a craft I was thinking of having the kids make angel statues in advance (an angel statue features heavily in the story). We'll discuss characters and ideas from the book, and then as an activity (since we can't do active games online) we'll talk about where we would like to live if we were secretly going camping in a building (because I don't want to suggest to these kids that they should plan to run away). I may try to find some detective "who dun it" kinds of puzzles to pose to the kids, too.

Tracing the kid's body on a big piece of paper so he can add details and write "about me" words and pictures around it. That's the one activity I remember from Kindergarten. Maybe also have some sort of circle time, where you look at the calendar and weather and sing a couple of songs.

From what I've heard, Bookshark isn't great for fact based science, but I have no direct experience. Just wanted to say something so you could check into that before you go that direction.

Last year my kindergartner spent probably 20-30 minutes doing worksheet type things (math and handwriting), another 10 minutes doing reading practice with me, and maybe another hour on planned learning activities, like listening to read alouds or playing a planned game. A lot of the rest of the time he was doing things some might call school for kindergarten and some might not (educational games, Legos, outdoor play, imaginative play, etc) but it was of his own choosing. My school day is much longer and I'm always exhausted, but that's because he's the second of four. I don't know how to deal with an only child because that's not my experience, but I give my kids loads of unstructured time and then try for high standards during the structured portions of the day.

We've had tons of people joining our local group. Our district is starting back all virtual and going to reconsider each month to decide when to return every other day and then every day. I hope they get special needs populations back in first. Most of what I've heard agrees this is wise, though frustrating. Many are joining our group with young kids,bi think hoping for more consistency and less screen time

Thanks, we'll have to check that one out!