Re: "starting over "with homeschooling, there is no way I’d try to do that with my 3. I feel sort of silly paying for the private school again when the entire year could be at home, but following their instructions and having my kids zoom with those teachers last spring went very well. The idea of having to create it all myself is simply mind boggling. Maybe if I only have one child.
In my state the remote day needs to be a full day with attendance and grades. We have worked on 40 minute teaching blocks in grades K-2 and one hour 3-5.
That would be absolute (Hades) for us. Mostly for my 3rd grader b/c I have to be near her the whole zoom b/c she doesn’t keep up. When they say, for example, go to page 457 she can’t find it sometimes. She had one hour of daily zoom last spring and that was plenty. My oldest had to be available from 8 am to about noon but not all the teachers appeared; only the 8 to 930 one was consistent. My middle child only had 2 hrs, 3 days a week and it usually was much less. He was the only one that I thought wasn’t really being challenged enough, but he’s now going to be middle school and have the same schedule as the oldest.I guess my one hope is that if they have that many hours of zoom maybe all the work could be completed “in class” instead of my doing most of it with her after the zoom is over.
Kn95 are the Chinese version of n95s and they fit differently (more loosely), and are not as sturdy. I think they’re both approved for use by the CDC but that’s not the same as saying they are NIOSH-approved, in other words, were it not for the pandemic they would probably not be allowed to replace the n95s. And there are many fake kn95s- I think the CDC has a list of fake and approved suppliers.
Although perhaps not as good as a US made N95, I’m sure they are much more protective than cloth or surgical masks.
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Thanks. I was looking at some that are FDA approved, but I did see a lot that are not.
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Has anyone been to WDW or Orlando in general, lately?
Do you think that it’s safe to travel right now with an 8 year old and a 12 year old?
They are very good about wearing their masks and washing their hands. They are not so great about remembering to keep their distance from people.
We have some hotel reservations at the end of September in Orlando and was wondering if we should go or just hunker at the house.
There are multiple trip reports - some even in progress right now.
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Yep - there were a couple of things that I heard in the press briefing that seemed unusual - and I’m glad for them!
First, I love that they’re having each county decide based on how that county looks. Those will low cases can go in-person while those with higher cases have to move to a hybrid or distance-learning model. That local control is great. Watching other states where the government is pushing everyone one way or another just doesn’t seem to make sense.
Second, they’re giving each county the data to make the decision. It all depends on # of cases per 10,000 people. If a SD wants to go more restrictive, that’s fine, but if they want to be less restrictive, they need to get “permission” or a consultation with the department of health. It could be that the county has a large outbreak that won’t impact the schools, for example.
Third, the state is providing fabric masks, a few paper masks, face shields, and a few test kits, to help everyone stay safe. They understand that there are different income levels, different access to care, etc, and are trying to help the SDs that would struggle to provide for their kids. There are guidelines about how much testing to do, if someone gets covid.
This works well because we’ve done an OK job with the number of tests the state does every day. I think most of the state has reasonable spread numbers. The worst are the counties with meat-packing plant outbreaks.
Based on these guidelines, the map in this link shows which counties can move to which model:
I have to say, I’m pretty impressed. It sounds like there’s been a good balance of safety and understanding that kids (especially elementary) are better at school.
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This was in yesterday evening’s briefing from my county (emphasis mine):
"A conference call with officials from the Texas Department of State Health Services
(DSHS) was held on July 30, 2020. During the conference call, officials clarified the State’s
new protocol for counting COVID-19 fatalities and provided explanations for the discrepancies between county and state fatality totals.
COVID-19 fatality totals that DSHS lists on its website are strictly derived from death
records filed with the state. These records include locally certified and non-certified reports. The death certificate data DSHS is using for fatality counts will apparently be made available to local governments shortly, but no specific date has been provided.
Continued discrepancies in data are expected because some death certificates list an incorrect county of residence for the deceased. As a result, some deaths are counted in the incorrect county. DSHS fatality totals reflect death certificate data, even if that data is incorrect. As death certificates are amended, DSHS county fatality counts may be altered. DSHS data does not distinguish between confirmed and probable COVID-19 deaths. Hunt County will continue to conduct its own investigations into fatalities and will only report fatalities which are confirmed to be Hunt County residents with an official cause of death listed as COVID-19. "
I’m very thankful for the transparency from my county. Seems like they are trying to be as accurate as possible. They also make it a point to let us know when a previously reported case was found to belong to a different county and they remove it from our count. I’m not sure that’s happening every where on all levels.
Here now, it feels as safe as possible during a pandemic. My only concern so far is HS, not because it feels unsafe, per se, but there are really a lot of people here, more than I would think there should be. Also, we are spoiled and used to multiple days of FPP, last trip we had club level FPP so being here having to wait in lines isn’t really our thing. 
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It’s funny you say that, because I have been working on my TP’s, and even with lower crowd levels, I feel like we can’t accomplish as much without FPP’s. We are used to getting that next FPP throughout the day, and we really don’t wait in many S/B lines at all!
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We plan on staying clear of HS for now.
I wonder how long it will be before they bring FPP’s back.
Yes I think the lack of FPP when you are used to having 3 or 6 pre planned makes it feel busier than it truly is. For people who don’t know how to maximize FPP usage, these lines probably feel very short. I don’t feel like we are very efficient today.
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Check out some of the other threads here at this forum. There are at two trip reports from people just back. @jeremy_dmiller is the only one I can think of right now. Good info for you as he has 2 kids.
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How timely! Thank you for sharing. That is exactly how I feel today.
Just gt back from a trip last week with a 7 and 9 yr old. Personally, I can’t tell you what to do, it is a very personal decision. However, I can share with you my thoughts. We came from Ohio, flew, and I don’t regret it for a minute. Once in a life time trip to experience the parks like that. Yubstated masks are not a problem, so your good there. As far as your kids not keeping distance, I think your good. My son is clueless usually, but adapted quickly and the lines kinda became a game with him. From one spot to the next… WDW really does a nice job mapping it out and making it simple.
We have not had a more relaxing or leisurely trip to Disney than last week. My opinion is go for it, but only if you can accept the risk your taking and not worry all week about it.
Good luck and if you go, let us know how it goes!
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I’ve seen this going around but didn’t look at it until now. It is exactly what distance learning looked like for my older kids! Exactly! The same computer program with the same assignment structure and deadlines at 10 pm etc. They also both say in their rooms most of the day doing school b/c I’m downstairs with the youngest working with her by myself. The older kids don’t want to be around the lounder younger one while doing their work.
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I appreciate the shout-out! While I do feel very confident in what I said - I’m just a fan like everyone else, so I don’t have true “insider” info. I’ve just consumed so much theme park related content over the years, especially about FPP, that this is a general consensus from a lot of sources.
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