[joe_hills]

Single dad here in a small apartment with a 7yo whose school went fully remote.

I switched to a reduced-hours contractor status at my day job and went "full-time" on my side project so I can make my own schedule.

I do the bulk of my focused work either after my kid goes to bed or before she starts school for the day.

During the day when she's in class, it seems like every class period, there's at least one or two tech issues she needs help with. To keep that time productive for me, I do household chores, meal prep, and any easily-interruptable work-related tasks (like writing correspondence).

It's not ideal, but I feel like I can make it work for us indefinitely.

[actfrench]

I really admire you for doing this on your own with kids in a small apartment. Does your teacher use zoom? One thing that's helped me a lot with my digital pod so the parents don't have to be interrupted is installing software where I can access the child's computer. I also enable screen share for everyone. If your child's teacher is open to getting support to making this more easy for families, I'd be happy to talk to her. Let me know.

[mcv]

Zoom did not work at all for my 5-year old. He just can't focus on people on a screen. Every day at 10, his class would have a zoom meeting, but we quickly gave up on those. It just doesn't work for him.

[actfrench]

The zoom medium is amazing, but I've found that many teachers are trying to replicate a classroom environment on zoom and that doesn't generally work, since it's an entirely different environment. What kind of activities did your child's class do on zoom? We've found that it's essential to keep kids moving on zoom and make the projects highly interactive. I ask all my parents to set up the children's learning device so it's easy for them to move about the room. In my class, we start with meditation, then yoga - usually with Cosmic Kids Yoga, then kids share their feelings through speaking, art or writing. Then we see how many jumping jacks we can do. Then we do a drawing activity together - usually with Art Hub for Kids. I then spend an hour reading to them while sharing the screen and pausing frequently to ask questions so they can improve critical reading skills and expand vocabulary. We then do more cartwheels, jumping jacks or some other physical movement. Then we spend 30 minutes to an hour working independently on learning apps. If kids get stuck, generally another child helps them or I help them (though the kids are better at apps then me!) Finally, I leave the group and let the kids stay on for playdates. Kids can leave or come back at anytime. If they want to take a nap, they take a nap. If they want to draw while we're doing something else, they draw. If only one child is there and just wants to chat with me about their life, then that's what we do. I have found in this way, kids are able to stay engaged for up to 3 hours at a time and beg me to stay when I have to go take a lunch break.

[cvhashim]

That’s a very packed schedule. Well done on managing your time.

[joe_hills]

Thanks! Before everything locked down, I was lucky to have a lot of day-to-day support from my family, friends, and colleagues.

One of the ways I tried to demonstrate appreciation for their help was by actively working to structure my life and career so I could be less reliant on them in the future. I had no idea how soon I wouldn't have any choice, but my preparation for self-employment and plan to minimize outside child-care definitely made handling the COVID-forced changes easier.

[actfrench]

It's so natural and normal to rely on extended family and community for help. For some reason, I think American culture encourages us to be more independent and self-sufficient as the end game. I bet it brought your family, friends and colleagues a lot of joy to be involved in your children's lives. We are two and I do not know how we'd do it without grandparents and honorary grandparents.

[westondeboer]

This is how I am working also. I have requested that all meetings in the future happen after 3, so the kids will be done with their schooling.

Today was the first day of school and my kids are in 3rd grade.

Just like you said, there was at least four times that I needed to come over and fix tech support issues. And help them figure out how to do something.

I am trying to figure out which is better right now, with using ipad, laptop, or chromebooks.

[actfrench]

With regards to tech, I run a digital learning pod for kids ages 3-9 and we have a lot of families in product, hardware, software, machine learning and education in our group so we pooled together our knowledge and tried a bunch of different combinations to find what worked best for our group.

My priorities as an educator were for the kids to be able to jump up, lay down and whisper across the room. I also wanted to make sure the devices were safe (for small ears) etc. I wanted the kids to feel as much as possible like they were in the room with me. I didn't want to create an experience where kids had to sit still at their desk or strain to see or hear.

As a teacher, I prefer when kids use a mac laptop because when they screen share or use an app their image does not disappear (which gives less of an in-person feel). I like that they can open multiple windows, so for example, I can be showing them one app, while they're working independently - and I can see their face when they're trying to work independently. Otherwise it makes me feel less like I know what's going on with them.

The big downside with the chromebook is that it doesn't support a lot of amazing apps which are so great for learning, especially at a time when giving kids a fun app they can use independently is a big support to the whole family.

As much as I like a laptop, a lot of our parents prefer the ipad, however, because kids are a bit more free to move about the house. Also, it's considerably less expensive, which makes it easier for all of us to help keep access to our group equitable. We do our best to sponsor any child who can't afford our group but wants to join and we're trying to make this as scaleable as possible so we can offer it to more families everywhere.

Ultimately, this is the winning combo we went with.

Ipad (most recent version or possible)

Wide lens (so kids can move around) https://www.amazon.com/Xenvo-iPhone-Camera-Lens-Clip

Airpod pro (by far the best for sound and most comfortable) https://www.apple.com/airpods-pro

Ipad stand (so kids aren't constantly looking down) https://www.amazon.com/Gooseneck-Tablet-Mount-Holder-Bed/dp/...

Hope this is helpful. Let me know if you have any more questions about our findings:)

[p1esk]

Why do you need airpods?

[actfrench]

For the sound. If kids don't wear headphones it's impossible to hear. Also, this really helps with younger kids who already might be learning to pronounce words correctly

[actfrench]

Hi there, I wrote a blog (with you in mind) on the devices we use to support online group learning. Thank you for inspiring it. Hope it's helpful. www.modulo.app/all-resources/hardwardsoftware