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Comment by dpcan | Hacker News Reader

My son had to miss pre-school when he was 4.

I created a home-based program (week to week) where we learned everything I could find that would normally be in a regular pre-school curriculum.

We worked for 3 hours every morning "studying", and he was 4. I made it fun. I made it productive. We took breaks. We had snacks. We had recess. It worked.

By the end of the summer, he was reading and more prepared for Kindergarten than any of the kids in his class.

Yes. If parents stop complaining, and get down to work, and make this fun for their kids, and have a positive attitude, even the youngest students can learn from home.

Now days we even have Zoom options, so we WILL be able to get kids eye to eye with teachers, friends, other students. I would have loved that 8 years ago.

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What you did with your child is vastly different than sitting them down in front of a computer screen for hours. You interacted with your child and gave them a social experience and hands on activities. People have to work and can't just take off to be full time teachers for their children. Sure you would have loved Zoom, but I doubt your child would have.

This is a good point. GP is arguing that their experience with their child was great, specifically because they didn't sit their child down in front of a screen and tell them to sit still and watch a pixelated head talk at them all day. And they're probably right, what they're describing sounds like an awesome learning environment.

In a weird way, they're kind of agreeing with the article here -- remote learning as it's currently structured in the average public school does not work for every kid.

The only disagreement seems to come down to whether someone's reaction to seeing a paragraph like this

> Even our worst-case scenario is a privileged one; a trashed apartment and frayed nerves are nothing in comparison with what other parents are about to undergo. My husband and I can work at home, and we can afford some assistance with child care. The huge number of parents who must work outside the home, parents who can’t afford any child care, and parents who don’t feel comfortable managing a sitter’s viral risk alongside their own are in a far worse situation.

is:

- Wow, this is a problem we should collectively work to address.

or,

- Wow, parents sure are lazy with their kids.

Effectively, what you're advocating for is that parents should all homeschool their children.

Which... I mean, that's a position some people advocate for. But if every parent was equipped to do that, then their kids wouldn't have been in public school in the first place.

I don't think everyone should homeschool.

However, I do think a lot of people put their kids in school because it's easy, not because they couldn't homeschool them.

I've been surprised several times that the immediate reaction I've gotten when I tell someone we're homeschooling is "Oh, I could never do that."

The truth is almost anyone can. I used to think it should be more regulated and only "good" parents should do it.

Then I saw a single mom with only a high school degree and terrible teaching skills take her failing boys out of public school, homeschool then for a year, and send them back to school a year later, more in advanced placement classes.

If she could achieve that on n her own, without spousal support or any of the right skills, then this is within most parents' grasp.

I suspect she was more willing to suffer and fight for her children than a lot of wealthy parents are, though.

I'm saying that I'm tired of parents saying they "can't" do this distance learning things, or their kids "can't" do it, because they can, and if everyone put in some positive energy and effort, we can make it a success.

Ah, so the original comment is predicated on the assumption that all adults are capable of doing that for their kids.

Some are. Some aren't.

Same goes for the kids.

I'm saying that all adults are capable of making distance learning work for their kids. They CAN do it, but it will be HARD.

Some parents are ESL with low literacy rates and little access to technology in their homes. It's very privileged to preach to such people and tell them they need to just get over it, stop complaining, do the hard work.

Not everyone lives the same life as you.

Nah.

Slightly unrelated, very sorry, but could you direct me to the resources you used while teaching your son?

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