Coronavirus, Covid 19 Discussion and How It Has Affected Your Daily Life Chat Thread

[MROO]

I reseeded my gardens because I’m still trying to minimize going to the grocery store.

Honestly I don’t like being in public at all.

When I went to the library the other day, everyone was wearing masks. They had one way traffic into the building and out of the building. Books are quarantined for 14 days before being loaned out again. The bag your books you reserve and you pick them up on the table in the front. The computer keyboards and noises were covered in plastic and sprayed after use. I’m sure our library is going above and beyond what others are.

I got 13 books I plan to read every single day. I’m still trying to reach 100+ books for the year. I’m at about 75.

Our libraries are still closed. Which REALLY stinks, because we're building a big, new, state of the art (for around here, anyway) library for us, now. I'm trying to get a job interview for it, but everything's frozen until the next recovery phase starts - and Maryland is still spiking enough to block that. WHY duz peepul has to be so stoopid? Stop the parties and wear the dad-blasted mask!

 

[feather13]

I feel like kids should be more responsible. They rely too much on their parents and teachers to do everything for them. When I was in school homework and studying was my job (that’s the ONLY job a kid has). I didn’t rely on my parents to tell me to do my homework or study (kids now are like this).

I just feel like education is taking a backseat in the US. Other countries are excelling at education while we aren’t. That’s why most doctors come from other countries because they focus on education for the first 18 years of their lives. They don’t have parents forcing them to do sports and other things. The US focuses of everything, but education and it shows. They BARELY fund schools and have teachers foot the bill... other places do not do this.

My kids have always done homework on their own and balanced it with sports practices. I'm a single working parent and I help them if they really need it, but early on they learned that I wouldn't be holding their hands and hovering over them. I'm lucky they have straight As or I'd need to intervene more. But it's the luck of the draw. Other kids just need more structure, especially if their teachers aren't showing them how to organize their time better.

Several years ago when one of my daughters was in fifth grade, a group of kids from China (who were traveling with two chaperones and no parents) laughed when they were in math class with one of my daughters. When she asked why they were laughing, they said because they had learned the same math years ago (they weren't mean kids--in face they were quite sweet--they just thought this was funny). So not only were these kids learning at least one other language besides Chinese, they were also more advanced in math and independent enough to travel overseas with their teachers. When we lived in Norway the year before that, the teachers there said my kids were a few grades behind in all their subjects.

California public schools are low-ranking, but I had no idea how bad things were until we lived overseas. Imho the education many kids receive in public schools in the U.S. amounts to intellectual child abuse. There's so much focus on learning about holidays and just managing unruly classrooms (my daughters also had many kids in their classrooms who should have had individual assistants because they were disruptive and/or violent towards other kids). I'm really all the schools in our county are online due to COVID, but wonder if the kids are going to be falling even more behind. Sigh.

 

[feather13]

I got 13 books I plan to read every single day. I’m still trying to reach 100+ books for the year. I’m at about 75.

Have you read Tender Is the Flesh by Agustina Bazterrica? It's a dystopian novel that's a critique of factory farming. You might like it given the interests you talk about in this thread. Warning though: it's incredibly violent and graphic. I was up two nights in a row reading it and still feel kind of jumpy

 

[MROO]

). I'm really all the schools in our county are online due to COVID, but wonder if the kids are going to be falling even more behind. Sigh.

Enrichment is the key. Encourage the "extras" Challenge them to read. Do experiments, visit museums (even if you have to do it online) These things were all important BEFORE Covid hit, but they're absolutely critical, now. They WILL fall further behind without our help. It shouldn't be that way, I know, but "facts is facts." We HAVE to make this work. It's not just our children's futures hat depend on it ... it's EVERYONE'S!

 

[FortCluck]

Have you read Tender Is the Flesh by Agustina Bazterrica? It's a dystopian novel that's a critique of factory farming. You might like it given the interests you talk about in this thread. Warning though: it's incredibly violent and graphic. I was up two nights in a row reading it and still feel kind of jumpy

I’ve seen videos of stuff that factory farms do. When I became plant based I researched a lot if I could maintain my health with it. People used to tell me I’d die eating that way. I’ve never felt healthier. I love supplying my families meat and I don’t love butchering but it keeps us healthy.

My goal for next year is to produce 90% of my plant food supply.

 

[feather13]

I’ve seen videos of stuff that factory farms do. When I became plant based I researched a lot if I could maintain my health with it. People used to tell me I’d die eating that way. I’ve never felt healthier. I love supplying my families meat and I don’t love butchering but it keeps us healthy.

My goal for next year is to produce 90% of my plant food supply.

So cool that you've transitioned to a plant-based diet and that you feel great! I'm impressed that you butcher your animals, although you don't eat meat. I got into chicken-raising in part to grow meat, but have never been able to bring myself to butcher (even though I grew up hunting and farming). I can't even euthanize our chickens One of my daughters is vegetarian, so I cook and eat 90% plant-based food when she's home and it does make me feel healthier.

Tender Is the Flesh is about animals getting a virus that makes them lethal to humans, so the factory farming is cannibalism Pretty gripping if you're into science fiction.

 

[feather13]

Enrichment is the key. Encourage the "extras" Challenge them to read. Do experiments, visit museums (even if you have to do it online) These things were all important BEFORE Covid hit, but they're absolutely critical, now. They WILL fall further behind without our help. It shouldn't be that way, I know, but "facts is facts." We HAVE to make this work. It's not just our children's futures hat depend on it ... it's EVERYONE'S!

Absolutely! Since spring I've been teaching online and have been pleasantly surprised that college-aged students now do way more independent research, even without being asked. In face-to-face classes, I feel like that receive information through lectures and sometimes discussion, but are more passive learners. I wonder if that's the same for elementary to high school students.

 

[FortCluck]

So cool that you've transitioned to a plant-based diet and that you feel great! I'm impressed that you butcher your animals, although you don't eat meat. I got into chicken-raising in part to grow meat, but have never been able to bring myself to butcher (even though I grew up hunting and farming). I can't even euthanize our chickens One of my daughters is vegetarian, so I cook and eat 90% plant-based food when she's home and it does make me feel healthier.

Tender Is the Flesh is about animals getting a virus that makes them lethal to humans, so the factory farming is cannibalism Pretty gripping if you're into science fiction.

Hmm I’ll look into that. Meat makes me feel horrible a break out in hives then so I stay away from it. I have done only 4 chickens from beginning to the end... usually my husband does the deed then I do the rest.

 

[ChocolateMouse]

I dunno. I know I don't have a kid, but "falling behind" seems like such a weird concept to me. I mean, people get top marks in high school and even get a degree and then go on to fall for MLM pyramid schemes. Then some folks barely graduate and go on to be regional managers for entire store chains or welders making 36K a year or something.
I guess I just feel like that one year of schooling is less critical than still learning something - anything - during that year even if it's only life skills.

 

[MROO]

I dunno. I know I don't have a kid, but "falling behind" seems like such a weird concept to me. I mean, people get top marks in high school and even get a degree and then go on to fall for MLM pyramid schemes. Then some folks barely graduate and go on to be regional managers for entire store chains or welders making 36K a year or something.
I guess I just feel like that one year of schooling is less critical than still learning something - anything - during that year even if it's only life skills.

You get out of school what you're willing to put into it. Sometimes that's good grades, sometimes it's simply understanding a system or a process. Regardless, it's all learning and most of it applies as a Life Skill somewhere. Chaos - or even just skipping steps through disorganization or poor planning - either on the home OR the school front - can have serious repercussions later on.