I find it somehow interesting that in 1918 we had a deadly flu pandemic sweep the nation and the world, infecting at least a quarter of the population and taking more lives than the killing machine of the Great War. . . and then we virtually forgot about it. It seems less a part of our collective memories than even the Black Plague. Perhaps we had other things on our minds. Perhaps the censorship played its role. But life in America hardly went untouched as whole communities fell ill and children played jump rope.
All the while chanting:
I had a little bird
Its name was Enza.
I opened up the window
And in-flu-enza.
Now we have the Great Swine Flu Pandemic of 2009 and it seems all we can talk about. Twitter is full of people alternately sounding the alarm and mocking the concerned. My Google Alerts for homeschooling are peppered with articles about the swine flu, and even while waiting five minutes in the office of my infectious disease doctor I listened while the receptionist fielded two calls from other doctors about whether it would be wise to treat all flus with Tamiflu. (The answer was no for fear of it losing its effectiveness.)
I can’t say I’m scared of this thing at this point, but I’m a long way from mocking. After all, the 1918 flu was not taken particularly seriously early on and the government continued to encourage huge rallies for the war effort which may have facilitated its spread. But I still think the intense interest is mostly a diversion from, or indulgence in, our general anxiety about the economy and other issues we are facing as a nation right now.
And I can’t seem to get away from it.
Now the Charter Schools Examiner over at Examiner.com is recommending “In case of swine flu school closures talk to homeschoolers” and I have mixed feelings about the advice. I’m all for talking to homeschoolers. In general, we are a pretty enthusiastic and helpful lot. If you’re stressing about what to do with your kids, a seasoned homeschooler will likely be able to calm you down and keep the situation in perspective while your children exchange germs in the backyard.
But whatever it is a public school family does during a flu-related school closing hardly constitutes homeschooling. I picture 60,000 students (OK, probably less than half that) fumbling awkwardly through a textbook while mom asks what the teacher normally does before she sends them off to read and answer the questions at the end of the chapter with the encouragement to “just do your best.” I picture the majority of these families walking away from the experience a little overwhelmed, relieved it’s over and reinforced in the opinion that “I could never homeschool my children.”
Two weeks is a long time to play substitute teacher for your child’s classroom teacher, and without the benefit of lesson plans or even the bag of tricks most substitute teachers acquire over the years. And isn’t that really all these families are being asked to do: substitute until the schools reopen? What other option is there when the goal from the beginning is to put them back in school?
If you’re stuck in that situation, ask all the questions you want. I’m sure most homeschoolers would be delighted for the opportunity to help you out. Just don’t call it homeschooling.
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And for the homeschooler in you, a wonderful documentary on the 1918 flu pandemic. You may want to watch it before sharing it with young children. Mine watched it, but there is something eerie about mass graves and children playing on coffins.
Photo courtesy Town of Burlington Massachusetts official website
Welcome to Roscommon Acres, my little home in the country. I write here about life more abundantly, from the joy of a baby’s smile to the almost unbearable grief of losing a son. I am seeking beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, a garment of praise instead of the spirit of despair (Isaiah 61:3).
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While we were in Louisiana, most of the local (Lafayette) Catholic schools were closed. Yesterday it was reported that five students in one school tested positive for Swine Flu. One of the students had recently traveled to Mexico.
Are we scared? Not yet. Are we washing our hands a little more often. Yes, we are.
Great links.
See…I hardly pay any attention to the news. I know I should. I know there is a flu scare going on. I know schools are shut down. I just did not know parents were being asked to sub while their kids were at home. If they have instructions, follow them. Otherwise, here’s my advice, let your kids play. Read. And learn to enjoy your children.
Throw in a little reading every day, and I agree with you Christy! Apparently, the recommendation going out is “don’t let your kids fall behind.” But that is a lot to ask if there are no notes coming home or any direction. This is when video conferencing would be way cool for schools!
Fall behind what, exactly? Are the kid’s smart going to fall out of their brains in two weeks? The teachers will all just pick up where they left off. If the kids can’t get back on track after two weeks off, and they’re in danger of falling behind, one has to wonder how effective the lessons are in the first place.
But they can’t say “just keep busy” can they?
From Part V: “It isn’t in our collective memory…”
Only when lions have historians will hunters cease being heroes.” ~ African Proverb
Perhaps, until the influenza virus has its own historians. Why would we tell our children of an event in history where American humanism lost?
I tend to agree, Andrea. After all, state testing should be done for the year, I think, and what else is there to worry about these days? Guessing a lot of these districts have the same kinds of laws we do intended for snow days, meaning the year will be extended to make up for the lost instructional time. What is the teacher going to do with half the class that kept plodding alone and another half that forgot everything they “learned” for the year?
Your statement, “…I still think the intense interest is mostly a diversion from or indulgence in our general anxiety about the economy and other issues we are facing as a nation right now”, may not be far off the mark. The level of trust I have in our government leads me to wonder what the right hand is doing when a magic show is being performed.
That having been said, we in the Houston area have been informed that a subdivision just to our north, The Woodlands had to shut down an elementary school this morning when four cases of the H1N1 (Swine Flu) were reported.
The brighter side of this has to do with an old saying, “If ye are prepared ye have nothing to fear”. This applies both temporally and spiritually since rain falls on the just as well as the unjust.
I can’t go back to 1918 but I did write about Dana’s topic of the day three years ago, when “bird flu” threatened to close schools and send all kids home for survival learning, anybody remember? It was a little creepy to reread it just now:
The schools out here would send home independent study. Actually they do that even if the child is only going to miss 2 days. It doesn’t matter. They want to be able to count the child as present for government funding. If the child completes the ind. study packet they get money.
If a parent gets a taste of what homeschooling might be like (even a little bit) by having their children at home for 2 weeks and still learning, I can see why the Charter schools would want to take advantage of the situation and put out a little positive PR.
Very good thoughts.
Homeschooling is much more of a lifestyle/educational approach than something you just pick up and do for a few days in the interim. Granted, it can start as something you do, but, I think, the optimal outcome is that you become a life long learner.
~Luke
Dana, you write to well. I always enjoy your articles. I apologize for not coming by more often. I really must subscribe!
I think that one difference between the 1918 and what we are seeing now in flu epidemics is that we have more communication now which helps to confine it.
I agree that kids being out of school for 2 weeks is NOT homeschooling. Interesting to note that if the schools don’t support or even acknowledge homeschooling as a viable source of education then why tell those parents to get a hold of us.
Also, with that many parents needing to take time off work the economy will suffer even more. Which is why I have pondered the idea that maybe that’s why we don’t hear more about this flu right now and the govt is trying to keep people calm by not reporting everything.
For example, there is also a gastro flu going around right now too. I was at the ER with a Sister in the Lord last night as she suffered severe abdominal cramping, diarrhea, vomiting, nausea, fever, body aches, chills, etc etc etc.
They had to draw blood, take a urine sample, hooked her up to an IV for dehydration, medicated her for abdominal cramping, and she ended up having a UTI as well. The waiting room was PACKED and yet NO masks were given out to protect the people from spreading germs. I would’ve thought that with this scare, knowing she had flu symptoms, that they would have taken more precautions. Yet everything there was business as usual. There were children and elderly in the room as well and I would think they would have done more to prevent the spread of germs in a room full of coughs and sneezes.
So now public schooled children are sent home, parents need to take time off work, teachers are out of work, and who will help these children with their school work? Do they really think calling a homeschool parent is sufficient? Well maybe it will be an opportunity for the homeschooling parents to share the wonderful blessing of homeschooling and perhaps some children will be brought home for good, where they belong. :O)
It’s going to be tough for parents to cope with kids at home – I don’t think a little reading and letting them play is going to cut it for kids who are accustomed to the full schedules and constant social activity of a school. It can take months for public school kids to get used to the routine of being home and learning on their own when they’re taken out of school to homeschool. I can see two weeks of unplanned time at home being boring for kids – and frustrating for parents.
I’ll bet lots of the little ones will be spending time at the library, and the older ones will be hanging out at the mall. I don’t think kids will stay home away from people, which is what I imagine the authorities had in mind when they closed the schools.
My grandfather’s older brother came home from serving in WWI only to die in the flu pandemic. So at least in my family it was not forgotten. Of course, we’re of Irish heritage, and it’s part of our culture to reminisce about the dead (even 8 decades after their passing).
Dana,
Here in Kentucky, the schools were closed for a long time in the fall because of a wind storm that knocked out power for a couple weeks. Then, we had an ice storm in January that knocked out power for another couple weeks. The state allowed the schools to “forgive” the days instead of having to make them up. This was a special deal that the state was able to do because it is written in our constitution for them to be able to do it in case of an emergency such as this.
Many schools are close to being out, anyway. My nephew only has two weeks left of school (in Oklahoma). It might be worth it for the states that have early let outs like that to just cancel the days. But, then they would have to admit that school doesn’t need to be that long.
I don’t know about the public school kids, but we’re taking advantage of the lack of field trips to go see the King Tut exhibit without crowds.
Why would we tell our children of an event in history where American humanism lost?
Interesting question, Julie. At almost the height of our trust in science, science failed us. Just as we thought we could conquer the world, something as small as a virus could leave us baffled.
But even lions, if they kill enough, earn their spot in our stories. Major motion pictures help, but I knew more about those two lions who killed enough people to interrupt the building of the railroad in Africa.
Thank you everyone for your thoughtful comments.
Thank you for the post, Dana. I’m always interested in the 1918 flu, because my father had it. He was five or six, and obviously he survived. Relatives told me he was weak for a long time, like years, afterward. And he developed Parkinson’s Disease at about age forty, which some medical researchers think could have been due to brain changes from the fever associated with the flu. Fascinating stuff.
Ummmmmmm, yeah… school closure = school break. Not going to continue the stuff at home; let them learn from life, let them de-stress, take a few filed trips, enjoy some family time, catch up on sleep, nurture their friendships. I hardly think the little tikes will be worse for the wear should they get an unexpected school break
Two schools near us have closed… so I am watching things closely.
Oh and California is in the midst of state testing–some schools done, some not. We had two weeks–this is the second week… and honestly, I think my son’s teacher is more concerned w/her testing than the possibility of swine flu… and being in southern Cal, Ventura county–a large agricultural county– we have a large Mexican American population that travels freely back and forth to Mexico. I would think a small bit of vigilance on the part of teacher would be go.
My son actually brought his own #2 pencils to school for state testing last week, rather than accept the ones the school hands out (brand new, sharp, No.2 pencils) and then collects at the end of the tests and redistributes the next day, etc. And he thought of that on his own LOL
Teaching your child at home on a long, forced break isn’t “homeschooling” in a sense because you didn’t sign up for it willingly. But it is “homeschooling” in that it’s a parent going through a learning process on what works in teaching her particular child.
We went through a horrible sort of transition period to homeschooling, though we didn’t know it at the time. Elf would be in school only three hours a day (did you know that if you have a 504 plan you can write almost anything in there if the school agrees? He was only required to attend school for *three hours*). The school would send home all the work he didn’t complete/ refused to do and all the work he was missing I had to teach myself. Which means I did almost all the academic stuff anyway.
By the time I started homeschooling in name as well as practice, I had a fair idea of what I was doing. I would imagine school closings would give parents a good idea of what they’re “in” for if they last more than a few weeks and they are diligent about trying to teach.
I hope it doesn’t come to that, most particularly for the older children out there. It’s one thing to jump in suddenly with a six-year-old, as I did. I’ve been homeschooling two years and have ZERO clue how I would teach my eldest son’s AP World History or engineering classes or …well, whatever strange math they’re doing. Right now, I think the swine flu fears may be overblown, but then I have also been hearing for some time about the way pigs are kept in other nations.
Quite true. But I still think the tendency would be to get overwhelmed trying to do something you didn’t really understand (especially with older children) and basically reinforce the notion that homeschooling if for ex-teachers and saints.
Everything is more doable with a plan and a support system.