5AF Parenting Thread

Postby **MWB** » Tue Mar 24, 2020 5:07 pm

Still haven’t gotten an indication of what we’re supposed to do, other than research on our own. But we’re starting Monday for high school, Wednesday for middle school.

Postby **DigitalGypsy66** » Tue Mar 24, 2020 5:53 pm

South Carolina schools done until the end of April. McMaster is on the ball with this.

Postby **Freddy Rumsen** » Tue Mar 24, 2020 5:55 pm

I talked a SC teacher friend and she says parents are already slacking on getting work done.

Postby **MWB** » Tue Mar 24, 2020 6:44 pm

I’ve assigned optional work, since we can’t assign actual work, and have had about 20% participation.

Postby **mac5155** » Tue Mar 24, 2020 6:47 pm

I am pretty sure after like day 3 they said "nevermind, just keep your kids somewhat structured and get on the <mouse thing?>"

Postby **meow** » Tue Mar 24, 2020 7:00 pm

mrs meow is having "office hours" from 8-12 everyday in a Google Hangout. She probably gets over 80% of her students coming in and out with questions. she also records herself when answering and saves it to a class shared drive for other students to reference. it really seems to be working as well as I can be for her.

Postby **NTP66** » Tue Mar 24, 2020 7:04 pm

Unfortunately, you have to rely on parents actually giving a **** (if we’re talking younger children). We have kept our daughter on a schedule so that’s she’s not just watching Netflix all day, and if word comes from the school that they’re going to do optional online schooling, she will be participating, no questions asked.

Postby **NTP66** » Tue Mar 24, 2020 7:06 pm

On a side note, all of her friends joined Facebook Messenger for Kids (including some family members), so she can now communicate with her friends online, which is nice. It’s like text messaging where parents have to approve the contact (on both sides).

Postby **MWB** » Tue Mar 24, 2020 8:58 pm

I did just have a parent email me saying she wants to drop off a bottle of wine in my mailbox, so I've got that going for me, lol.

Postby **Freddy Rumsen** » Tue Mar 24, 2020 9:14 pm

Postby **mac5155** » Tue Mar 24, 2020 9:16 pm

Is she hot?

Postby **MWB** » Tue Mar 24, 2020 9:24 pm

Good question.

Postby **DigitalGypsy66** » Tue Mar 24, 2020 10:15 pm

My kids had Zoom sessions today for two of their classes. Evidently, teachers don't know they can mute all microphones and block kids from turning them on. It was a shitshow lol.

Postby **NTP66** » Wed Mar 25, 2020 7:11 am

I was notified at work that we are able to change our dependent care FSA contributions right now if we wanted to. Gonna go ahead and pull back the last $2500 since this **** is use it or lose it.

Edit: Hmm, I still have $2k already taken out of my paychecks waiting to be used, but just cancelled the last $1k future contributions. Guess I need to reach out to them to find out if I have any recourse for getting that money back now that I can't actually use it.

Postby **shafnutz05** » Wed Mar 25, 2020 7:41 am

Our day care teachers have been posting videos reading stories to their respective classes. It was really awesome yesterday watching my son's eyes light up when he saw his baby room teacher start to read to him on my phone.

Postby **NTP66** » Wed Mar 25, 2020 8:02 am

Our teacher had a Zoom meeting with all of the students on Monday, which the kids seemed to love. Hope that continues.

Postby **Beveridge** » Wed Mar 25, 2020 8:28 am

I was notified at work that we are able to change our dependent care FSA contributions right now if we wanted to. Gonna go ahead and pull back the last $2500 since this **** is use it or lose it.

Edit: Hmm, I still have $2k already taken out of my paychecks waiting to be used, but just cancelled the last $1k future contributions. Guess I need to reach out to them to find out if I have any recourse for getting that money back now that I can't actually use it.

It isn't taken out evenly over the year?

We got the same message. Got to wait and see what daycare is doing before I recalculate. Already had built in buffer so I didn't withhold too much, but probably need to scale it back before it's all said and done.

Postby **NTP66** » Wed Mar 25, 2020 8:39 am

I was notified at work that we are able to change our dependent care FSA contributions right now if we wanted to. Gonna go ahead and pull back the last $2500 since this **** is use it or lose it.

Edit: Hmm, I still have $2k already taken out of my paychecks waiting to be used, but just cancelled the last $1k future contributions. Guess I need to reach out to them to find out if I have any recourse for getting that money back now that I can't actually use it.
It isn't taken out evenly over the year?

We got the same message. Got to wait and see what daycare is doing before I recalculate. Already had built in buffer so I didn't withhold too much, but probably need to scale it back before it's all said and done.

It is, but a large chunk of mine is camp, which is due this week. I chatted with them this morning, and as of right now they're not sure what's going on. I'll be notified if they say we can withdraw our unspent money - which, let's be honest, should be on the table every year no matter what. This use it or lose it **** is horseshit and nobody will ever convince me otherwise.

Postby **Beveridge** » Wed Mar 25, 2020 8:47 am

Oh I agree. You should be able to pull it out and have it taxed like normal. Hard to predict what a year is going to look like. At the very least there should be some rollover component like FSA Medical.

Postby **robbiestoupe** » Wed Mar 25, 2020 9:09 am

I was notified at work that we are able to change our dependent care FSA contributions right now if we wanted to. Gonna go ahead and pull back the last $2500 since this **** is use it or lose it.

Edit: Hmm, I still have $2k already taken out of my paychecks waiting to be used, but just cancelled the last $1k future contributions. Guess I need to reach out to them to find out if I have any recourse for getting that money back now that I can't actually use it.

I'm assuming you can cash that summer school check

Glad you posted this because I didn't think of it. Pretty sure we'll still use all $5k we put in, but something to keep an eye on

Postby **NTP66** » Wed Mar 25, 2020 10:01 am

Source of the post I'm assuming you can cash that summer school check

All of this is in my DFSA, so I can't cash **** right now. I never paid for camp out of pocket, so at least I'm not out double the money.

Postby **mac5155** » Wed Mar 25, 2020 10:15 am

Oh I agree. You should be able to pull it out and have it taxed like normal. Hard to predict what a year is going to look like. At the very least there should be some rollover component like FSA Medical.

You can withdrawal it and "pay" a family member who pays taxes on it as income for the "care" of a dependent.

Postby **mac5155** » Wed Mar 25, 2020 10:16 am

Also DCFSA is not pre funded like Healthcare FSA so maybe that's why you're able to change it?

Anyway our daycare is $4,992 per year so we are right up against the limit anyway lol

Postby **Beveridge** » Wed Mar 25, 2020 10:42 am

Normally you can't change it unless special circumstances allow it, which we have right now.

Postby **robbiestoupe** » Wed Mar 25, 2020 10:43 am

Source of the post I'm assuming you can cash that summer school check
All of this is in my DFSA, so I can't cash **** right now. I never paid for camp out of pocket, so at least I'm not out double the money.

Bad wording on my part. As long as you are working and getting paid, you are paying into the DFSA. If your child goes to summer camp, that's $2000 you can withdrawal at some point.