Considering homeschooling?

CONSIDERING HOMESCHOOLING? This mom has some tips.

By Rachel Kohn Special to WJW

When Stephanie Frumkin discusses homeschooling as an option for families in her role as an education consultant, it is not only as a mom with experience homeschooling two children during their elementary school years. The Kemp Mill resident is also a former elementary school teacher with a bachelor’s degree in elementary education and a master’s degree in leadership in teaching and school administration.

Frumkin never planned on homeschooling her kids. “In my mind, I was very much in that traditional school model,” she said. “But I found that school was not working for my children. One of my kids was a very much out-of-the-box learner, so I needed to find something alternative for that child.”

She eventually moved her younger child to homeschooling because not only was it working so well for the oldest, but the younger sibling wanted in on the experiences they were sharing. “I really did note I was so involved in one child’s education and I wasn’t involved in the other and it was kind of an uneven family dynamic, so we just decided to homeschool both of them at a certain point.”

Frumkin o ered the following advice for families exploring the idea of homeschooling for the first time:

Don’t focus on trying to make homeschooling like conventional school. Frumkin’s academic training and work experience came in handy as a homeschooling mom, but she also found it a challenge to break free of the mindset of a classroom teacher. “I had to unlearn certain things, and learn new things,” she said. “This idea of ‘school at home’ … being like trying to take what would normally be in a traditional classroom and moving into the home environment” is not a path she recommends.

Take school hours, for instance. If a child is dead to the world in the morning and full of energy in the afternoon, there is no universal law that demands they sit at attention from 8 a.m. onward. Make school hours work for them (and for you).

And tests? “Because you’re working so closely with your kids on a daily basis, I see no need for tests,” said Frumkin. If you’re working with 12 kids, it might be di erent, she joked, but in her case tests did not feel like a necessity — so they were out.

Connect with the community. Frumkin recently started a Facebook group called Exploring Jewish Homeschooling (MoCo). With more than 180 members, it has drawn both experienced homeschoolers and people contemplating the option

Jack Stratton, 6, reviews math problems with his mom, Teresa.

U.S. Air Force photo by Kemberly Groue schooling Education shares state-by-state require-

for the coming school year.

But her group is not a novelty. “There’s lots of homeschooling groups out there,” said Frumkin. “There are a lot that are local, so I would search in your area.” There are also many niche groups, she added: gifted students, nature lovers, students looking for a Jewish education.

Members of the homeschooling community can also direct families to resources such as online secular and Judaic classes for children and pre-packaged curriculums for home use (although Frumkin recommends personalizing the latter if you use them).

Individualization is key. In a traditional school setting, Frumkin said, “It’s, ‘Here’s lives.” WJW

your curriculum, that’s what you get,’ and you follow it in more or less lockstep with other teachers of that grade.”

Homeschooling o ers freedom and flexibility missing from that top-down setting, and she takes advantage of it.

“You can look at each individual child and their learning style … and really tailor it to their individual needs,” she explained. She not only incorporates her children’s interests as vehicles for engaging classwork and activities, but considers what is interesting to her so she can enjoy the homeschooling experience as well.

requirements. Can you hire someone to homeschool your kids? “I hear

that kind of question a lot these days,” said Frumkin.

“In Maryland, there are laws that give specific guidelines for homeschooling, and you have to oversee and be responsible for your child’s education,” she said. “That doesn’t mean you can’t hire someone to do it, but you can’t hire someone to totally take over it and not be involved.”

You also can’t just decide to homeschool in Maryland or Virginia without filing paperwork with local education o cials or joining a state-approved homeschooling “umbrella group.” The Coalition for Responsible Home- ments on its website, responsiblehomeschooling.org.

It’s not for everyone, but don’t assume it’s not for you. Homeschooling may not be a fit for every parent — but, in a way, every parent is already homeschooling, said Frumkin.

“I think people are a lot more involved than they realize in their kids’ education. You play music with them, you read books to them,” she explained.

“There’s definitely things that were challenging,” she added, “but overall it was a very positive experience for our family and something I never imagined to be our Familiarize yourself with state and county

Pollin wanted to get to the root of societal problems

By Elisa Posner WJW Intern

Josh Weinberg knew Irene Pollin from a young age. His father, Rabbi Joseph P. Weinberg, was senior rabbi of Washington Hebrew Congregation in the 1980s and 1990s, and Pollin was a member there.

Josh Weinberg said Pollin was interested in getting to the root of societal problems, solving those problems and “being humble after solving them.”

Pollin, former co-owner of the Washington Wizards and Capitals and Mystics, died in Amherst, Mass., on July 28. She was 96.

Pollin was known for her philanthropy, including her involvement with the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum and Yachad, which works to preserve a ordable homes and revitalize neighborhoods in the Washington area.

“They always knew that the important thing was to look out for the whole community.”

—Josh Weinberg

“She was interested in asking all kinds of questions, wanting to know what made people tick, and what kept them ticking,” Weinberg said.

Weinberg, a member of the Yachad board, said he, Irene Pollin and her husband, Abe Pollin, worked together on Yachad projects. As the Pollins developed real estate in the Washington area, they worked with Yachad to ensure the residents who already lived in those areas were not left out of the redevelopment process.

Weinberg said that the Pollins were deeply concerned with the well-being of the residents who already lived in the areas they sought to redevelop.

“They always knew that the important thing was to look out for the whole community,” he said. “They were these incredible humanitarians who also happened to be incredibly smart business people.”

Two of the couple’s four children died from a heart condition. Irene Pollin, who was also a psychotherapist, founded Sister to Sister: the Women’s Heart Health Foundation.

Abe Pollin died in 2009. Irene Pollin is survived by her children Robert (Sigrid) and James; grandchildren, Emma Grock (Paul) and Hannah Pollin-Galay (Asaf); great-grandchildren, Ruth, Leah and Leila; and niece and nephew, Howard Goldstein (Jill Schick) and Ilene Ellenbogen. WJW

Walk to Israel participants to help campus organization

By Eric Schucht Sta Writer

Supporters of the campus outreach organization Meor D.C. are trying a new way to raise funds. They’re walking to Israel.

Well, they’re walking or running to Israel in spirit, having promised to put in 100 miles each within 30 days.

“I’ve been walking more than I ever have,” said Rabbi Yosef Edelstein, the director of Meor D.C. and one of eight on the team supporting his organization. As of Aug. 11, he’s walked 34 miles.

Walk to Israel is the creation of the international Jewish organization Olami. The project addresses three activities halted by the coronavirus pandemic: fundraising, trips to Israel and face-toface gatherings, according to Michal Nordmann, Olami’s director of marketing.

“There’s no community centers,” Nordmann said. “There was no going to shul. There’s no college campuses in the same way. So how do you keep the community feeling like a community? So we came up with this idea. If we can’t fly to Israel, then we can walk there.”

Nordmann said the goal averages out to four miles a day or 10,000 steps. The 30-day stretch was chosen to build an exercise habit. Walk for Israel kicked o on Aug. 2 and has raised more than $2 million for participating organizations, Nordmann said.

Meor D.C.’s team has committed to walk 715 miles collectively and raise $7,500. As of Aug. 11, they had walked 189 miles and raised $744.

Meor is based at George Washington University in the District. Edelstein said he wants to use the money his team raises to send books on inspiration, meditation and mindfulness to Jewish students. To do that, he’s looking for additional runners.

“We have a lot of quality on the team, now we want to expand the quantity. So people should jump on,” Edelstein said.

Madeleine Tasini is a runner on Meor D.C.’s team. Now living in Florida, she attended Meor D.C. Shabbat dinners while she was studying at American University.

She figures she can walk to Israel from anywhere.

“I just wanted to exercise, and it’s hard to get out during the pandemic. So it’s a way to get out of the house,” Tasini said. WJW

Q & A With Dr. Naor Bar-Zeev ‘A vaccine is not the be all or end all’

By Carolyn Conte

When will we have a vaccine for COVID-19? How e ective will it be? Naor Bar-Zeev, a n associate professor of international health and vaccine science and deputy director of the International Vaccine Access Center at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and a pediatric infectious disease physician and statistical epidemiologist, spoke about vaccine development and the country’s response to the pandemic. This interview has been condensed.

What are your thoughts on the states’ response to safety concerns? It’s di cult to tell one is right and one is wrong. States are doing the best they can to optimize the response. The critical issue is contact tracking, tracing and isolation. And for the public, they need to be wearing masks when out.

What have you learned about a possible vaccine? I’m not doing any direct work with development. I work on distribution once it is available. Once the vaccine is available there will be an issue of making it available in large enough numbers to vaccinate everybody. There will be a high level of manufacturing [but] if we wait until [enough are ready] we will lose even more people.

We’ll be lucky if we have 2 billion doses by the end of 2021. Countries will have to sort how to distribute it and once that decision is made, decide on individual locations. And then they have to decide a good mechanism of delivery to children, or what about high-risk communities? They will have to be engaged in the discussion, too. The vaccine has to be safe for the community. Whether that means making it available to shuls or schools or the local town hall. Logistically, we don’t want people congregating.

Whether it’s possible or feasible is one thing, but the ideal would be a shot delivered in the mail. But we’re not quite there. We have to design delivery with the communities.

We have to make sure the vaccine is safe itself, too, and test the surveillance of that [to keep an eye on results].

And it will have to be adaptive to where the hot spots [of breakouts] are.

At the soonest, when do you predict a vaccine will be available to the U.S. population? We have [vaccines], but they just need to be proven e ective. That means a wide trial with all ages. Then it goes through licensing after all the data is collected. Then it can be manufactured. Realistically, it is hard to pinpoint, but it is unlikely that you can get one by the end of 2020. Maybe, for health care workers, by 2021.

Do you believe there will have to be a di erence in dosages for older adults? The main issue is that older adults have the most responsive immune system. What is generally not safe may be needed to be e ective for older adults. It would be wonderful to have one vaccine, but it’s possible we will need di erent ones for older adults, or more frequent dosages.

We also don’t know how long the vaccine’s e ect could last, and if that could be di erent for di erent ages. If it wanes

and we’re back to where we started, that would be no good.

How reliable are the current tests on chimpanzees for predicting whether it will work on humans? It is a necessary step. If it’s safe to one animal similar to humans, meaning primates, it’s a good indication to move it to human trials. Then we need to demonstrate on humans that it’s safe and e cacious. The more it’s evaluated, the more I will be comfortable to say it’s safe.

There’s only been 1,500 people vaccinated so far. We need many more people before I can say something is safe. So we’ll increase the number again soon; the next trials will vaccinate 30,000 each.

The worst thing is if [we went straight to testing on] people to cut corners and that causes harm. That would be terrible for all vaccines, because people’s trust in vaccines would go down.

What will that next phase of testing look like? So we break it into Phase 1, 2 and 3.

Before Phase 1 of human trials, you have a whole bunch of experiments, then to animal testing.

We haven’t seen the results of Phase 2 yet, but are expecting to move to 3 soon. At the end of Phase 3, we can roll out the vaccines and begin a Phase 4. But when we get there, it also raises an ethical concern: What if the vaccine kills one in a million?

Would you still give it to children?

These are not black and white questions, but there is a lot to consider.

What other challenges and questions like that must we consider? So I already told you about distribution: who will get it first and how do we distribute it. Equity means everyone will be protected equally.

But also, what if we have 1 million doses and people over age 50 require two?

And how are we a ording it? And what if 70 percent is e cacious, or even just 50 percent? Do we still spend the money on it?

And what if there is no other option for a long time? The Rotary [International] vaccine in the ‘90s caused a condition in children, but it took 10 years for a new vaccine to come around.

You have these questions of what is practical versus the specifics of it.

Above all, though, people must remember: A vaccine is not the be all or end all. It won’t make coronavirus go away. Obviously, we still need a vaccine. But, really, the idea of social distancing, washing your hands, being careful — this will still be crucial. WJW

Carolyn Conte is a reporter for the Baltimore Jewish Times, an a liated publication of Washington Jewish Week.

South Philadelphia Shtiebel closes prayer space, looks ahead

By Jesse Bernstein

The Philadelphia synagogue founded a year ago by Beth Sholom Congregation and Talmud Torah’s former rabbanit is leaving its prayer space.

It’s not the end of the world, said Rabbanit Dasi Fruchter, of the South Philadelphia Shtiebel. It was simple fi nancial sense for the small congregation, which doesn’t have plans to meet in a small indoor space any time soon. “Heartbreaking” as it is, Fruchter said, the congregation had already outgrown the space.

I’m really grateful that we were able to make a move,” she said.

In the meantime, congregants will continue daily prayer and learning sessions, with the occasional outdoor, socially distanced event at nearby Saints John Neumann and Maria Goretti Catholic High School.

A year ago, the South Philadelphia Shtiebel was celebrating its fi rst Kabbalat Shabbat, attended by about 100 people on a day that was about 100 degrees. Over the course of the year, the congregation grew as the shtiebel o ered more classes and created greater opportunity for engagement. Much of it was centered at the physical space.

Frustrating as it is to lose the space, Fruchter said, it simply didn’t make sense to keep paying rent. “This,” she said, “is not going anywhere. COVID-19 is here.”

Indeed, the pandemic has left its mark on the congregation. Fruchter herself is recovering from COVID-19. But o ering classes on Daf Yomi and Pirkei Avot, along with the occasional lecture, has enticed many that may have once wished to stay at home. Now, they can do both.

The shtiebel has also held a few outdoor services at Saints John Neumann and Maria Goretti Catholic High School, a practice that Fruchter hopes to continue as the pandemic endures.

“We commit,” she said, “to continuing to doing what we do well, which is helping people connect and helping people bring love into the world, and connect with Torah and Judaism.”

And though the shtiebel’s space will no longer belong to the shtiebel, it will belong to some “shtieblers,” as Fruchter calls them.

Orrin Leeb and Bryan Kravitz, co-owners of Philly Typewriter, will take over the space within a year. Their store, which sells and repairs typewriters, is now a few blocks away from the shtiebel.

Kravitz, who was married to his wife by Fruchter, said that he and Leeb were looking around for a new space when Fruchter reached out to them with a proposal a few weeks ago. “It was very, very, very fortuitous this all happened,” Kravitz said. It’s “a perfect move, for us,” Leeb added. WJW

Jesse Bernstein is a writer for the Philadelphia Jewish Exponent, an a liated publication of Washington Jewish Week.

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