WTF is this nonsense- teacher setting tasks like 'Make a meal' or 'Explore your garden with your five senses'

[ChillyColdBottle]

A) No, they are not 'making a meal' as we are in a take it or leave it situation due to not being able to leave the house

B) WTF?

Is it considered unacceptable to ask for some actual academic stuff that they can do silently?!

You are being completely unreasonable. If you think that 5 year olds sit down silently and do worksheets at school for longer than 5 minutes then you have a weird idea about school. If you think that worksheets are more educational than preparing a meal or noticing things in the garden, then you have a skewed view of education.

The best thing that you can do for your children at the moment is to calm down. If you need to work from home, then let them play. Get out some Lego and leave them to it. If you don't, then still chill out. Talk to them. Do some colouring together. Play a board game. Read them a story.

We're all stressed and nobody knows what is round the corner. If you don't know what to do to educate your children then listen to the bloody teacher. She knows what she is doing.

I really hope that when this thing is over, OP looks back at this thread and wonders WTF she was thinking.

Poor teachers. Seriously.

I for one am immensely grateful to all of the teachers who are potentially putting themselves at risk to work through this.

Going by our school's information feed I'm worried about the risk of one of the teachers injuring themselves trying to keep up with the Jo Wicks PE session!

However my worry is who is going to mark/correct/assess the work
No one is going to mark the work or even look at it. If (and I really don’t think they will) schools go back before July, the teachers won’t have time to mark as they will be straight back in to teaching. And if they go back in September, the new teacher won’t care what the old teacher set and will have no desire to Mark it. (I’m not telling my secondary aged dc this, although the year 9 teachers seem to be keeping an eye online as stuff has to be emailed back- but they’ve been set gcse coursework so it’s a bit different I guess).
No one will care if year 4 dd does any of the worksheets. She has spent the day colouring, Lego, music practice, outside and board games. She has no inclination to do the worksheets and I’d rather play a game than argue.

Op. An idea if you have any change lying around. Get them to pick a couple of coins and add up the total. They could use a crayon to rub over them to bulk it out and write the total amounts. Set up a little shop with household items , put price labels on. How much can they buy with their 20p/50p/£1. You know their abilities so set it accordingly. That could end up taking all morning if they engage with the shop keeper idea. If you have play food, extend into a cafe. But if they are anxious about learning, stress the counting aspect of it.

Piggywaspushed

Making a meal is parenting.

Hmmm wonder what the food tech teachers in my school do all day? 🤔 They must be parenting Years 7 to 13 every day.

There are loads of benefits to a child preparing or helping to prepare a meal. It’s life skills. Also, as stressful as this situation is for us, it’s awful for our children who are dealing with uncertainty. To be honest this is extraordinary and uncomfortable times at the moment, and you’re just sounding like a bit of a knob. Talk to your child, find out what they were doing at school. Find some stuff for them to do and stop being so obnoxious.

Edhelper is giving some free packs away as schools are closed. They have things by year group though mainly seem primary aged. I think it's an American site but the stuff looks similar to what gets sent home as homework by DCs schools

Does the teacher know every pupil has access to a garden they can explore with all 5 senses? Even a park’s not ideal for every family, depending on their circumstances- distance, safety, crowdedness, etc. Not that any park should be crowded now, I know. But some councils have locked them too, I think. Maybe PE could be getting over the wall/fence into said park.

The unions were complaining that 1 in 5 teachers were self-isolating a week ago

Yes, and many of them were doing so because they were unwell.

And those that were left, like me, were working flat out.

Wow this is the most first of all the first world coronavirus problems.

Y1 and y3? Seriously. Poor teachers these days

Oh ffs, they're just suggestions.

Other parents are complaining that their children are getting written work / worksheets because they can't print it out (fair enough) and/or they can't do it because of a variety of other extremely valid reasons.
So then teachers set other work as you've mentioned above and now they're wrong again.

Ffs you're an adult. Just tell your kid not to bloody do it and print off a page of sums for them

Sorry OP I think you are being a bit pathetic.

You have had TWO DAYS with 2 children in the house, YOUR children and...

I'm seeing loads of people post to the school twitter of them doing all these lovely activities when it's just completely beyond me at this point.

What is 'beyond you' exactly.? Entertaining your own kids for a little while ? Are you so dependent on outside stimulation that you really can't think of anything to do from your own imagination?
What the hell do you do at weekends ? Let me guess 'take them places' so they can be entertained.

Time to step up. Get on some websites for ideas, start reading some books about parenting and stop blaming teachers who quite frankly have more than enough on their plates at the moment. As another adult human who CHOSE to have two children it's your responsibility to look after them at the moment. Just try having some fun with them instead of being a drama queen.

My dc are learning anything and everything useful. Admittedly they are older than OPs.

Today they have made a simple computer game (ds1, computer science). Made a power point on climate change (ds2, geography). Learned how to clean the filter and sump hose on the washing machine (it's still not working) and helped meal plan for the next couple of days with our limited supplies.
They hardly seem to have any work online at the moment but I'm sure it will increase. DS2s school have said it should be about 5 hrs per day.

@Patchworkpatty perfect response, so many parents moaning about "home schooling" my kids are 4&7 and they've read a bit, 7yo done TT rock stars for 15 mins, 10 minutes spellings and some crafts, that's ok, I'm their mum not their teacher and it's not forever so if all the things we should be panicking about, this is not one of them.

What is 'beyond you' exactly.? Entertaining your own kids for a little while ?
Given op has clearly stated she's struggling, and if taking the kids into the garden and coercing them into organised fun is beyond her right now she clearly IS struggling, you'd think people could be a little kinder

Op do you have the end of year expectations for your children's year groups? That could be a great starting point for you . Look at what they have to know by the end of the year, it doesn't matter in which order it's learnt (well, not mostly , except probably maths as some of it leads on to another topic in which those pre-skills are learnt from a previous topic).

You can also sign up to programs like mathletics (paid for) where they can just sit at the laptop and do the work.

yr1 and yr 3 ye exploring a garden with their senses. (So looking at flowers and smelling them, touching trees and grass.) Is beyond her. But apparently it,s fine to do sums.???

The OP now but as they are on the second week of self isolation and only have food from the bottom of the freezer because they have been protecting the rest of us by staying at home I expect she is exhausted and if they have no garden then this suggestion probably tipped her over the edge .

Most of the replies on this thread are more about people showing what perfect parents they are than supporting a poster clearly struggling. The sneeryness and self satisfied tone is Mumsnet st it worst. Shame on you

No PeaseBlossom22 The replies on this thread are more about those sick of reading about how they aren’t doing enough/giving the right amount or type of work/and just plain being stupid in what they set, despite the fact that they are also exhausted, may have no garden etc. and these threads are tipping them over the edge.
There is really no need for threads like this, full stop. Shame on you.

The flip side is you could end up with meltdowns as they get stuck and don't want to do the work as they miss school and this isn't school. Everything they ask may well have a downside. We have had a full day of work posted on the school website and it's not as easy as just letting them crack on. They have needed help and I haven't done it like her teacher does. Right now I'd take some observation

Not read the whole thread but as someone who both home educates and has school going children I would refer people back to what the law says. The law around education is clear and says that by the term after a child turns 5 they must be in full time education suitable to their age, aptitude and any special educational needs. This may be done by sending a child to school or a suitable alternative such as home education.

Imo, the schools have been shut down - is there are now no schools to use to cause our children to have that legal requirement of an education and so we are now all responsible for our own children's education by the suitable alternative - home education.

If teachers are helping by setting work and making suggestions imo they are doing so due to good Will on their part - they shouldn't feel obligated to do so and we should have no expectations of it.