Sick of all the 'advice' written by anonymous teachers etc

[SouthWestmom]

Honestly ever since that head teacher wrote some speech years ago for post graduating students in America it seem sharing crappy 'advice' on social media is a thing.
The latest one is when anyone posts as they are worried about keeping their kids education up they get the 'don't worry no one is behind, no one is ahead, I'll catch your kids up that's my super power' post thrown at them.
Why can't people genuinely be allowed some anxiety without some vomit inducing bilge chucked at them which is inaccurate and patronising? It's like people are children needing saccharine reassurance.

You should all move to Bavaria (*obviously slightly impractical ).

Our teachers are the anti-fluffy meme fighters I think. Every week we get an email with 8 lessons per day of work - brand new content each week, unapologetically requiring teaching and close supervision - with up beat assurance that almost everybody is completing all of the work correctly but a few children are making too many mistakes and clearly rushing. This is followed by a comment along the lines of how the teacher has enjoyed reading the 900 page trilogy little Emma wrote as extension to showcase her excellent grasp of Präteritum, and encourages more of the 8 year olds in her class to buck up and do the same. The emails end with dire warnings about our parental responsibility not to allow our children to fall behind and the fact there will be absolutely no scope for catch up time when schools go back.

We were off for 3 weeks before Easter with no individual feedback so no way of knowing whether the pointed comments about some inferior quality work meant us. Everything was submitted into a black hole, with only the generic whole class letter each Monday morning.

Since Easter we're getting individual replies to work submitted via a platform (though we still have to mark it ourselves as parents then scan and submit the marked work) which is at least less terrifying than the "everyone is doing everything to a high standard except one or two slackers with crap parents, so go to your room and think about whether you're one of the few failures, because I'm not going to tell you" group mails!

anothernotherone that sounds terrifying

aintnothinbutagstring it is a bit. The attitude is different here - schooling is compulsory, no exceptions, (school attendance is a right children have and ensuring it happens is a compulsory responsibility for parents in normal times). Actual homeschooling is completely illegal. That's probably the difference.

Exams haven't been cancelled here as they have in the UK. GCSE and A level equivalents and all other types of final exams are still taking place, they've just been pushed back a few weeks.

Our exam years go back to school on Monday, pre exam years (UK year 10 and 12 equivalent) go back on 11th May as do the final year of primary. No date yet for any other school years but it's very much a no excuses message. It is rather terrifying, yes.

It’s tripe isn’t it? I also find it fairly discomforting - I hate the mood swings of Facebook at the moment- all sweetness and it will be fine faux reassurance combined with vitriolic posts about teenagers at the park and the odd emotional friend with a relative in hospital. I can’t encompass all that at once.

Bavaria sounds interesting... and hard work!

Yeah it's all weird bollocks isn't it.

Those posts irritate the fuck out of me, and I don't believe they were written by actual teachers.

"Just love your kids and keep them safe!" YOU SHOULD BE DOING THAT ANYWAY, IT'S BASIC PARENTING!!! But you should also manage to fit in at least a little bit of reading, writing and maths too, otherwise yes, they will fall behind.

Has anyone else been asked to inform the school of absences? Even for p1 / reception children who haven't been set any work? It seems odd...

Oh god, they make me so cross.

1. If teachers had a super power, why is there such a huge gap in attainment that grows after the summer holidays? Why do some children fail? No-one expects teachers to be super heroes, they are normal professional people doing the best they can in incredibly difficult circumstances, which I can only imagine will get harder for them come September.

1. They suggest parents are all just ready and waiting to get out the wholesome homespun activities, rather than stressed-out people desperately trying to hold together our jobs and homes. Actually, a bit of work to occupy the children is far easier than the alternative. Give us a worksheet, super-teacher!

1. You just know they are posted by people who know it is total bullshit and are enjoying the possibility their children might get ahead while others are sitting around doing nothing.

Rant over

OP - WHERE IS THE POEM? I was looking forward to it.

I'm utterly sick of the 'if we were in ??? country' your child wouldn't even be at school doing maths/english/phonics whatever, it misses the point that we are in this country and that is how our system is set up

Even as a SAHP i havent got as much done as i ideally would 7yo
Because
-I also have 4yo so they want to play together so would have to make 7yo work while 4yo doesnt

• we caught an awful cough thing and i just couldnt teach or enforce learning for weeks really
• ive been doing bitesize as the general stuff is good but takes 30+min a day.
• have to get organised printing it all out

We are doing less than 2hrs a day so need to step it up a bit.
(But have to say dd does now know about verbs/adverbs/adjectives. Maps etc.

Matilda I'm sorry writing inspirational guff is actually quite hard

I get really quite upset reading posts like these. I work in the NHS so my children are going to school, not they don't do any learning there, just playing, as apparently it would give them an advantage if they are taught anything. My 8 year old is underachieving in everything, or below expectations as they put it...i think he is what I have seen in here, a reluctant learner. I try really hard to do something with him when I get home from work but he isn't doing much at all.

I have no idea when he will ever catch up.

Redeye as a secondary teacher I have seen many many children catch up from year 7 and do amazingly well at GCSE and a level.
The main thing they had in common was a love of reading and a good work/study ethic from home.
If you are limited in time the best you can do is encourage reading. My kids are currently into Bunny versus Monkey comics...