Today was the last day of ‘home school’ in this house

[BasinHaircut]

I’m fucking done.

It’s only causing arguments and I don’t think it’s worth it. I’m trying to work (as is DH) and DS (7) just doesn’t want to do it anymore.

I’m going to just try and enjoy this time and ensure that DS enjoys it too. All he wants to do is watch TV and play video games but I’d rather steer him towards more educational things to watch than try and make him do another bloody maths worksheet.

I have been feeling like this for the past week. I have two kids to homeschool and I really don’t think they are learning anything. I am so tempted to throw in the towel and just enjoy our time together.

It is really hard but the kids need us to force them to do it. Even if it is just 2-3 hours a day and then video games etc after. Maybe look at more “fun” learning activities and free resources on eg twinkl. I am also fed up with making my year 1 do work and fit in my own work - it is so hard! But out of all the people we know the kids with no structure and work are suffering the most. It will be the summer holidays soon enough for lots more down time.

I stopped it a few weeks ago. I had to go back into work as a keyworker and dc went back to school (they are not learning it's just childcare). I found it draining for us all being in work/school and then coming home to do home schooling.

My son went back to school this week, he’s just been doing ‘fun’ things so I wouldn’t worry too much.

Do you give up on everything if your child doesn’t want to do it? Brushing teeth, bedtime, exercise...? It could be three months before they’re back in school, isn’t it best to try and keep up their handwriting, mental arithmetic, spelling skills etc? We can complain about what schools do or don’t provide but if parents are just going to shrug and give up on their own children then what message is that sending about the importance of education?

And yes I’m homeschooling two children and working full time. They do about two hours a day of sit down written work and I think this is keeping them in good practice. Still leaves plenty of time for enjoyment, crafts and play.

I spent weeks trying to force DS (8) and get in 3 days worth of work per week from home. It just lead to arguments and endless dragging his heels over whatever school work I was trying to get him to do. Now he does the maths sheet every day (just because this is one bit he is happy-ish to do), we usually talk through the English and sometimes send a bit of English in and that's it. He reads a bit before bed and we watch some operation ouch or nature programmes on Youtube. I try and do some educational-ish stuff (card games, board games, drawing etc) with him and he's not allowed on X box till 3pm but other than that, I'm not worrying too much. We're both much happier and I think we're probably doing the same amount of educational stuff as before just without as much moaning and procrastinating! He's less resistent to other (relatively educational) activities now I'm not always trying to wrangle him into school work. We will also try and keep this routine in the summer holidays I think. So basically, I'd just pick and choose what you do - if there's one aspect of schoolwork he's not too reluctant to do then stick with that, he may be less reluctant if it's "let's just do this ONE thing that you quite like..." - and don't stress too much.

I don't think it's possible if you are working. My two are teens and the most I do on a day is to acknowledge their existence and make sure they are eating. The rest of the day I am logged on to my work vpn on the laptop and dh is running zoom sessions. If they were younger then there is no way I could be activly teaching/cajoling them. Not when I'm running a company payroll and entering the purchase ledger,

Ours never really started, I was really unwell and everytime I mentioned it, she started screaming, so in theory my DD had 10 weeks off, is now back at school and will be in school all 6 weeks of summer, so she really only got 4 weeks off,

Thats if my maths is right

How about reading?
I would use this time for that.

Try a different approach, worksheets are no good at his age.
One task a day to start with.
Watch a documentary/look at a book on dinosaurs/planets/whatever interests him.
Ask him to write/draw about them.
Perhaps a reward chart with a reward at the end of the week.
Then read to him with him and listen to him read and discuss the books. That is so important at 7.
He has got many years to catch up the rest.

We read a bit actually and when we made cakes and slime, I got DD to tell me the amounts if an ingredient is doubled, halved, etc.

Discovery science, animal planet are all great! Some are accessible through prime as well. Volcano experiments are fun, all you need is bicarb and vinegar, cooking/baking too. Games can be educational as well :) x

ok but don't complain about your child falling behind in his education because you have given up and not tried various other things.

To be completely honest @cyclingmad I would rather that he falls a bit behind academically than live in misery for the next 12 weeks until he goes back to school in September. I don’t think that’s doing anything for any of our mental health or our family relationship.

All the kids are going to be suffering academically. With all the best will in the world it’s going to be along road back for the majority of children of school age.

To be honest he reads loads, we cook together, we grow things in the garden, he has been helping me decorate etc. He has learnt to tell the time and tie his shoelaces since we’ve been on lockdown.

But I’m switching off from all school stuff and only doing things we both/all want to do. He might learn something, he might not. But I’m not thinking of any of it as education anymore. It’s too much pressure for me.

Well done to anyone that can get their child to sit and do 2-3 hours schooling per day. I take my hat off to you.

Yeah we’ve given up on any pretence that we’re doing it now. We’re all fed up, and it’s just causing rows. I’m limiting screen time, encouraging lots of active play, and I’ll reintroduce some “learning activities” at some point.

OP this is such a stressful topic and very divisive as some kids sit down and work and others don't and it's exhausting and so draining. Add in work, cooking, cleaning, constant requests for food/drink etc it can be very overloading.

I'd take the view that a 7 year old can usefully learn life skills even if they aren't doing set school work.

Helping with cooking, talking about stuff, watching the news etc. I wouldn't be worrying too much, you can only do what you can do

I've resigned from being home schooler today!

And that's fine - good luck to you

It’s a shame that so much effort seems to be being put into attempting to replicate a school-style type of learning which is at best, tedious, when carried out at home. It would be really good if the home learning could somehow focus on things that are more easily achievable at home than in the classroom. In a class of 30 a child must get very limited individual feedback from the teacher. So even if we gave 30 minutes of totally focused attention to the child that must be beneficial and unlikely to happen at school. The 2-3 hours of classroom style learning that has been bandied about is simply impossible when you are trying work and with demotivated children.

Don't give up (just ditch the worksheets). There's lots of ways to learn.

Project work on a topic that interests him could be a good start. He can watch Horrible Histories or a documentary and read about the Ancient Egyptians or Space or a Tiger and write a little fact file on it.

He can choose the topic, you can help find the material and let him get on with it but there be no XXXXX until it's done (Xbox or whatever).

He can choose the topic, you can help find the material and let him get on with it

Nice theory - as is just getting stuff off twinkle or creating your own volcanos, but the reality for me and presumably many others is that a) my 7 year old son will not ‘just get on with’ even a couple of sentences without constant attention and prompting. And b) with me and DH working full time and hoping to holding on to our jobs in the face of cuts etc, it’s a struggle to find the time to play about with bicarbonate of soda etc.

Some can home school and that’s great and should be encouraged. But others may need to make more pragmatic choices about what is best for our children.

I think we're all doing the best we can. Each child is different. Each families' circumstances are different. Keeping everyone safe, healthy and mentally well is an achievement.
Having said that, my DD has been working diligently throughout. Fortunately she's old enough to do sunshine DH and I are both WFH. But she's now saying that she doesn't see why she's bothering as she's just going to have to repeat everything when she's back in school so that those who've not studied during lockdown can catch up. I can't really argue with that!

If he likes games, maybe he might like online maths programme like
Prodigy. It's a game you answer some maths questions while you fight with monsters and catch them. It's free and covers primary in UK version.(though you can also be a member to get extra stuff, free part is good enough.)

But I think you are doing good enough. Lots of reading and practical things lie cooking is far better than worksheet.

I sympathise (I’m a teacher), honestly I do, but looking at the list of secondary kids who haven’t engaged with home schooling and what my other kids have achieved, I’d say keep on, it’s only another few weeks. The ones who haven’t done work are going to be miles behind the others.