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.

@Somewhereinthesky

I really don't think people should get worked up about this. In lower primary, they only need to read and get concept of numbers. In upper primary, writing, reading, fractions, times tables, place values are important, but you can incorporate it in everyday life. Secondary, they should be able to engage themselves. If not, they won't anyway, even if the school is open.

That's just not true about secondary. Yes my DD can engage herself but the lack of teacher feedback and face to face teaching plus not having her peers to do group work with is taking it's toll and if I am there to chat to her and help with bits it does help. My son needs me to sit by his side or he just won't do it. Both are very wellbehaved and work hard when in school and get good grades. It's just bloody hard at home.

My ds is in yr7. I do check up on his schedule sometimes, but I haven't checked his actual work at all. I think I may feel different if he was yr9 or 10. But at this age, I leave it up to him.
I have experience of not being educated properly myself at that age. I moved to us for my parent's work when I was 12, as a complete non English speaker. I did fine. Caught up in time.

I feel your pain. We have two sons aged 10 and 7 and we both work full time from home in stressful jobs. We started well but now each day is full of arguments, shouting and stress. It is destroying our family life. Nevermind opening shops - you won’t get anyone to work in them if you don’t open the bloody schools!

I've just had a third baby two weeks ago so trying to home school my just turned 10 year-old has been a total nightmare!!! He is a capable boy, he just needs motivating to get on with it. My 13 yo is luckily at an age where I can pretty much leave him to it. Thank goodness!

My OH is a key worker trying to work from home.

Mental health for you all comes first.

In years to come you don't want to look back at this tome being 'the homeschooling hell'.

Do things you enjoy, learn about other stuff- everyday stuff, cleaning, chores- crap but part of life! Get him a plant/ seeds to water and watch grow.

Mostly enjoy each other's company as much as possible in this current situation!

My Ds7 is mainly doing gardening at school. We do a bit of schoolwork at the weekends. Not much. We are happy mainly. No tears or bad behaviour now. Wellbeing is so important for all of us but especially our children x

Luckily mine is year 10 so I just leave him to it , couldn't help him with most anyway
All I do is keep a check that he's handed work in on show my homework app and another app the school have that tells us of not done work set on another platform
I've left him to self manage it but he knows if work isn't handed in then he won't be allowed his Xbox or oc for gaming so he does it as he won't risk that , but some days he does not a lot other days he will spend a lot more of a day it never 5 full hrs as he doesn't even get say that much , plus if in school he would at least have a couple pe sessions amongst that . He will be going in for one day a week from next week

Will add if he was primary I wouldn't be too concerned as it's not all worksheets etc at school at this age and last couple weeks before holidays is often more fun stuff being done , sports days etc

We're only getting 2 hours in, I don't know how people are doing 5 or 6!!! And mine grumble about that 🙄 I do think it's important - kids aren't old enough to be able to decide for themselves what's right for them at this age, I know mine would choose to play video games the whole day long if we let them!!

We got a tape measure out today and learnt about length and width and measures things around the house, the kids really got into it. It is hard to get motivated and I struggle with the work myself sometimes.

I've had to get creative because my 10yo and SIL's 8yo are both hating home school (SIL's kids are with us full time atm as she's a single parent who works in ICU so our house is chaos)

Currently the boys main school work is writing a guide to playing their favourite game. Which is a cop out I know, but they're designing the illustrations and writing the guidance so at least practising handwriting and spelling. I've also got them using a stop watch so they time their first attempt at each level then another attempt.

The main other thing we're doing is recipe maths. We're cooking for a fair number of people so getting them to weigh and measure is my main tool. We also play cards a fair bit so I'm trying to include games that involve counting as much as possible.

We've focussed a bit the last couple of weeks on things like laces, telling the time and the likes. We did a tiny bit about stars and the sky when we camped out in the garden. SIL's kids are starting to struggle now because they've been away from their Mum so long and mine are struggling from having to share us with 3 other kids full time so I'm cutting them a lot of slack at the moment.

Mine would love it if I jacked it in but they have 6 weeks off soon ?

I’m a foster carer. Most of the children who come to me have missed out on large chunks of education, and once they feel safe they catch up- at all ages. Don’t sweat the worksheets, concentrate on your connectedness and everyone’s emotional health. They will be in a much better position when they return to school.

Mine do an hour, two on a good day. 6 and 8. It's hard but worth it.

We've took a step back about 3 weeks ago. Now it's just playing with toddler brother and reading. DD has to read a book to us a day. Had to step back for our sanity it was a constant battle and I'm working part-time too. We sometimes set up treasure hunts and go on scavenger hunts. Also I make her wear a watch and she's the time keeper for the day. I couldn't cope with the school work.

I get up at 6.15am so I can “teach” my year 1 for 2.5 hours before I formally login to my work. I plan it the evening before. He covers all his maths, English and phonics in that time. He practises his 2 instruments later in the morning. He exercises with my husband when my husband takes a break to exercise, he reads to grandparents on Skype. He researches his own topic work and makes something out of it alone eg duplo, Lego, draws etc - he likes researching things on twinkl. He is not falling behind and his writing has actually progressed a lot and so have his IT skills. My year 4 and 6 worked independently all along with minimal input although I check the year 4s work at lunch time. My preschooler is more of a problem though - she is the one being left to watch too much tv from mid afternoon. There are only so and so many puzzles and stickers etc she can do and it is another reason I get my year 1 to do his work early morning - so he can play with the 3 year old later. In our case, we need structure and routine or else it all falls apart with kids running through the house and screaming etc. Every family is different and people need to do what works for them. I realised early on that I would get more stressed about my kids falling behind than putting in the effort myself to keep them on track so that is what I am doing. Some of my friends have a totally different approach and that is completely fine. My kids never really played many video games or watched much tv. So they will work hard to get a bit of that in the evenings. My kids were all
in top sets and very motivated at school and are not as motivated at home. I fully acknowledge that it might be much harder to motivate children who struggle more with maths and English etc. I really think everyone needs to do what works for them!!!