Is anyone else going to find it next to impossible to home school their children?

[DontBiteTheBoobThatFeedsYou]

This is really getting me down. Proper parent guilt incoming.

I've got reams of emails from the kids schools tell me what I can do/need to get done, places to find work.

Then there's all the parents in fb with their great homeschooling pics and ideas and creations.

Not only are we all in isolation, coughing our bladders into our pants (ok that bits just me) and fevers rocketing, I've got lecturers doing live feeds of in-depth lectures and interactive group work, assignments to do, and exams to prep for (the uni are being very understanding but if I can't complete the degree without the work, so putting it all off for weeks is simply going to bottleneck my work around dissertation time), then I've got a placement to do after next week in A&E,
and I've got a baby and two childminders for two kids who both said childcare's off every card.

But during all this bollocks I've got to HOME SCHOOL THE FUCKING CHILDREN.

Fuck sake.

You have no idea how much I needed to read that shinygreenelephant.
Thank you

Don't pressure yourself, not all learning is paper based and most home-school families that I know (granted not tons!) do a lot of life learning just going about their daily business - cooking, baking, budgetting for a shopping list, reading a book they're actually interested in and ask them to write what they liked about it, exercise videos on YouTube, dance around the livingroom, grow some fruit/veg or just little flowers in the windows. Even playing Minecraft builds artistic and strategic thinking! 😁

Life in my house is going to be absolutely intolerable, the 12 yr old has autism and fights constantly with the 8 yr old, who is more stroppy teenager than the actual 14 yr old. In the midst of this I need to work full time from home.

School are apparently wanting 5 hours of work from both older children, each day, all well and good, but I have to have the family computer for work (I take absolute priority) and that means there is only dd's laptop between the two of them. The small one may also have some online work to do. So practically it is going to be impossible.

I am surrounded by people who are doing 'proper' school days, my plan is that they have to do a couple of hours (big two) and an hour for the little one. I simply need to do what I need to do to try and get through the following weeks and beyond. I am not going to add to my stress by battling with the children.

DH will be around, but I fear he may end up as much use as a chocolate fire guard.

As long as you are not sticking the kids in front of a screen with junk to nibble all day, you are winning.

I disagree. This is an excellent option. Shove them some carrots once in a while, but otherwise, fine.

I just saw someone make the point that schools operate on a strict timetable and a long period because that's what they have to do.

Schools have to do crowd control. They have to accept children won't be catered to on a one-to-one basis; they will often be listening to a lesson that is not targeted to them. So a huge amount of time is wasted, and that means schools have to put in a lot of hours.

If you have children at home, you do not need to try to make them concentrate from 9 to 3. And if you did, they would burn out.

I reckon maybe do something exciting in the morning and something in the afternoon. And otherwise let them be.

This is not going to last forever. You and they will be fine. Your mental health is the most important thing.

Annoyingly had I actually known that this would have happened, I possibly could have asked for a laptop through work, but I didn't, so I can't.

The beauty of hindsight hey.

(Though if we are going down that route we wouldn't even be in this situation)

Look, homeschooling the children is the ideal, like breastfeeding and making all their food from scratch with organic vegetables.

The schools know that not every child will be able to do the work set and that not every parent will be able to support them to learn.

I’m currently ill myself and the best that I can do is keep DD clean, safe and fed. I’m not physically able to do any more, I don’t want her watching 8 hours of tv a day but these are desperate times and she’s got a long life ahead of her to make up the learning that she’s missing out on.

And I am not sure how I can manage to think about work and think about what they are supposed to be doing, my head will absolutely explode.

I work FT from home with three kids now there as well. The youngest is 2. There will be no home schooling here, when am I supposed to fit it in?!

How old are they? Khan Academy award points for videos watched and online tests completed.
Could you encourage them via a bit of healthy competition to do some work via that?

Also heard an Ed psychologist today talking about de-schooling - this is when you opt out to homeschool & make the transition gradual & managed.. so everyone adjusts. Makes sense to me.

We are going to struggle too. Dh working from home and I think I will be shortly. We'll do what we can when we can but I'm not setting some kind of school timetable. I'm hoping they'll all be so bored they'll welcome a bit of school work come the weekends.

You are most definitely not expected to homeschool your children.

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@Wipingsides

Exactly the same with mine. He is already moaning, not because of the work but because it just seems like endless homework so that’s putting him off. I have explained that it isn’t only him feeling like this and hopefully it won’t be long.

Doesn’t help that they sent official paperwork saying work will uploaded via xx from the usual subject teachers which it was, and then from nowhere one particular teacher whom we’ve never heard of, not his teacher for any subject, decided to upload some work to a different platform and when I queried it, i received an arsey reply like my child was trying to wriggle out of his work.

He got an equally arsey reply back.

I’ve had no intention of doing home schooling but then my 8 year old told me he wanted to do it.🙄

We’ve compromised on 1.5 hrs a day. He’s pretty bright though so I know he won’t fall behind.

Don’t stress yourself. Unless there’s something that they have to know for tests etc. then I Think the extra adult chit chat will advance them in different ways.

I think it's also worth bearing in mind that kids won't need 6 hours worth of learning at home every day. They'll get a lot of work done in a short space of time when they're working alone rather than in a crowd of kids.

Shared from a friend. Kids mental health comes first! 🥰🥰

Dear parents with school aged children

You might be inclined to create a minute by minute schedule for your kids. You have high hopes of hours of learning, including online activities, science experiments, and book reports. You’ll limit technology until everything is done! But here’s the thing...

Our kids are just as scared as we are right now. Our kids not only can hear everything that is going on around them, but they feel our constant tension and anxiety. They have never experienced anything like this before. Although the idea of being off of school for weeks or months sounds awesome, they are probably picturing a fun time like summer break, not the reality of being trapped at home and not seeing their friends.

Over the coming weeks, you will see an increase in behavior issues with your kids. Whether it’s anxiety, or anger, or protest that they can’t do things normally - it will happen. You’ll see more meltdowns, tantrums, and oppositional behavior in the coming weeks. This is normal and expected under these circumstances.

What kids need right now is to feel comforted and loved. To feel like it’s all going to be ok. And that might mean that you tear up your perfect schedule and love on your kids a bit more. Play outside and go on walks. Bake cookies and paint pictures. Play board games and watch movies. Do a science experiment together or find virtual field trips of the zoo. Start a book and read together as a family. Snuggle under warm blankets and do nothing.

Don’t worry about them regressing in school. Every single kid is in this boat and they all will be ok. When we are back in the classroom, we will all course correct and meet them where they are. Teachers are experts at this! Don’t pick fights with your kids because they don’t want to do math. Don’t scream at your kids for not following the schedule. Don’t mandate 2 hours of learning time if they are resisting it.

If I can leave you with one thing, it’s this: at the end of all of this, your kids’ mental health will be more important than their academic skills. And how they felt during this time will stay with them long after the memory of what they did during those weeks is long gone. So keep that in mind, every single day.

😂

I was a child during the war and missed some schooling when the school was bombed and then when we were evacuated. The last thing my mother was worried about was school, but I was an avid reader( Enid Blyton) and it didn't seem to make any difference to my later academic achievements.

What job are u doing if your going to a and e next week if u are a key worker u can send kids 2 school

I’m not even going to attempt to home school my child. He isn’t academic anyway, he has an amazing vocabulary and a real depth of knowledge about nature, animals and so forth but crap at maths and history.

He will complete the tasks set by his school via the homework app, but the rest of the time, I’ll be encouraging him to just work on learning ‘stuff’abd being safe.

I'm not even trying. I have a 4 day week job which, although not in any frontline, will be important in the next 3 months or so. DP is the same. Eldest will be fine to follow materials from school. Youngest will be left to largely entertain herself. She will happily paint, read, play etc but there will also be a lot of telly. It's fine. She will catch up.

I don't even know where to start. My 10 year old DS is severely disabled but extremely destructive and needs to be watched constantly. He usually has 2:1 support at school as he has such high needs and is so strong. I don't know how I will look after him and my other children and still manage to work a full day from home. We barely manage to arrange enough childcare during holidays as it is.

I use an online website called EdPlace, it is really helpful as it provides a lesson and then questions to solidify your learning afterwards. I have been homeschooled for just over a year now and I teach myself everything online; so it is easy for your child to keep learning independently if you are a parent who works away from home. They also have a parents section where you can see your child's progress. You have to pay a subscription fee but if you can afford to in this difficult time then I think it is worth it. It isn't too expensive and I think you can get a family subscription if you have more than one child.
They have lessons for different key stages so it is suitable for all ages. HTH

www.edplace.com/

The Perfect Parents of FB are insane. Also, it's mostly total bollocks.

Give it a few days and they'll crack, rant a bit and pass out on elderberry gin. Sweet merciful silence.

as a home edder for the last 5 years whats going on is not normal home educating or home schooling(yes there is a difference,its 12 separate way to do it)

us home edders are often out and about educating via the wide world

this is being told you have to do school work at home,which ive been reading is being provided off the school in some places

not directed to you poster but this oh how will i be able to home school questions has been making our home edding community very pissed off

this is not normal for us,our meet ups,trips and groups have been cancelled too

we are not normally confined to our house for days on end

we have been fighting for years to try and make "schoolers"see that home ed is not confined to the house or desk over books from 9-3 its when ever and when ever you want

thousands of us dont even do any physical work at all its called unschooling or learn through life approach

oh and before those that come on with oh my disabled child needs to be in school this is coming of a carer who have a 15 and 9 y old with many complex disabilities each that need 24/7 care