[sad] AIBU to HATE HATE HATE homeschooling?

[MrsNWT]

It's only been a couple of days and I'm f*cking losing it. I'm so depressed. We've got a small place, I have my own work to do (self employed) and I've reached my personal low trying to teach one of the kids.

What are you all doing? I'm throwing in the towel. I want them to learn and not been their screens all day and I WON'T do arts and crafts and learning activities all day long. Simply hate it.

My kids are 12, 9 and 7

AIBU to lose my SH*T already?

I'm struggling so much already (2 days in). School has set tasks, 14 year old is determined to watch netflix til his eyes fall out. I'd LOVE to have him exploring new stuff, cooking etc but everything I suggest he refuses and he has no interests or ideas of his own. What would you do if you were homeschooling/unschooling? What kind of boundaries might work - for a kid who can't bear routine and is incredibly resistant to rules? Honestly the lightest kind of supervision is destroying us.

This must be so much tougher for parents of teens. Little ones get really excited by baking and crafts but it's not going to work with a teenager is it?

YOU ARE NOT HOME SCHOOLING. ANYONE WITH THEIR CHILDREN HOME FOR DAYS OR WEEKS IS NOT HOME SCHOOLING. THERE ACTUALLY IS NO SUCH THING AS HOMESCHOOLING, THE TERM IS HOME EDUCATING AS HOME SCHOOLING MEANS YOU RUN A SCHOOL AT HOME WHICH DOES NOT HAPPEN IN HOME EDUCATION. IT IS ILLEGAL TO RUN A SCHOOL AT HOME.

WHAT THE NOW SCHOOL PARENTS ARE DOING IS NOT HOME SCHOOLING, (IT IS SHORT TERM HOME EDUCATION AT BEST) AND THEY ARE KEEPING THEIR CHILDREN TICKING OVER UNTIL THEY CAN GO BACK TO THEIR NORMAL SCHOOL LIFE.

Twinkl are offering school closure packs for various year groups if you join up. It might not keep them busy for 6hrs/day but it might give you some respite from the madness.
www.twinkl.co.uk/

ALSO IT'S SHIT FOR HOME EDUCATORS CURRENTLY AS USUALLY WE HAVE GROUPS, ACTIVITIES, LIBRARIES, MUSEUMS, OUTINGS AND FRIENDS.

Thread after thread is making me lose my shit.

There seems to be a lot of pressure on parents in England (reading about people buying laptops for school work etc and now this topic). We seem to be more relaxed in Ireland (primary school level anyway). Here’s part of a message sent out by a school -it’s long so I’ve removed bits!

I have no intention to home school it is not practical with 2 working parents.

Dh and i will tag team and draw up a rough schedule.
There will be reading, literacy, maths, creative stuff and outdoor play (luckily he would kick a football until the end of time), Body coach for exercise too. I have asked him to write a diary as of tomorrow.
He is going to finally learn to tie his own shoelaces and will be given jobs around the house. we have a house full of reference and science books so will be encouraged to explore different topics.

But there will inevitably be some TV, tablet time and on bad days limited X Box use. i don't believe they are lashed to their desks for 6 hours a day anyway.

The 3 year old is another story though lord knows what will do with him.

Can only post tiny bit!

Our school has said to use the stuff they’ve sent if you want and only if you want.

We’re doing a 20 minute session after lunch of maths or a project. That’s it.

Film in the afternoon. Two dog walks. Rest of the time they amuse themselves. (Obv they’re not doing very well and in getting fuck all work done, but that’s the aim.)
From Monday we’re doing the Joe Wicks PE thing at 9am.
I will also do the odd bit of arts and crafts with them but I can’t handle full on Mary poppins when I’m trying to also work out food/old relative issues.

And the opening-if it’ll post!

*I’m getting fuck all work done

The teachers arent going to be marking everything. They arent going to give your child detentions or fines. They are providing giudelines and it is up to you.as parent to intepret those tasks as you see fit. Watch dickens and jane eyre. Get them to look at an atlas and copy a map of china or india. Dissect a daffodil head and draw it. Put it out there, and leavebthem to it. Dont worry what the teacher says about what your child should be doing, unless it motivates your child to learn. Start small every day and see how it goes. This a crisis and worrying about teacher opinion school expectations when it damages your family unit...no, just no

There is NO NEED to homeschool from 9-3 children learn through many forms OP! Mine are 4 and 7!
Today we went on an outdoor foraging hunt in an isolated forest!
Reading ✅
Maths (counting) ✅
Nature studies ✅
Exercise ✅

Right now they are playing backgammon

That’s us done for today!!

Formerbabe.ds spends hours doing drama, monologues, dressing up for online presentation on tudors, dd spends hours on textle a level project wit wool and beads. Is that not art and craft? There d&t, there diy, theres cookery, teens do all that cos adults do that - for a job. It is a valid learning experience

We are on day two of this (Y7)

I was going to start a thread asking how others are coping because it’s stressing the hell out of my son and I so I am happy I’ve seen this.

He is expected to do the usual 5/6 lessons per day, even drama and homework!!

The problem is he is looking to me for help and I am no help partly because I’m
Trying to get on with my own things and partly because I don’t have a blooming clue about computer programming, or advanced maths, nor did they teach my son this beforehand so it’s the blind leading the blind. It would have been easier if they did online Skype classes as he needs to be able to ask the teacher questions when he is stuck but like yesterday for example one teacher didn’t respond to a question until after 9pm when my son was asleep! Yet equally they are saying the kids have to submit work at the time if they were at school, if they don’t do work up to standard they will be given corrections which I assume they will issue the detentions at a later date.

They are trying to run a school in the conventional way in an setting/situation that isn’t and i can’t see how this can go on long term as it’s just too stressful and my son is very good at doing his work, never gets into trouble, etc so for him to be stressing over it and saying he would prefer to go in, then it’s bad

My 13 year old won't do work at home , does it all at homework club so I'm stuffed . He's only predicted 1-4 at GCSE so he's realistically going to need to repeat year 9 (Sen in mainstream)

All these posts about doing stuff with them is making me feel worse. Lovely with primary, teenagers not so much

Mine go to school normally btw..homeschooled one in year 9/10
14 year old who watches netflix...I would say sit and watch some of it with him and engage/discuss what he thinks. They like input although they claim to long for privacy. Red dwarf, downton, mr selfridge, anne with an e were things we enjoyyed watching together. Sorry about spelling, typing v fast on phone.

DS1 has ADHD and the structure of school really helps him focus. His school have set some tasks through the homework app, but I'm dreading getting him to sit and focus long enough to do them while also dealing with 3yo DS2. I'm hoping I can get away with an hour or two of school work in the morning and then spend the rest of the day watching sci-show/crash course/whatever random documentaries we can find on Netflix. My biggest concern is being out of the school routine destroying all the progress we've made with DS1, it can take weeks for him to readjust to school after the summer holidays and this shutdown could last a lot longer.

Teens love chatting. Tasks are anaethema to them. Anything you suggest, nah. It has to be their idea. So you have to let them get bored in order to come up with something like even tidying their room, or give them a reason like moving furnitur round

Moreover what I’m finding interesting is that there seems to be an assumption that all families and every single child within the family has a personal laptop, and we all have a scanner/printer.

I have friends with 3 children and the primary school child is not an issue but the two secondary ones are somehow supposed to be doing all this work with one laptop between them. My printer had been knackered for ages and wasn’t going to replace it for now as DS doesn’t do lots of printing so was printing at school, despite being skint and would prefer to keep what cash I got for food etc, I’ve had to run out and buy a new one specifically for this.

We home educate and we both work - alternating days at work/taking kids to things with OH doing full time but 3 long days of condensed hours and me self employed so flexible.

This is nothing like our regular home ed life though. Having the children together and stuck at home full time is completely different to being at our groups and hanging out with friends and fitting bits of work in between.

Take it easy, this isn’t a normal situation and you don’t have to ace it. Getting through it together is enough! No one will be behind, because nearly everyone is in the same strange position.

I have one who is 11 and was in the process of a dyslexia testing and absolutely hates learning. One who is 6 and potentially 3 toddlers (if I'm allowed to continue childminding) in the house every day, with a springer spaniel. It's not a big house and I'm really dreading it. I just don't know how I will help both kids do school work and keep 3 toddlers entertained for weeks on end.

@Nettleskeins this may be true of your setting The teachers arent going to be marking everything but it isn’t true if mine. Work submitted on the online platform will be marked and returned.

Saw this today and it really resonated. Mine are only 8 and 5 but I’m not going to do anything formal. They have a few bits from school, a few work books I’ve bought. I’ll make sure they practice writing and reading and maths a bit. We are planning on doing the Joe Wicks PE work out most mornings at 9.
They can draw and read and colour and play in the garden. They will also be watching a ton of tv and films and playing on their iPads. I have however told them that they have to have reached a minimum of 5000 steps before there’s any iPad time to avoid us settling into couch potato life!

I can’t replicate school and I’m not going to stress all of us out trying to. I am stressed enough as it is.