[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?

DP works for BBC news and they had a huge online meeting/briefing and in that it was said that they will put out more educational content in next few days (some has come out already and more to come). It just takes time to make it, he himself may be seconded to work on some stuff.

www.bbc.co.uk/teach
www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize

I saw a home educator/ex teacher say that they and some friends worked out that between moving around, setting up, managing behaviour etc they only really did 45mins to 2hrs of teaching in a day so don't worry about filling a full 5 hour day.

I agree with others, don't try to be their teacher.

My dc's school will be setting work to be completed daily so I'll assist with that otherwise my DD11 & DS9 are keen, able readers so read everynight anyway so that won't change. They can still quiz on their books by accessing the acelerated reader site & add to their wordcourt DD just under 1 million, DS over 2 million so far!

DS7 will need more help & encouragement so we'll carry on reading, practise the spellings he's been sent home with & do regular times tables using times table rockstars etc. He'll also complete the school work set.

I'll encourage them to play board games together, get the playdoh/fimo out. Do jigsaw puzzles etc.

They're going to help tidy our (small) garden up & wash the garden furniture & any time the weather allows we'll try to be outside.

Aiming to get them making their own lunch (under supervision) & do some meal prep (peeling veg etc) but when it's all getting a bit much they have an xbox & loads of dvds etc & if that keeps everyone, including me, happy then that's fine!

I’m a teacher but my youngest students are 16 so I’m no primary school teacher and I think it’s different with your own children anyway for obvious reasons.

We were sent a pack from their school teachers and it includes a timetable. They don’t seem to recommend more than 1-2 hours of academia a day, the rest seemed to be exercising and chores which I thought was hilarious.

I’ve been relying on the internet A LOT. Plenty of printouts from Twinkl, YouTube videos such as cosmic yoga and horrible histories, apps such as times table rockstars and Duolingo. They have also done crafts, colouring, reading and we have practised spellings. I haven’t found it so difficult but I am only on day three, probably be a different story on week or even month three .

It doesn’t help when schools like my DS say you will be in trouble, get a detention etc when school reopens if you don’t submit in time/ to standard etc. They are making an already stressful time more so.

Actually the more I think about it the more I’m going to tell them to shove it, and what he can comfortably do he will and what he can’t then tough. Not because I’m some rebel or being difficult but for some odd reason the schools are not allowing any kind of flexibility ( well my lot aren’t) and it’s actually quite a cold hard way to deal with this, like our children are robots and should just do work from 9-3 every day, cooped up in the house with no outlet, and they are not also feeling the stress of all this corona business.

I am a teacher, and this is what I would do.
Don't try to recreate school, but do have some sort of structure

Stick to a routine of some sort, it is much easier to enforce.
Decide what 'get up' time will be, and wake them up and get the day started at the same time. In the long run, this will save your sanity.

have 'school time' if they have school work to do, mine are secondary, so probably 9-12. But it might only be 9-10!

As far as possible, use stuff set by school. As far as possible, get them to work at it independently. If school haven't set anything, look at the sites on the mn thread and do 20 minutes eahc on 3 different sites, plus 20 minutes reading (younger children can also read aloud to older ones)

Timetable in 'play' time, with a long list of suggestions which are not screens (lego, playdough, art project, monopoly, poker....)
Play time is your best shot at getting your own work done. Be ruthless, you may not under any circumstances disturb me. If you are bored go to the next item on the list. Get this set as a practice, it will be hard for the first few days, but will improve as they settle into routine and get used to the idea that for certain times, you are not available.
Play can get better as they get used to the idea of no school. Drop ideas in casually, eg building a lego city, making road/rail that connect room to room, building some landscape for it. Whatever works for your kids.
Play can also be outside, frisbee, football, basketball, teaching the dog tricks, tree climbing, whatever is available.

Then also get out of the house. Go for a walk if you can safely. Set up a daily competition - 10 shuttle runs to the back fence and back. next day 15, then 20 or whatever.

Then towards the end of the day, allow them screens. playstation, films, dvd, phone. This is your next key block of work time. they will settle better with screens having been denied them until now. Again, no interruptions unless emergency.

This may seem harsh, but it is only for a limited time, and actually, with older kids, it is teaching them to work out their problems for themselves. When they come with a squabble, don;t sort it, say - I wil sort it at 4 o clock, until then you can choose to be in different rooms, or you can negotiate to solve it.

bedtime remains same as school day. This is your last block of work time, after they have gone to bed.

Hope that helps, it does settle in over time, the first few days everyone is going to be all over the shop

sorry - those suggestions were for people trying to do their own work as well as kids.

One thing I am doing is that my teens are each going to cook one day per week.
they can choose or they can cook what I have on the menu. I will teahc them how to, they will do it under supervision.
I will print a copy of everything they have made and make a folder of things they can cook.

They were NOT HAPPY when I suggested this, but we have done it before in summer holidays so they are coming round to the idea.
For me, great result if they come out of this with basic cooking skills

Please can I reassure you all. I have been home edding since my eldest was small and they are now 13. We have NEVER followed a curriculum or timetable. Despite this they are extremely academic, wanting to sit exams already and generally performing really well. How did we get here? By letting them follow their own interests and giving them the space and freedom to do that. Take this opportunity to let your kids decompress a bit (they will be as stressed as the grownups right now - even as home edders we’ve had explosions today due to this). See it as an early Easter and just take the time to connect and have fun where you can.

flirtygirl yes indeed :)

It's interesting how lots of people are saying that a couple of hours is enough when you are "home schooling". Normally us home educators are told that's not enough.

I hope all of the parents who are asking for tips and ideas from home educators now will still be supportive of home educators when this is all over. There are frequent threads on MN where home educators are criticised for all sorts of reasons. It would be nice if you could pop onto those threads and give us some support.

I would suggest maybe looking at YouTube videos 're home education. Gives you a totally
different perspective. Many children who are home schooled have a much more relaxed routine, because trying to bring the classroom into the home simply doesn't work.
We want to try and make the best of this time, not spoil it by fear and resentment.
It's not ideal, but it is only a temporary situation.
I have a 14 year old son, he has been home schooled over the past year. In the beginning l had failed to do my research and was trying to force my out dated concepts of what home educating should be, but when l researched what other home educated families do, it really made a huge difference . I know my son is older which makes a huge difference, and l work part time so we are not holed up together all day, but my advice would be try and relax, give yourself some slack and be open to enjoying this time together.

I imagine most younger children will do little school work as it’s impossible to supervise when you’re working at home yourself and are juggling calls with clients, conference calls etc.

I know regular homeschooling isn’t like standard lessons, but they’re expected to do the work that school have set, so there’s not a lot of leeway

I do think that all this talk of home edders etc does slightly miss the point.

1. that the OP has to work herself
2. That most schools are setting work. My ds school has said they will set work for each timetabled lesson, eg mon period 1 biology, you will get an biology lesson to complete. Of course it won't take as long, but there is work to be done.

I am supportive of Home Ed, I did it myself when kids were young. Many Home Edders that I know DO actually follow a routine. Their children find it easier to know what the day brings.
That doesn't mean that the routine looks the same as school.

Set a project each week for them to work collaboratively on (and present to you on a Friday) then an hour each of maths and English, eldest can help younger ones too

Maybe pick a topic they are interested in at get them to do a project on that. Eg are they interested in knights, get them to write a story (English), draw a picture (art), research some facts (History), They can do all that without too much supervision.

and also, most Home Ed familes are out and about a fair bit, whether it is a Home Ed science group, or swimming lessons or a walk in the forest.
One of the enormous challenges facing us over the next few months is not the school work or the daily routine, it is that we need to stay home, no friends, no museums/swimming/forest walks etc.

They are expected. And who is going to enforce that, HOW? Please try to stop thinking this way. At the moment your duty is to your children and yourself, and possibly society/your employer, in that order and not to a blooming school curriculum!!!!

I am so grateful my youngest is a conscientious 12yo I would have given up completely when I had 4 at home under 9.

We were told by our head not to panic about teaching, not to add stress, read together, spend quality time together, maybe timetables. I think under the circumstances that is suund advice.

The schools arent any more experienced in educating one to three than you are. A mass roll out of online learning is New for them to. You may need to take their expectations with a pinch of salt. Like asking a nanny to be a mum. They have different skillsets.

Get them to do a project?!
I can’t get mine to tie his shoelaces!
He’s 12

I'm not bothering. DD15 and DS13 tell me they've got homework to do before the end of the Easter hols and I'll encourage them to do that but I'm certainly not going to impose any kind of home ed as a) they wouldn't cooperate and b) I'm working so haven't got time.

We've come up with a plan to have a bit of variety in each day - something educational, some exercise, something helpful (chores/cooking etc) and something fun - I'm not expecting anything else!

Nettleskeins
I agree up to a point. If this was going to cause me major diffculties to do, I would back right off. I wm not prepared for my house to become a war zone for the next 4 months.

BUT for most kids, doing something with their brain, and having something to do, and having some structure is actually going to help.
The difficulty is to set it up so that it becomes the new normal.
Kids generally do better when they are not bored.

In the summer holidays, my kids used to spend all day outside on the street or in each others gardens. Brilliant! Who wants them doing pen and paper work when they coudl be playing outside. Except they won't be able to do that this year.

If you can entertain them enough that they are not bored, great! But I think school work will be a useful part of doing that.

I don't think the world will end if they do no school work for 6 months. They will catch up. I do think it will be easier all round when schools restart if they have done some.

We've come up with a plan to have a bit of variety in each day - something educational, some exercise, something helpful (chores/cooking etc) and something fun

This is a great way to structure. Love it

Mine are older teens so work was set out before school closed and they just do a bit each day. I did try to sit with them but ended up on Google as I knew practically nothing. It's changed SO much since I went to school.

What's annoying me is, my youngest dd who is 12 and severely disabled, has no communication skills, the attention span the size of an ant her school are setting up online teaching. The teacher is going to appear from 9am till 1pm via screens to do teaching and interact with us all, now this is all great but trying to get dd to sit in front of a screen this long is going to be stressful, they've said they can Join in for however long they want, but we've a nice set up here in the mornings now, I really enjoy having her here and she's no bother at all. So this screen teaching is really freaking me out. And I don't know how to get out of it.