No school work during lockdown ?

[mononospoke]

Is it unreasonable for a 9 year old not to do any school work during lockdown ?
If they simply reuse ?
Doing other things like playing in garden/baking/drawing etc...but won't do school work

Well I'm a lone parent working full time. So it's impossible for me to teach or supervise school work.

My 9 year old is doing maybe an hour a day. 5 year old also an hour. The rest of the time they paint, go outside, but mostly TV.

We all survived their dad dying suddenly 5 years ago, I hardly think a few months missed school work is going to seriously impact their life chances. I'm setting them a great example by working hard and raising them alone, that's much more important.

I make time to take them out for exercise each day and cook properly. Healthy eating is important now.

Anyone who thinks this isn't good enough can sod off.

If you are forcing a child to do something they really don't want to do, they won't learn anything. It's not as easy as make them do it.

I spent over an hour on the daily maths worksheet yesterday (split over 2 children). For DD2, it was straight forward stuff, but she is easily distracted so you have to keep her focused. For DD1, it was something she had never done, and needed more explanation. Not helped by our printer being broken. This was two children who were happy, if a bit reluctant, to do the work. A child who didn't want to do it... It would be impossible.

OP... Persevere. It might be just need to find a different format to what the schools providing. But remember, you're a parent not a teacher, and we need to care for their health and happiness as well.

My 9 year old is pretty much refusing to do anything. A few days a week if I'm lucky. This thread has made me feel a bit shit about my parenting. I have taken away screens, tv, treats etc..he is just very stubborn.
My eldest one is doing stuff so I dont think it's me, but I'm getting really stressed and we have had some epic meltdowns.
He is reading a lot which is the only saving grace but anything the school wants, he is refusing and I am not sure how to force him!

It isn’t fair on the rest of the children in the class.
Yours needs to keep on top of the work so that the teachers don’t have to go over everything again holding everyone else back.

Maybe try build more learning in to activities they like. You said they were doing baking, get them to go on computer, research recipes they would like to bake and write them down. See if they can work out how to reduce ingredients when the recipie serves to many to practice maths, get them to weigh ingrediants. Set up some science experiments like making bath bombs or making own lava lamp, things like that, get them to write own story. BBC bitesize have a magazine show for each age group covering learning so maybe get them to watch that each day and mc grammar on youtube is great, he is doing tuesday and Thursdays. We have been lucky as the children have been quite keen to carry on the stuff school is setting but its easy to build learning to every day. When we do daily exercise we spot different plants and animals and then look then up. Is their any topic they are interested in, my daughter loves history and you can then use that love to teach all subjects. BBC bitesize has some good games on to. I would definitely encourage reading every day, even a magazine helps

Teachers are fully aware of the fact that children will be coming back at all different levels (even more so than before) because circumstances dictate that things can’t be done the same

There’s not enough info in your post .
If your child isn’t sen then they shouldn’t be able to “refuse” to do anything you tell them (within reason of course)
It’s your job as a parent to make them do some learning.
While I agree they don’t need to be in a simulated school environment from 9-3:15 , they should be doing at least the latest maths and English for an hour or two a day.
I really don’t care about science and history atm so as long as dd9 is keeping up with maths and English then I’m happy .

She used to struggle with maths but worked so hard and managed to be put in top set like she is for English , I wouldn’t want that to be in jeopardy and all her hard work go to waste

See I don’t agree with that at all, the children all cane out of school with different levels of aptitude and will go back again still with different levels of aptitude. They learn differently, have different strengths and different challenges - teachers are trained to work with this in class.

One of my children is very quick but I focussed, one is very focussed but has processing difficulties which make learning a real challenge. They will go back to school with different learning in place, as will their class mates. I’d hit the roof if I heard someone suggest either child was “holding others back”, it’s the teachers job to provide accessible learning for each child at the stage and pace they are at. Luckily my children’s school agree and will welcome all the children back to school - those who have been hot houses and those who have just got through the day equally.

For what it’s worth, we’re doing lots of learning - much of it isn’t happening using a workbook and pencil.

Ok, my post sounded stuck up.
At the end of the day , do what you can .
I appreciate everyone is different and if this is causing hell then fuck it.. it’s can only be for a few more weeks right? Right?!!

My dd is 5,I'm a single mum and a key worker still working 6 days a week. I haven't done any home learning with her. My eldest is 18 and is looking after her and her 3 year old sister while I'm at work. I'm not worried tho, she reads every evening and is a bright child. I don't get this home schooling atm what do people do in the 6 weeks holiday? Do you still teach your kids?

If I don't do any work with my 9 year old it's because I have decided that, a 9 year old does not decide if they do school work or not, so YABU to give in to that. But I am working my full time job from home so it does limit what I can do, I'm relying on a lot of YouTube and other self directed methods which I know will have limitations.

Keeping up with a bit of maths (lots of online stuff and practical stuff) and reading daily should be the minimum if you don’t want them to be too disadvantaged when going back to school.

@paradisefalls it is possible that children will be missing nearly 6 months of school which is slightly different to 6 weeks. There is also a possibility that there will be further lockdowns in the next year so more education time will be lost.

There is going to be a much bigger attainment gap than usual when schools eventually go back, which teachers are aware of. I assume for Primary School children this will probably mean extra lessons for many to get them back to speed, which may mean they will miss out on the wider curriculum (here’s hoping OFSTED will take this into account!)

I am in a slightly different position as DS is in Y10 with GCSEs next year, so no time to catch up. Which I assume is why Y10s were particularly targeted in the Government’s scheme to provide laptops to children who don’t have access to one.

I would certainly be encouraging all Primary School children to do some reading, maths and writing of some form every day. Doesn’t have to be hours, doesn’t necessarily have to be worksheets or what the school has set, but some sort of routine would be good. Can be games, practical stuff, but try and do something. There are so many resources out there at the moment.

I used to volunteer at my son’s Primary School to listen to children read. Used to be hard to see the last time someone wrote in their reading record was me the week before. The thought that there may be children out there who won’t see a book for 6 months is very sad.

Mine isn’t doing any - age 8. I’m working full time from home and a single parent. She’s playing, reading, watching her iPad, singing, playing the piano, practicing with her roller skates, FaceTiming friends and researching anything that takes her fancy. She’s having a lovely time and hasn’t been emotionally harmed by the situation. I’m pretty sure that’s a win

Use the time together well. Dont worry about not doing what the school has set. BUT read every day. For longer each day.

And you must get on top of his behaviour. What are the consequences you give for repeatedly refusing to to as he is asked? At 9, youre able to forget he ignores you and goes in the garden instead. As he is still safe. What about at 13 and he walks out and you dont know where he went for hours / days? Or 15. They get worse. You need to get a handle on it now.

Well my 10 year olds school obviously don’t think it’s unreasonable because they haven’t given her any work to do.

@tiredanddangerous neither has mine but that's not stopping me from doing something

It would be ludicrous to not do some reading and writing at the minimum, you would be doing a severe disservice to your child to not at least do that (thinking about primary school children specifically here). As I say I'm working FT, the quality won't be great, it's not a huge amount, but imagine the impact of no writing or reading for months, it's the backbone of what children need to learn everything else.

If my school hadn't sent anything out I would be contacting them to ask why?

@User202004 I don’t believe I said i wasn’t doing anything with her. I’m using Twinkl and white Rose for lessons and resources. We are reading and practicing times tables. Her school aren’t aware of any of that though because they haven’t been in touch at all.

I'd say an hour and a half should be enough. Some Maths, English every day then vary one other topic each day.

@tiredanddangerous have you checked the website? Lots of parents at my children's school were complaining about no work being set, but there are bloody timetables on each class page on the school website with videos of the teachers addressing the class, activities, video links and resources for each day! In addition to this the school set activities each day on purple mash. Parents received a letter on the last day telling them this is how work would be set too.

There are other parents at the same school complaining of there being too much work.

@Therollockingrogue I am pretty sure they are going to have to go over it all again anyway at Primary! Not many of us our teachers so we probably arent teaching it in the right way all we can do is introduce concepts to them and hope that when they redo it will be ok

My 9 year old would like to refuse to do her schoolwork but that's not an option for her, her work is being graded and we're in a country where children can be made to repeat the school year (there's a boy in her class who is a year older than everyone because he had to repeat 1st grade). Right now I'm having to nag her to get her sewing done.

But in the UK it isn't compulsory to do the school work right now is it? In that case I'd probably use the opportunity to do more varied learning, following interests and whatnot, along with some daily maths and literacy to keep that learning going.

Oh and I'm bribing her with sweets to do her best handwriting so her teacher can actually read her work over whatsapp pictures. Working marvellously too, suddenly she can write really well

What do you mean they "refuse"? Surely at 9yo they do as they're told.

This is lovely. Because all children are the same, and all it takes is to follow some imaginary set of parenting rules.

OP: the best advice I ever read was that you should parent the child you have with the best tools at your disposal. If this is becoming a battle, then yes, I would stop. As PPs have said, BBC bitesize is actually pretty good, but this is also a good time to focus on other skills - baking, arts and crafts, even helping with household chores. Or, encourage them to pursue their own interests. But, these are extraordinary times, and mental health is also pretty important.