To ask if anyone else is actually home schooling their kids?

[candyflossicecream]

I feel like the only one! People keep telling me "oh they'll catch up" "have some fun" i'm trying my hardest to keep them on track, entertained and keep them away from the tv, devices, etc.
Ps. We are having fun. I just keep getting made to feel like an arsehole for teaching my kids things and it's disheartening 😔

He's 11, first year of secondary.

Sparklfairy
I agree with what you. It won’t be fair to either set of children.

My dd is doing the work set but is getting increasingly bored. I’ve just engaged a private tutor for an hour a week for maths with a view to doing some English as well. I can do both but not like the tutor and I’m struggling to inspire dd, who has fallen into a bit of a rut with things.

Italian state primary school. Very much obligatory here. A lot of work plus two three hour online lessons a week. It's taking a lot of my time and stress honestly. Even four year old is being set 'optional' craft projects. It's nuts to me when they know businesses are trying to keep people working from home. It's way more stressful than work.

Yes, a structured day of handwriting then maths then english/phonics in the morning and wider curriculum (geography / history / PSHE / Art / Science in the afternoon.

It's been a mixture of what the school has sent and learning I've planned based on the National Curriculum for their year.

It helps I'm a teacher and I teach DD2's year group!

When I'm rotated into school and DH is WFH on the same day, they have simple recap learning they can access themselves.

We did zero school work over the Easter Holiday though.

And one day was declared an emergency inset day as I drunk too much wine the night before

My son has ADHD and struggles in a classroom. We do perhaps one hour of work a day and it's become really clear to me that he just didn't have a good grasp of the basics in quite a few areas despite being in Year 8.

We have had an email from school congratulating him on his dedication and progress! From ONE hour of focused 1-2-1 learning a day. It's made me a bit despondent that I can't home school him long term.

I will also mention that for some subjects such as English he will barely engage and there's not much progress there!

I'm letting mine get on with it. He is doing some work that is set by the school. Not as much as I would like but if I try and interfere I get my head bitten off. I can't force him to do more so am leaving him to it for a reasonably peaceful house. If I try and force it I can't see any more work getting done and we will all be miserable.

My 12 year old is following her school timetable from home so I’m just letting her get in with it. I provide help if she asks for it.

My 10 year old hasn’t been set any work by school so I’m using Twinkl and white rose and we’re doing some English and maths most days. We tried the bbc lessons but I didn’t think they were particularly good. We’re probably averaging 1.5 hours a day, which is plenty.

I’ve been home educating my kids for years, so yes we are :) not the person you were looking to ask lol

But people I’ve seen OMG a ebook seem to be either crisis schooling full on (homeschool isn’t actually a word in the U.K.) or just enjoy their time with their kids.

If it was me I would be doing a little each day with my kids but just spending quality time with them. Reading to them, crafting, playing, baking, watching documentaries, finding out about their interests and learning about them together, teaching them home skills, etc.

Omg blah blah? Meant Facebook

Yes we are. It’s not easy as dh and I are both wfh too but I think it’s important. It’s all fine and well saying “oh they’ll catch up” but it’s not just about what they learn is it? My dcs schools closed 12 March (Ireland) so they’ll likely be out of the school environment for 5.5 months! If they didn’t do school work through that time they’d struggle with getting back to a routine, having to concentrate on lessons, follow instructions and so on.

There are still plenty of hours in the day to “let them have fun” and in any case learning something new and interesting can actually be fun. I’m not sure how they’d fill their days if they didn’t do some school work given we can’t exactly go out on day trips or meet up with friends and dh and I have to work.

I know a few people who are “teaching them life skills” instead which translates as getting them to tidy their rooms and melting Easter eggs to make rice crispie cakes. Fine, but really how much time does that take? My sisters ”let them have fun” seems to involve about 5 hours a day on the PlayStation for her 9 year old...

Don’t let anyone make you feel crappy for doing the best you can by your dc.

DS is 6 and in Year 1. He's already acting like a teenage brat and is hard to get enthusiastic about any home schooling we do with him. I keep recalling the last parent's evening we went to where we sat and looked through pages and pages of writing. The teacher says he's as good as gold ..not for us! We're lucky if we get him to write one word down! We have started the BBC Bitesize thing and he seems more interested in that. Also Oak Academy where he created instructions for a disgusting sandwich! Anything requiring hard work and concentration he loses his focus and i'm worried he's falling behind. All we can do is make it as fun as possible and hope he'll catch up at school

Yes, I am. But it helps that I am on furlough so I've got the time to do it. Mine is 6, in Year 2. We do maths and English every day, spellings and reading, plus one other activity - art, geography, science.

We didn't do any work over the Easter holidays but we're back at it this week until May half term.

@mocktail private secondary but my friends DCs at a state secondary and also college are getting zoom lessons.

I understand its tricky in primary due to the fact a lot of DCs dont have their own laptops at that age but a high amount would have phones/tablets and I believe there is an initiative to try and loan laptops out, particularly in senior schools.

Mine is in y9 and has 4 hours a day of 'school' with 2 hours of compulsory activities to complete afterwards. So yes, homeschooling is happening, just not me driving it.

9yo and 5yo here, both doing the work set by school which includes a variety of activities such as sport, music and art alongside academic subjects. I haven’t worked since the lockdown started 5 weeks ago. It gives us something to do during the day, weekends are more challenging.

Depends on the child and your set up

You are NBU

But are blessed with with time , ability and a compliant child !

Trying, but feel like I'm failing. One primary age DS and one pre-schooler. I WFH 30 hours a week at set times during the day, DH averaging 37 hours a week as a teacher, mostly during the day, so kids are being a little left to their own devices. It's shit and I feel so guilty.

Dc are 11 and 13 and are doing the work set by school but I wouldn’t call it “homeschooling” tbh. We’re lucky that I’m furloughed and we’ve got enough laptops/pcs for everyone to use. However school have taken a very relaxed approach and a lot of the work is optional and they remind us frequently not to worry if it’s not possible to do the work and mental health and staying safe is more important. We’re doing the work but it’s more to keep them ticking over than actually teaching them anything new.

Ds has a lot of friends who don’t have english as their first language and who’s parents barely speak it at all. Plus some have no printer at home so some of the work isn’t doable.

Tbh most of my teacher friends are busy sharing fb stuff saying it’s not necessary to stress about schoolwork and their job as teachers is to get all the children back up to speed when they return to school.

Ds is at college, first year of A levels. Despite his willingness to work, and obviously without my input, the college is setting him barely anything to do. One course sends a booklet to read, and the others do nothing. we get E mails from the college to all parents urging him to log on to the platform at his usual lesson times, but when he does there is usually nothing there.
He is also doing a practical btec, and I have no idea where he stands with that. It can't be done from home, so I don't know if it's being put on hold, or what's happening.

I guess I'm just telling myself that he has time to catch up, you can re visit A levels at any time of life.
He wasn't planning on going to university, so we will just see what happens.

I'm working full time from home and have never been busier. I'd love to be able to do some work with my children. The guilt and stress is very real.

Their school have a fairly full time table so I'm just letting the kids do that. If they weren't I'm not sure what I'd be doing. I definitely wouldn't allow too much screen time (although if I was trying to WFH myself I'd probaby have no choice) but over the Easter when there was no school I was amazed at the things the DC picked up of their own accord so in a way I'd be tempted to let them continue to focus on their interests and just see where it takes them.

I’m a qualified teacher and have taught my child’s year group before. We’re doing 30mins 1:1 phonics/literacy, maths and topic each day then just lots of playing. I’m confident that he is covering most of what he would have in school. You don’t need to be doing hours with primary aged pupils. School is great but inevitably they get distracted, get confused and no one notices they did the whole thing not understanding the concept, daydream, sit on the carpet listening to other people get confused, line up, go to assembly etc...

We also didn’t do any over the Easter holidays.

Don’t panic, try to enjoy the time and teach them skills you have or value. Do they know how to set the washing machine going? Can they write a letter to their grandparents, address it and post it etc..

Primary schools won’t expect children To have all done the same thing. Your children are built to learn, they can’t help but learn. Don’t underestimate all the educational value of all the ‘inbetween’ things - board games, meal planning, tidying their room.

And if all the adults are mostly working from home, my advice would be to scrap all formal learning. They need you and positive attention when you do have free time. Don’t leap into school teacher mode out of guilt when you finish work. Leap into love and connection. You can’t help the situation but you can try to remove stress from yourself and the children by making family times happy.

We are having fun. I just keep getting made to feel like an arsehole for teaching my kids things

Who has been making you feel like an arsehole, OP?

To anyone feeing guilty on this thread, please try not to. You are all doing brilliantly in your own individual circumstances.

This message is doing the rounds on Facebook and I thought some of you might feel better after reading it:

Dear Parents
Don't stress about schoolwork.
When we get to go back to school, I will get your child(ren) back on track. I am a teacher and that is my superpower.
What I can’t fix is social-emotional trauma that prevents the brain from learning. So right now I just need you to share your calm and your strength, and share your laughter with your children. No kids are ahead. No kids are behind. Your children are exactly where they need to be.
With Love
All the teachers on Planet Earth.