Is it really really bad that my kids aren't studying at home?

[MrsHookey]

They are six and eight. I'm a single parent working full time. I get very little maintenance from my ex, so we are depending on my job. One child is on the spectrum.

Is the 8 year old doing anything at all?

What are they doing?

They won't be alone. It's not ideal but I suspect there will be a huge number of kids the same and not only in the lower socioeconomic groups.
The schools will have a complete reassessment of where everyone is and what they need when they eventually go back - especially as I can't see that they'll be in "normal" classes for a good while

Dont worry about it, looking after their basic needs and mental wellbeing, as well as your own, is enough in my opinion. BBC Bitesize have some really good material on that kids can get on with on their own if they have use of a tablet or laptop. Look after yourself x.

Try and keep reading going, both them reading to you and you reading to them. Some sort of writing would be good, just so they don't lose the skill! Maths can be done by games. Would second BBC Bitesize. What do they do whilst you are working?

I think it's a good idea to check in with the school fairly regularly, just an email, to let them know you're all OK.
I think they're concerned for anyone who just drops off the radar.

I'm in the same boat: single parent wfh (12-13 hours a day). I try to nudge my DD back to the work she's been set but she frequently drifts off and onto other (screen-based) activities.

At one level I feel guilty about it. At another level there's sod all I can do about it so I wonder what the point is in feeling guilty. My priority is keeping food on the table, paying mortgage. If she isn't studying for now, there's not a great deal I can do about it.

Three kids here (12,10 and 7) - eldest is working well, 10 year old has asd and adhd and is currently being really rude about the work set and is struggling and the youngest has very complex needs so isn’t doing much.

BBC bitesize is good. Also twinkl.

My dh is working full time and I’m 20 hours a week. Fitting it in is stressful. My 10 year old is very stressed out.

I second reading. Read to them, have them read to you.

It's not ideal, but I'm sure there are plenty of people in your position.

I think they should be reading daily at the very least, and maybe doing 20 minutes on BBC bitesize or similar, or worksheets you can get online. They don't need to do loads of it, but I do think they need to do something, especially the 8yo.

Thank you everyone. They are doing a lot of computer games, talking to friends on the phone, playing, drawing. The oldest has Asd so is not playing ball and then very tearful when I insist. The younger one is happily working some work on bitesize. We loop in with school once a week. The oldest one is very anxious about covid-19 and refuses to leave home. The net result is none of us can leave home.

Same here & I've got one dc with SEND & the other one with anxiety plus I'm wfh.

What's helped us is sticking to a loose schedule so:
9am PE with Joe then Cosmic yoga on you tube.
10am it's an National academy lesson English or Maths
Break
11am - 12pm 20 mins reading & 20 mins writing
Lunch
1-3pm = topics they fancy, websites like phonics play, Maths factor, art, music etc
3pm finish

If I structure it like this then I can get my work done while they're working. I wake up early anyway so from 6 am to 8 am, I do my own work then as well.

chatterpack.net/

Chatterpack has SEND friendly educational resources.

I have a 6 and an 8 year old too, they aren't getting a lot of school work done at all. They are both currently on waiting lists to be assessed for possible autism & ADHD and they're hard work at the best of times but trying to get them to do any work at the moment is like trying to pull teeth, they keep winding each other up and distracting each other. The 8 year old sobbed the entire time she was doing a sheet of fractions yesterday, even though she was getting them right and the 6 year old insists he can't read even though his teachers tell me otherwise. Neither of them can sit still or concentrate on anything for long, I don't know how the hell their teachers get them to do anything at school but the only way I can get them to do anything is with bribery/threats and that only works some of the time.

Get your hard hat on OP, a mother of a teen said something similar yesterday and it wasn’t pretty. She was given a bollocking by the high and mighty projectionists.

Try to keep up their reading and simple maths like timestables- but this does not have to be formally sitting at a table.
Verbal games over food like FizzBuzz, Pass the Bomb (11s) are good. Scrabble or bananagrams for vocabulary. Would they watch the BBC bitesize stuff by themselves? There's primary level content on there now.
I have two with HF asd. One does everything she's been set, and extension tasks. The other would be happy to never go back to school...

Op, we are really struggling. You are not alone. Both of mine have autism. My youngest enjoys doing some degree of home learning my eldest does not and refuses most days so we’ve done barely anything. The work on google classroom is too difficult for him. We’ve been given other work now but it’s still a struggle.

I’m not working but my partner still is. I’m finding it hard to do the school work. I’ve just lost a close family member so I am grieving, I also had ocd
so worried about keeping the house free of covid particularly because my partner is still going out to work around Others and battling school work with children at two completely different levels and understanding!

I fail to understand how teachers/teaching assistants get my son to do anything at school. He won’t here.

It’s not easy. I envy parents who can get their kids to sit down and concentrate for long periods of time!

Same here, I have a year 3 and a reception and the year 3 was struggling with attending anyway (he’s had a lot of stomach problems, loves the school and friends but it’s still had a real impact). Goes mad every time I try to get him to do any. He has a great verbal vocabulary, is watching a lot of online games that actually seem to help this (Minecraft obsessed) and I am reading to them and trying my best to let educative skills and facts sink in. I only hope they will be able to catch up when they eventually go back. We are moving anyway so maybe a new school will re-set things for him in terms of anxiety about attendance. Who knows! In the meantime I console myself that these are unpredictable and unprecedented times, they are very young, we are all healthy and safe and that other people will be in the same boat. The pp who said their dd was crying doing fractions is something I can relate to.

I think it’s very different for teens than a 6 and 8 year old. If they’re reading and drawing that’s “work” in itself.

Think it is slightly different for teens especially if they are in the year before exams as they will have no time to catch up. Obviously their mental health is more important but you might need to find ways to get them working. I have a Y10 DS so I know he needs to do as much as he can if he wants to do well in his GCSEs next year.

This is not such a worry for a 6 and 8 year old, so I wouldn’t be pushing them in the same way, but as said further up thread I would definitely be encouraging reading at the very least. And also see if there are any educational apps etc which appeal if the work provided by school is not working.

chatterpack.net/ SEND resources
www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/zh9v382 BBC Bitesize SEND resources

My youngest is 11 and in first year seniors. She's not really doing any actual school work but we are putting a big emphasis on "fun" learning and actual life skills. Up to now she has learned how to make French toast, tuna pasta , a Balti curry from paste, cupcakes, jelly sundae, Victoria sponge and a basic ragu. Next on the list is pizza dough and toppings, cinnamon rolls and leek and potato soup.

I've also got a massive fabric stash and two sewing machines. I introduced her to the sewing bee and she loved it. So I've given her free reign, taught her how to set up my basic machine and we made guinea pig hides. I walked away and she taught herself to make hair scrunchies , a little bag and is now watching you tube to see how to make stuffed toy patterns.

We are redecorating my bedroom to next week and she has already helped to do her bedroom before Easter. So pasting, painting, and basic walk paper skills.

I also bought her some educational stuff from amazon. She loves origami so a maths origami work book, school reading list books, basic science workbook. We are watching the national theatre at home broadcasts. Loads of documentaries.

With all that I'm not even worrying about her actual school work. She is really enjoying herself apart from missing her friends and so I'm fine with that.

All my kids are doing is,drawing,playing in the garden and some reading

We have got a very loose routine which starts with Joe Wicks- DD doesn't always put 100%effort in but she knows it is the start of the day. We do one maths worksheet which takes 15/20 mins and a few spellings followed by BBC bitesize then out in the garden for playtime. After that she does a bit of work set by the teacher and however much times she spends in the morning doing all these things, she allowed to play on Roblox in the afternoon so if she doesn't work she doesn't get to go on the computer but it has taken us 6 weeks to get to this point lots of tears along the way. Trying to teach her life skills like riding a bike on the roads and she has to help out around the house more than before so she lays the table for dinner and washes up afterwards. Sounds like loads but there are so many hours to fill up. Just do what you can do to get through this shitty time OP and don't beat yourself up xxx

I'd be sticking educational stuff on the TV and getting apps that engage them in a little basic work. This is going to go on for months so I would want them doing something.
Don't worry yourself about sitting down for block of time doing worksheets. Let them help cook, martial arts videos on youtube and a few apps etc.

No it isn’t really bad. If you want to do some minimal effort stuff with them, find some documentaries on TV, get them to read something every day and download a times table app. You don’t need to sit them down with worksheets and you don’t need to actively teach them.

My kid's mental health is better when I don't try and teach them. Too many years of seeing underachieving boys, turns me into a nightmare with my pre teen boy. They do the work set by school- without my help cos I'm teaching other kids- then chill.

But they are seeing more of me since my last mat leave 8 years ago. They've camped in the garden and done some cooking. They're also doing enforced runs every day. It's not school, but it's a one off experience that will be topic no.4 in any future teacher's week. Conversations one day.