AIBU To ask Y7/8/9 parents are you encouraging DC to do remote school work?

[Chaotic45]

My son is Y8. His school have asked they he does 3-4 hours of school work a day. The provision has been extremely patchy, with feedback only provided in French and some English, plus maths marked automatically by the website he uses.

Every day he has sat and slogged over this work. He has struggled with motivation, some of the more tricky work, PSFs that are hard to follow, links that are broken and the sheer boredom of dry worksheet after worksheet and work that TBH I feel in many cases is of questionable benefit.

I am still asking him, sometimes nagging even to make sure that he does all school work. He is now quite resentful, and sometimes the work gets drawn out all day as I try to give him some level of autonomy as to how and when it gets done.

He gets little praise from school for doing the work- just an occasional non personal group email. I've tried to tackle this with school but to no avail.

I'm aware from what he tells me and contact that I have with other parents that many of his peers are just not doing the work. I was initially quite shocked, but I'm beginning to wonder if I'm in the minority and have taken the wrong approach.

A parent I really respect who is also a primary school teacher told me yesterday that i should let DS off the school work and encourage him to enjoy this time. This has made me doubt myself further.

I guess I am very worried about the effect of no schooling for so long, and I don't believe it will be remotely easy to catch up- so I reacted by insisting he did all work. But maybe I'm on a hiding to nothing!

May I ask what whether other parents of similarly aged DC feel if is important that they do all remote school work?

I want to add that I'm aware many schools are providing excellent remote learning, and that I have raised my concerns with DS's school but they have no plans to improve the current set up.

[zafferana]

www.youtube.com/user/bozemanbiology
classroom.thenational.academy/subjects-by-year/year-8/
www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/levels/z4kw2hv
www.khanacademy.org/math/cc-sixth-grade-math Khan Academy is American (Y7 = Grade 6, but curriculum might be different)

[Chaotic45]

@Noodledoodledoo thank you for your honesty it's great to hear a KS3's take on the situation, and it has helped me to stop and think how hard it must be to set interesting work day after day. Thank you for what you are doing for your pupils.

Some of DS's teachers (well one I guess) is clearly trying to maintain contact and set varied work. The rest are setting the same type of things weeks after week and TBH I can't read or follow some of the worksheets myself.

[nettytree]

My year 8 does about 2 to 3 hours a day. But will be going back in July to school 1 day a week. We are in Wales.

[Chaotic45]

@zafferana thank you very much for your suggestions. I'll take a look at them.

[Lostmyshityear9]

I have a year 8 child. He is doing all the work he is set but there has been no feedback. The deal is he can try and get away with not doing it but if any teacher contacts me to say that work hasn't been completed, the Internet will be switched off until such a time as it is completed.

I am a teacher. There is time for year 8's to catch up and get sorted for their GCSEs so I'm not concerned at this point. If it continues without marking, however, in September I will start complaining - I am teaching a full timetable on line and marking so fail to see why others can't. I used to work at the school he is attending - I have complained several times already this year. I am not very popular. Oops.

[avocadoze]

Ds2 in Y8 does all his work, gets little feedback and has had no interaction with teachers. Takes about 4-5 hours a day. He isn’t doing any sport though, so I have to drag him out on walks.
Ds1 is in Y9 and has full timetable, interactive lessons and homework, and is doing all of it. Last week he got me to wake him at 6am a couple of times as he hadn’t finished his homework in time.

[Chaotic45]

@Lostmyshityear9 (great username). Thanks for your perspective. I'm so torn. He's clearly hating the work. DP came home unexpectedly on Friday and found DS is tears over some badly explained PDF. He begged DP not to tell me, and wouldn't talk about his feelings other than to say he feels overwhelmed.

On the other hand he has form for being bright, but wanting to do the bare minimum so tends to coast along at school unless he's lucky enough that get a teacher who pushes him.

I don't want to be the secondary equivalent of the primary parent who gives DC a day off for 'tummy ache' if that makes sense. Equally sometimes I have a flash of real worry that he's really struggling and I could cut him some slack.

[CarrieBlue]

My y8 DS just gets on with it, as does my y5 DD. I’ve not made a big deal of it either way but then they’ve both always just done homework without much input from me.

[jgjgjgjgjg]

Of course my Yr 9 is doing what is set. And if the provision from his school wasn't good I'd be buying some GSCE study guides from WH Smith and having him work through those instead. There are plenty available. They only get one chance at a secondary school education. Why on earth would you not want him to do as well as he possibly can? There are plenty of children who are actually studying during this period, so I want my child to be up there, able to compete with them. Not having to constantly explain why his GCSEs aren't as good as those who did make the best of the time on university applications and interviews in the future. There are children that carry on studying through war and famine around the world, so ours also need to learn to cope with being a bit more self led and bit less spoon fed for a few months of their education.

[kerkyra]

Year 7 ds has been struggling with work from day one. The teacher said they had over estimated the work being sent out,which was pretty much a full days lessons.
What with son forgetting passwords and me not knowing how to do power points,setting up office and Microsoft and son crying,school now send work in paper form.
So,an hour of maths a day and a few pages of another subject,which I take a pic and send and that takes us to lunchtime.
A lot in his school are apparently not doing any so I feel we are trying and the teacher also said they will have to go over this terms work with everyone.

[aintnothinbutagstring]

I don't understand the idea of doing work just to stay in sets, surely a school that has their progress 8 score on the agenda are not going to move a top set student down (not significantly anyway and unless parents request it).

[Abbazed]

I got a grumpy phone call as 14 Yr old had done his GCSE drama work but hadn't sent it in! DOH! Soon sorted but Fortnite et Al such a flipping draw.

My 4yr old has done shed loads of phonics etc. But at Uni, I volunteered in a primary in North Hull.

[Glittertwins]

DTs are year 7 and are on top of the work they are being set but to be honest, it's not a huge amount. Last week's work was completed by Weds pm so I've been trying to find some more things to do to keep them ticking over.

[Abbazed]

Glitter twins, have you looked at Twinkl?

[Abbazed]

My 14 year old at Grammar school but a disorganised giddy kipper. I can totally get those kids who have done no work. lockdown is bloody frustrating for adults.

[Gammeldragz]

One DS in year 8 and one in year 9. They have four hours a day in which I expect them to do school work, but I include music practice and reading. Two hours before lunch and two hours after, leaving the exact times up to them.
I don't get involved, I just occasionally ask what they are doing or check online that they aren't massively overdue on everything. They could do more, I could do more, but currently they are doing enough and more importantly aren't moaning about it or stressed.

[Purpleorange1]

My yr 7 DD so far has managed to stay on top of the school work but since lockdown she has only had feedback once for all the work she's handed in!!😤
I have had to email certain subject teachers for work and I'm sure once school starts my name will be very popular in the staffroom. I had to email her science teacher as a certain link wasn't working, this was at 9.30am she didn't get back to me till 2 days later. Dd's school is a typical comprehensive and tbh I am not impressed with their communication with DD. Not once have the teachers emailed her, phoned her or set up a teams meeting. Once schools open I am contemplating on moving her to a different school.

Youngest DD is in yr3 and her teacher phones every other week, will give feedback within the school day and makes sure that all the lesson plans are up for the week ahead by Friday tea time.
Eldest DD has zoom/team meeting for every subject. She is in yr10 so her teachers are putting in a huge effort to make sure she doesn't fall behind or miss out on anything. The science teachers even do their practicals live on teams so the kids can see the practicals. Now that's dedication!! Lots of communication with parents via email.

[Covidisdrivingmecrazy]

My year 8 had her phone confiscated by us for diagnosing an app we said no to. On Sunday I found her starting this week's school work as "there's nothing else to do". Her school just starting zoom lessons I've had to buy a new laptop

[TheStarOnTheChristmasTree]

My DD is in year 8 and has work set for each subject at the beginning of each week. She works her way through it, usually doing about 3 hours a day whatever time she wants. The work is marked quickly and teachers are available to answer questions. She gets regular feedback including personal and group emails and well done postcards sent home. Teachers ask her why if work isn't done and comment if she doesn't do as well as expected. I rarely need to get involved which is just as well as I'm working full time from home. I'm very impressed with how the school has managed the whole process.

[TheStarOnTheChristmasTree]

We get a welfare call every week too

[Goyle]

DD is in Y8. She gets up at 8am, has breakfast, washed, teeth and dressed by 9am. Then she looks on her school homework website for any work to be done that day. She is quite motivated to do it because if she finishes she can then have free time to do as she pleases.

She sends work in but rarely gets feedback.

She can email her teachers if she's not sure of something,.

DD was supposed to have a Zoom meeting with her form teacher last week. She forgot, I forgot, and we got a tart email afterwards. I completely own this. But that was the only teacher contact she has had in the sense of being checked up on. Otherwise unless she asks for help, she gets nada.

I have tried to get her to watch and read around her subjects but she's not interested. She finds KS3 BBC bitesize doesn't help her much. But if she finds something of interest that isn't covered in the curriculum but is science/history/English et al she'll read up about it. She reads a lot of fiction too.

The school noticed the beginning of lockdown that some pupils weren't doing any work at all. This is because they do most of it online, and the school catchment area covers both richer and poorer areas, therefore children from poorer families didn't have a laptop and couldn't do the work. So the school raised money to buy some laptops to lend to these kids. Still a few don't have a wifi connection in their house so it's been difficult for some.

[Writerandreader]

Op look at it this way. He has just loved through a very traumatic expericne of being quarantined away from his normal life and friends in a global pandemic. He is trying hard to do work which you can see yourself is not particularly useful and it is clearly making him sad and stressed.

What difference will it make to his life if you acknowledge this and let him off and take him to the outdoor job with you?

I would say his mental health needs support too. Let him read relax and recover from this difficult time. If you take him out with you he learns that in life you can set your own path and the two of you could bond a bit without the stress of the work

[Writerandreader]

We need a generation of young people to be creative thinkers not just kids who have learnt to do boring work and boring sheets because it's what they just have to do

Couldn't he just do lots of independent reading instead and maybe agree to focus a bit on maths so as not to lose that completely.

[Itstheprinciple]

Year 8 DD here. Struggling with motivation but yes, she is doing all work because I've told her she will be thankful further down the line although she can't see it now. Because of getting up later, taking longer breaks between lessons, sometimes technical issues etc, she often has a lesson left to do in the evening or sometimes she carries a lesson over to the weekend if she really can't face it on the day. The teachers don't seem to mind this. She's had a few well done emails and some head teacher's awards for effort which is encouraging her and her maths teacher phoned my very promptly today after I emailed with an issue she had accessing her work. She can't wait to go back to school for the social life. Evenings have become fortnite or roblox with friends as a way to connect.

[ChaoticCatling]

DS is in year 9 and is attending school under the keyworker provision. The teachers make sure they do their schoolwork in the morning before any free time so they can't drag it out all day, I think this is better for the students than giving them a choice to be honest. I expect him to do all the work set, he has started GCSE content this term so he can't afford to miss anything. They have dropped any KS3 subjects they are not doing for GCSE now, which has been one positive thing in all this.