Working from home and homeschooling - how are people coping?

[Goandplay]

I’m tier 4. Schools not going back.

2 primary school children and 1 year 11 child.

Primary school have sent a timetable covering 9am to 3pm. My 2 DC’s will not work independently for very long. One struggles to maintain focus and concentration.

How am I supposed to do this whilst working full time from home?

How is everyone else coping?
Will my children be permanently disadvantaged because I can’t teach them for hours and hours of the day.

All I will say is Dry January can do one.

For sure

I started again today. We start earlier than my working hours, to have got some quality time in. I plan the more independent activities for my conference calls.
My lunch is timed again for 100% support. I do interject throughout as I have my lo working in my office with me.

We have a schedule of 2 activities, some bigger than other, then a 20 minutes break. The idea being that my lo can then go off and do something of their choosing. Be that outside play, TV, electronics, lego, etc.

Last time I would also try to do a couple of activities every other day that we're more arty or using playdoh etc. I followed my Los lead at time last time. I'm hoping this time we will have more that is teacher led than solely parent led. Today knowing that we were "handing in" work made a huge difference, as did knowing theres a secure chat board the children can message one another on has been a positive. Though I worry the school may be over reliant on this IT app.

I also try and lighten the weeks workload by doing some of the more parent reliant led activities or learning at the weekend. Not ideal, but means the expectations on working days are less on me.

A coloured schedule helps us. It shows the expectations. But only works if the parent can be consistent and that usually means like last night and the previous lockdowns me preparing it all the night before.

It's a slog. Not perfect. Not idyllic. But imo for the best, for both my child's and my own health.

Thank you for all your replies. Makes me feel better to see others are feeling similar and to hear what they’re doing.

Good luck everyone.

Going to block an hour per child, plus online zoom lesson independently and see how we get on. I’ll focus on the basics reading, writing and maths.

I have a full-time job WFH, plus a part-time (6 hours per week) job teaching at university also online, and my daughter is 10 and will be at home. I just let her to get on with it in her room to be honest. I simply cannot sit next to her and monitor what she is doing. I just feed her and make sure her teeth and hair are brushed. Small victories

Well the work I produced today was diabolical- now staying up late to finish work to standard. My children are a little bit older, but throughout today, I had to intervene with arguments, tell DC's not to go on YouTube or the PlayStation, telephone calls with teachers, cooking, cleaning... the list goes on.,

Just been discussing this with DH. We both WFH, no furlough, no flexibility and we have a 4 & 7 yr old with SEN.

The plan is TV/colouring sheets and a lot of zoom juggling for work, plus Google fucking classroom.

My mental health will be going through the floor. I am dreading it.

@zoemum2006

If you can give your kids 1-2-1 attention then they’ll only need 30-60 minutes. They can get loads done in that time (it’s the equivalent of 3 hours in school).

Doesn’t work with 3 DC

I won’t be coping at all

Don't put too much pressure on yourself or your kids. The schools are meant to be pretty understanding that parents are still working and kids are in their own environment and less likely to want to actually do school work (especially after 2 weeks off for the holidays!). I had that very conversation with my kids teachers this morning (one is SEN) and they said it is to be expected but just try your best.

My kids in the first lockdown were not doing the work set by the school (they sent pages and pages of work sheets that were not engaging at all for their age - literally times new roman font in instructions no pictures no nothing!) So I downloaded loads of stuff from TWINKL and got them to use their worksheets for the topics they should have been learning about. They found those more creative and suited to their needs, so you could try that?

@TheABC

Just been discussing this with DH. We both WFH, no furlough, no flexibility and we have a 4 & 7 yr old with SEN.

The plan is TV/colouring sheets and a lot of zoom juggling for work, plus Google fucking classroom.

My mental health will be going through the floor. I am dreading it.

Your SEN child could be offered a place in school. Contact the SENCO (if they have an EHCP they can definitely go)

Oh god, DS will be doing Teams lessons for six weeks !

I've been made redundant and am trying to do interviews on video call. Our broadband won't support both at the same time. What do I do, make him miss lessons? I need to find a job to pay the mortgage. More guilt

But what's the solution then, because plent you parents don't want to send their children into school but also don't want them to miss out on education. Therefore remote and home schooling is the answer. Otherwise open schools back up 🤷‍♀️

Unfortunately with children sacrifices are always going to have to made at some point if you want to give them the best chance at life

Struggling with his today and its only Day 1.

Single parent, working full time, 3 DC at different stages and all needing my input.

The zen mum from the Xmas holidays has done a runner and I am in rage mum mode already.

It's only Day 1. Things can only get better, I hope.

But what's the solution then, because plent you parents don't want to send their children into school

I want to send my kids to school. It’s not an option though.

I think you just have to do what you can when you can.

Year 11 child here and i am NOT coping with the incessant nagging i have to do to try to get him to do some work to no avail. Honestly so many of us feel like this...just think of the Tesco advert with the mum who didnt do maths and geography :)

I am not coping not even a bit. Slammed my bedroom door so hard this morning I think I might have broken it. Y11 daughter doing really really well but clinging onto sanity by a thread. Y6 dyslexic son doing fuck all unless I sit next to him and nag him through it. Which I cant do when I've got a full days work every day.

Totally totally impossible.

I've been live teaching today. My daughter has done nothing. Had to speak to her teacher to explain why she is the only child that has not completed work on teams. Because we can't both use the laptop at same time !!

Flumposie if you are a teacher your child is eligible for key worker provision.

Op have you got a partner? The people I know who are "coping" best are working flexibly. Parent A starting work 7am, stopping at 10 and doing work with children til 12 (preparing sandwiches while talking kids through work). Parent B home educating children 9- 10, starting work at 10.
Children break 12- 1, eat lunch, play, watch tv. Both parents work. Parent B stops 1- 3pm to help home educate.
3-4pm kids are occupied with screens, both parents work.
Parent A stops 4pm. Covers any last bits of schooling/reviews any stuff, cooks tea.
Parent B stops 6pm. Eats & helps get children to bed etc.

Parents catch up with work in evening.

Obviously this requires massively understanding employers and hours of work that arent fixed etc. It relies on kids being occupied by screens a bit. But it does at least allow each parent to fit in 5-6 hours of work during normal working hours but also fit in a couple of hours of home ed time in the morning and a couple more in the afternoon.