how is homeschooling going, just had a cry and abandoned it

[coffeelover3]

so ds is in year 7 and every day they start at 9am and work until 3pm, with a teams meeting where work is set, and then they have to photograph it and upload it. it's just getting me down - there's been lots of tears - it's a huge amount of work, and I'm wfh as well - have done very little this week, and what I've done has been in the evenings or after 3 when 'school' is over. I hate having to nag him to do it. Plus its quite complicated, the teachers all seem to use teams differently - some set up a meeting and have folders for the school work - others put links to the work in the chat and you have to email them the work, others use sharepoint, others use 'go for schools' to put the work onto. Plus they are setting homework. I cant bring myself to "make" him do the homework atm, but I suppose we will have to tackle it over the weekend. I'm going to be catching up on emails and work stuff over the weekend too. I feel like I'm constantly working, cooking, printing stuff out, helping ds - he is not very independent, I'm trying to work on that, but he needs me to sit with him and help explain what he has to do. I'm so worn out, and it's only a week in. How am I going to sustain it. I know millions of us are in the same boat, just looking for others and how they're managing. I feel so mean making him sit at the table for 6 hours a day - tbh we haven't done everything. Yesterday he was told to make 9 posters for music - 9!!!!! In the end I roped in dd, and we did 3 each and uploaded them. It's unrealistic...? And so boring - every lesson is 'watch this video then do the work sheets'. HOw are others coping, feel like I@m cracking up. And work due to get busy next week. something has to 'give'.

For me it feels like a repeat of lockdown 1 - failing to educate DS, failing to do my job, just generally failing. And feeling oh so very tired all the time.

We have all got dressed, had a bounce on the trampoline, and a poo. I’m calling that a win.

Homeschooling and work don’t mix... It’s the constant interruptions that really floor me and means my work takes hours longer than necessary, everyone is on edge & the atmosphere at home is often crap.

Yep the technology is causing us quite a few issues as well.

Apart from reviewing our own expectations I don’t know wtf we can do about it though :(

Mine is year 2. He still goes in 3 days a week so I’m 100% not doing anything for the rest of the week.
I work, have all my admin and a 3 year old at home too. It’s super hard to deal with normally but now it’s almost impossible.

I'm finding it hard to juggling work and homeschooling. I'm back to working early mornings and into the evening to catch up what I've missed in the daytime. It's very tiring! I know I'm lucky to be able to work from home though.

I would approach the school about the technical side of different systems being used to set work and ask that they agree with teachers to all use the same method.

Why do the work for him, that's pointless. If you think it's too much work (9 posters) send a message to the teacher and say you've given permission for him not to do all of it, say he's spent the appropriate amount of time and was able to do 3 posters.

For the rest it's difficult to tell whether the work being set is too much or whether your child doesn't have the skills to manage the work by himself. What do you think? Approach the school with what he is finding difficult and see if they have any suggestions.

My year 6 child doesn't require any assistance with accessing or completing her work (except us doing occasional printing), she does about 4 hours per day plus a live Zoom. Appreciate we've been lucky as she is self motivated and a higher achiever.

I barely managed last time and had DD's dad to 'help' last time. We split in the summer so it's all on me now. I'm dyslexic and really struggle to teach DD(6). Her dad laughed last time when I asked for more support with her teaching. We split 2weeks later. The school don't have any support for dyslexic parent's either. I'm also at collage now (that's a struggle it's self for me) so Iv no idea how we are gona manage. Thankfully we'r in Scotland so we start proper online learning next week. However they have sent DD's timetable via email today and it sent me into floods of tears.

I have two y7s. Things that have helped :
Lists every day they write a list of subjects then if there live lessons or assignments and times if live this helps organise the day,
One is hard to keep on task so uses timers,
Routines,
Alternate between subjects find easier then harder one,
Every hour take a quick break have a drink,
Encourage independence so every time asked a question turn it round so they answer their own question, a tip given to me by a teacher - they ask far fewer questions!
All set up with all resources near by,
If can't do something move on don't stress or ponder over it then I'll sit and go through things in one go.

That sounds appalling op. We are struggling too and Dd is only in yr1. We've been asked to do 17 bits of work this week, it was an inset on Monday. So that's 4 things a day. A mixture of reading, writing, maths, an art thing and a PE thing. Dd is a smart girl but Extremely stubborn and non-compliant. Every piece of work is a battle of wills. Dd's maths worksheet this morning should have taken 5 mins if that, instead it was 45 minutes, huffing, puffing, tears, accidently hitting me with a pencil, time out to calm down, an hour and a half of crying and strops. School are insisting its compulsory this time and sheets to be handed in. I feel I could 'teach' her the skills they're aiming for in a different way, if they'd be more flexible. Numbers 10-30 for example, we did bingo! However that does mean effort, and I am also working from home part time, dh full time, and we have ds age 3 too. So day 4 and both me and Dd have already cried.

I thought I was doing quite well until I saw other children’s work that has been uploaded as an example 🙄 DS is 6 and in year 2 I could do a better job if I didn’t have DS 3 screaming at me to play or any of his other demands whilst trying to ‘homeschool’ if I was one on one it would be a little easier. It also makes me feel a bit crap when other parents are teachers so know what they are doing or hiring tutors to help, I just want to best for my son and I don’t want him to fall behind.

9-3 is enough. Email teacher . Say he has done one poster and has no time to be doing more .

Email hoy to say it is not practical to do homework after school hours .

There is a balance. My Ds did 9.30 -2 then went on x box. He is supposed to follow timetable drew a picture for art but then did som online exercise.

Some children will sit down and plow on some won’t. My Ds gives himself a ten minute break to watch a video between lessons. I have started setting timer as 10 minutes turn into half hour.

Just bear in mind they are catering for all levels and the government suggesting report to ofsted if not happy could well mean the teachers ensuring everyone has enough work

Yes, it's hell. My high achieving Y6 daughter (in reference to PP) finds the whole thing very stressful. She is immensely compliant and needs to know that she's doing the right work, the right way, to the highest possible standard. In class she can check with the teacher if this is what is required but we have no live support so if she doesn't just do something she will do nothing. We're having hysteria, mild self- harming... and it's only day 4. I'm having to fit in with a busy but pt job, last time round DH was furloughed so he handled it all but she won't work with him this time.

Each day they are set 2 maths worksheets plus tt practice, spelling practice, a reading exercise and writing work plus work from an additional subject eg history or geography. On no day has it all been done, we're having issues eg she has to do a venn diagram but it takes half an hour to work out hope to in Google docs... it all adds up and meanwhile I'm not working, or doing the laundry, or cooking the dinner. Today I worked through my lunch hour ad it gave me an uninterrupted hour while she was out for a walk with her dad. So I got work done, but I've had no break and I've not picked up my prescription and the world will fall apart if i run out of hrt, and I've nit left the house for 2 days.

And we're not even secondary school, and only one child! It's hell.

I'd sack off the posters for a start. How is that in any way valuable.

I feel your pain op - last lockdown was very hard as the school just uploaded work which DS needed help with. Plus he'd had an injury which meant I needed to do the typing as he couldn't use the laptop.

My advice is speak to the school and agree what's realistic. Focus on core subjects and leave the others, and definitely feed back about the lack of consistency about how the teachers want the work returned.

DS' school was helpful once they got over the shock of hearing that a mother had a senior responsible job that needed 15 hours a day during lockdown 1 and I wasn't available for DS until after I'd finished for the day.

We are also doing 6 hours with lunch and break scheduled in. To be fair the amount of work is ok for the time but dd is not an independent learner so I am at school for 6 hours a day too. I am getting frustrated with how boring it is doing maths and English first every day.

Some schools seem to be going OTT (make up for lack of direction in first lockdown?) and asking too much. Learning at home is different to being in school, where a lot of time is 'wasted' getting kids to be quiet, focus on the task etc So one kid at home can learn the same as a school day without needing f to do a solid 4 or 5 hours..

I have had some contact with homeschooled kids and families (pre-pandemic) who often achieved a lot. The key seems to be go with the child's interest and at their pace, let them have some fun and don't sweat the small stuff.

I appreciate that changes in the curriculum might have made some of this more difficult but effective homeschooling will look very different to learning at school.

gets off soapbox

@Separateatone love it!

Similar here. DS also Y7, has some mild additional needs. We’ve just agreed a reduced timetable to core subjects and some of his favourites. 8.30-3 on Teams with only a lunch break was too much.

It’s total bullshit ! I’m a single parent and I’ve barely done any
As I’ve been working
I’d advise to take pressure off

WFH 4 days a week with 2 x 5 year olds. It’s hell Trying different ways to get them to actually do some work while I’m talking to customers and dealing with work. Just did a whole day and finished uploading all the worksheets and now I’m going for a gin...should be doing bathrooms but that will be dealt with another day 🍸🍸🍸

I teach art privately one to one online and face to face and this 3rd lockdown, I just dare not reach out to the parents for weekly lessons because the kids seem to be struggling so much with the main subjects... do you think a half hour a week art tutorial will encourage the child to engage online? or are they making art happily on their own... there is no art homework... so that's a plus.. but the whole household likes to join in with the art lessons and it seems that they are always so happy to see me... I am so sympathetic to the parents...

DD yr2. Bright but a fidget arse and not impressed with having to Do Work at home. It's difficult. The sheer fact that they are at home, where they relax - not joined by their peers sitting working, not having the familiar surroundings which prompt a 'work and then we'll play' mindset. They haven't got the emotional maturity to switch to 'i'm working from home this area for now is my office space not my home the quicker i do it the quicker i can finish' mentality.

I was a TA at primary for 8 years. It's helped me re: being used to present the work in different ways until it clicks, but it also means i know home schooling is NOTHING like the way they learn in a classroom environment. The classroom is what i'm used to. It's what she's used to. It's what we would both prefer and i find it a total struggle to engage her.

I'd rather deal with 8 unruly 6 year olds at a table in a school corridor than my own 6 year old in our living room and that's awful isn't it !!?

My son is year 6 (and although very well behaved at school) yesterday was rows, tears and very little work so today we haven’t done any. I haven’t even asked him to do any today.

The school have put a weeks online learning on the portal thing and it is overwhelming. There is reams of it and we have hardly done any. A maths worksheet that looked like it would take 10 mins on paper took forever on the computer.

Reams of work and also asked to do RockStars, Spelling app, reading etc. There is absolutely no way we can do all the work the school is asking for. I will be aiming for an hour of maths, hour of English and an hour of something else if I’m lucky.

Teacher here.
Somebody has set 9 posters? That is ridiculous.

We had tears today. Then a humongous cuddle and lots of praise and an apology from me for loosing my patience when we finished.

He's only in yr.1 bless him and can do very little of the work unsupervised. The teacher sometimes uses words that go straight over his head and goes quite fast from one thing to the next so he doesn't get what she's asking unless I recap the whole video with him multiple times.
It's impossible to do without feeling like I'm completely leaving my 3yo to it or sticking him in front of the kids fire kindle for hours on end.
Oh yes and in also supposed to do my WFH

I’m in state too. One in year 9, the only independent one. One in year 7, barely independent, one in year 2, he needs my help with everything and an 18 month old.
I’m still expected to go into the office evenings and weekends. DH works full time. I can’t find a balance.
I agree with PP about schools expecting too much this time round. Zoom calls, team meetings, uploading work, it’s never ending!
I can’t offer any advice but you’re not alone.