To ask how much homeschooling you achieve?? (primary age)

[fireearthwaterair]

Just wondering if anyone is in a similar boat or whether anyone has any practical and realistic tips and advice for how to get through and manage it.

I have an 8-year-old DS in year 4 and find homeschooling so difficult! He can be really reluctant and unwilling to do a lot so just to get started is a battle. If he finds something easy then it’s fine so he will practice things he already knows, any new concepts that he needs to learn he just wont. I’m finding I’m crap at trying to actually teach him anything new and just end up getting annoyed and frustrated.

I’ve had some success with a couple of apps that he likes to do learning on, but school have been emailing everyone and it seems like from next week they expect kids to follow the work they set. DS dislikes a lot of their resources and the printed work sheets. Also the reading they set- he will happily do a bit of reading each day from his own chosen book but not the set reading from school.

A lot of mums on my Facebook posting photographs on their kids all set up around the kitchen table with work sheets out, headphones on with laptops happily learning which makes me feel a bit rubbish. I know some might be a little staged but many genuinely seem to be finding it a breeze whilst last lockdown we completely failed at it and gave up long before the summer holidays started.

I can’t let this happen again and just wondered how much people are doing and what secrets there are to keeping it going smoothly and consistently?

I’m a sahm (although have quite a demanding toddler as well to look after) so working from home at the same time isn’t an issue for me

An absolutely rigid routine is what helps with my dc. I find i have to put up with a couple of days on moaning but then the dc get used to it. So we do cosmic kids yoga at 9 (but will do Joe Wicks when it is back) then a break, then maths and English, then a lunch break, then a walk, another break, then whatever other subjects have been set.

Dp and I are both working so we have to be quite rigid, but I find it works for the dc too.

Also, in terms of time we have probably done around 3 hours a day so far. We did about 2 hours last lockdown but there is more work being set now. The dc are y5 and y3.

Older Dc is at secondary and has live teams lessons and scheduled breaks.

We have set alarms so a bell goes off for break and lunch and DH and primary Dc are following the same breaks.

We had problems last week that primary Dc was spending too long on the stuff they enjoyed, and not finishing other less fun stuff. So this week we are trying to be stricter - maths until morning break, then English, anything else after lunch.

DH is wfh, tries to print everything out in the morning, but Dc basically have to get on with it themselves, so may well be faffing about not getting on with it while DH is in meetings. I can't work from home, so I am not there most of the time.
DH says it's much tougher this time than in spring/summer.
Primary age Dc (y5) has never finished all their work by three, which is when eldest stops working. We still say to stop at 3.
Maybe just time is needed to get into the swing of it, but it's hard for a 9 yo to motivate themselves.

I have a yr7, yr6 & a yr4. I'm a SAHM with DH working 12hr shifts out of the home.

Yr7 has a desktop computer in her room. All work is set online. She is following her timetable doing 4 lessons lasting 60-75 minutes each. Each piece of work is submitted online either by photographing written work or a word document. She's mostly working independently but I go up & down throughout the day to help, encourage, support etc. Her computer skills are improving daily. In reality she is working from approx 9.30am - 3/4pm to keep up as some of the tasks take her longer. She's in all top sets at school & very capable but is a bit if a ditherer & daydreams too much.

Yr6 works using his kindle in the lounge. He's been very good at working independently this time (not so good last lockdown), and only needs minimal input from me. He has 4hrs of work per day, 1 of those hours is for reading but he's a bookworm who always reads for at least an hour every night so he actually only has 3hrs of work to complete. He often finishes by lunchtime or maybe 2pm if something is tricky. He's then free to do what he wants (most likely minecraft).

Yr4 needs almost constant supervision to do anything. He uses the laptop at the kitchen table. He also has 4 hours of work set & it takes the full 4hrs or sometimes more but he isn't as naturally academic as the other 2 & can't afford to fall behind. I worked with him daily during the last lockdown & he still needed the extra 'intervention' sessions in maths & english (although now his reading age matches his actual age thankfully).

We all stop for lunch around the same time but try to make it fall between tasks.

It's pretty tiring as I'm mostly in the kitchen with my yr4 but also popping in & out of the lounge to check only yr6 & up & down the stairs to check on my yr7!

I spent yesterday cleaning the kitchen & bathroom & have been changing beds & catching up on washing today. Went for a walk/bike ride earlier as the sun was out but otherwise the DC are having some well deserved downtime.

I'll be happy when they are able to go back to school but for now we're getting on with it as best we can.

I also look at Facebook at people saying 'schoolwork done off to enjoy the sunshine' type posts at 11am & think, How??? Take FB with a pinch of salt.

I’ve got 3 primary aged DC and a toddler and baby too so it’s difficult. I am a teacher myself so have that experience but I teach adults so it’s a totally different kettle of fish.

I tend to let them all sit in their bedrooms at their desks unless they need my help. They’re 8, 9 and 10 for reference. I can help with most subjects but I’m useless at maths, I’ve spent the weekend watching their teachers videos to try making sense of it. My DH is an engineer so a big part of his degree was maths and sometimes he has to help 9 year old with her maths after work. It isn’t ideal to do it so late but sometimes we have no option, she finds maths difficult.

We get all of the work the teachers set done plus reading, spellings and daily exercise. Sometimes will set some extra work if they finish the teacher’s work early. I’m not pressuring myself as much this time, I had to put a lot of effort in last time because the teachers weren’t much help and it exhausted me.

I have children in year 7, year 3 and a 3 year old.
My year 7 child follows her usual timetable online with video lessons. She's pretty good with regard to school work and will just get on with it.

My year 3 child is ..very challenging.
She has a video lesson in the morning and the work is given, there will be a maths task, some English, some writing and something else like History Etc.
It's a nightmare getting her to co operate. She's very bright but totally unmotivated. She'll usually do her maths with only a bit of protest and argument, on a good day she might even do it without a fuss. But every single task that involves writing involved at least an hour of wasted time while she refuses to do it. Usually more.

The struggle with her during the first lockdown has caused my mental health to crumble and I took up drinking in the evenings.

I am so torn about this, about putting so much time and effort into getting her to do her work at the expense of our mental health. She is bright and capable, and I work from home but I can be flexible so in theory I can do all my work in the evenings if I have to, so there is no reason why I can't spend a depressing number of hours trying to convince her to co operate. She usually does get it all done but it always takes longer than the school day should. It's not usually to be still at it at 5,6,7pm.

Meanwhile I have a 3 year old that is mostly ignored, plonked in front of screens, left to tear the house apart while I battle with the 8 year old and try to keep on top of laundry/feeding us and my work. The house has gone to shit.

This was a rambly way of saying at the moment we are getting a lot of schoolwork done but I'm not sure if it's worth it at the expense of being miserable.

Mine hate it. (8 and 6). We maybe to 10-20 minute of the maths or English tasks a day just to keep school off my back.

I do plenty of other stuff with them that they love like crafts, drawing playing keyboard, out playing on their bikes, reading.

We can’t get on with school at home so don’t try too much now. Lessons learnt from March.

@2020one

I have children in year 7, year 3 and a 3 year old. My year 7 child follows her usual timetable online with video lessons. She's pretty good with regard to school work and will just get on with it.

My year 3 child is ..very challenging.
She has a video lesson in the morning and the work is given, there will be a maths task, some English, some writing and something else like History Etc.
It's a nightmare getting her to co operate. She's very bright but totally unmotivated. She'll usually do her maths with only a bit of protest and argument, on a good day she might even do it without a fuss. But every single task that involves writing involved at least an hour of wasted time while she refuses to do it. Usually more.

The struggle with her during the first lockdown has caused my mental health to crumble and I took up drinking in the evenings.

I am so torn about this, about putting so much time and effort into getting her to do her work at the expense of our mental health. She is bright and capable, and I work from home but I can be flexible so in theory I can do all my work in the evenings if I have to, so there is no reason why I can't spend a depressing number of hours trying to convince her to co operate. She usually does get it all done but it always takes longer than the school day should. It's not usually to be still at it at 5,6,7pm.

Meanwhile I have a 3 year old that is mostly ignored, plonked in front of screens, left to tear the house apart while I battle with the 8 year old and try to keep on top of laundry/feeding us and my work. The house has gone to shit.

This was a rambly way of saying at the moment we are getting a lot of schoolwork done but I'm not sure if it's worth it at the expense of being miserable.

Sounds just like my year 4 DS! And yep can relate to then feeling like my toddler is being neglected of proper quality attention whilst homeschooling drains my energy.