Is homeschooling compulsory?

[PumpkinP]

So I was under the impression work sent home wasn’t compulsory, my ds try’s to do his work but for some reason the app doesn’t seem to work very well on my phone and seems you may need a laptop or iPad to complete the work properly. I have noticed several times because the app is on my phone notifications pop up the teachers have said that they will be calling parents whose children aren’t completing the work. Has anyone else had this?

They have an online platform for the classes and school work to be completed on and have let the school know that with both parents working full time from home so schooling isn’t realistic.

How else do you think they are going to cover the exam syllabus if they don’t send out new work @canigooutyet? Children may not be going back to school until September. We may have further periods of lockdown. Yes it is going to be tough and yes adaptions will probably have to be made to next year’s GCSE and A-level exams, but I don’t think they will assume no learning is being done during lockdown. Most children in Y10 and above should be independent enough to do some learning. Yes some will be at a significant disadvantage and I assume teachers will be targeting them as much as possible once schools open, but I don’t think they will be very impressed with those who simply couldn’t be bothered to login.

Harry, well it feels like homeschooling to me, it might to fall into your definition, but I am going to continue to call it that. I am having to teach the kids and facilitate their learning of new topics, mark their work etc. The school aren't wanting anything sent back to them. They aren't providing any online classes etc, even tho it can't be hard for them to record themselves explaining the concepts. Of course the responsibility is now with the parents and not the school!

I wouldn’t bother at 8

*I'm guessing that most kids whose parents aren't bothering with the school work also aren't creating a huge variety of amazing 'learning away from the desk' opportunities, where their children will actually do some actual concrete learning, each day either. (I certainly couldn't be arsed with that each day!)

Baking and den building seem to be the go-to 'yeah my kids are learning innit' activities, but there is only so much of either of those things a child can do and only so much they can learn from doing it for weeks on end!*

Generally you can be quite child led and facilitate the opportunities they create. In the same way as you don’t need to create opportunities for them to learn to walk and talk when they’re younger. They absorb language etc.

List of things mine have done, off the op of my head:

Board games:
Ingenious, monopoly, chess, droughts, guess who, connect 4, orchard toys games. (I have a range of ages), scrabble, dobble, upwords.

Tons of baking.

Played with a science kit.

Read a book about chess strategies

Coding online on scratch

Read a whole box set of books

Started learning to play the keyboard with an online app

Collected shells and looked for sea creatures (we live near the beach)

Cooked a meal inspired by another country.

Watched documentaries

Bike ride

Walks

Ball games

Chalking on the patio

Painting, oil pastels, loads of craft.

A DNA science kit
An electronics kit

Minecraft

Kept a diary

Designed their dream home

Written a poem for a competition

Looked at different parts of a plant.

It’s brilliant being able to use the opportunity to let them learn differently and have a bit of time learning organically.

There’s probably more, I just don’t remember it.

After Easter, it may change and systems are in place to properly implement doing GCSE work from home. At the moment, many schools aren't. There is no google classroom round here for example.

If I could teach at secondary teacher level, then I would be one. However, I cannot. There is no teacher on a screen to deliver the understanding and reasoning behind the work.

Like I have said, the school are fine with what we are doing. We are getting the welfare check calls from them. There's a letter on the school site saying basically if you can. They understand it's a hard time at the moment and doing the work could be challenging for many of their families. And a reminder if it changes to compulsory they will be in contact with individual families.

canigooutyet there’s 7 days in a week, 24 hrs in a day, you couldn’t spare 1 hr a day over 5 days to log in?
Makes me so sad to think of children who’s parents have such little respect for the free education system we are so lucky to have and the disregard they have for teachers who are trying their best by their students. These are the same people who undoubtably are always in the heads office to complain about one thing or another.

As for teenagers being old enough to do their own work, true but as parents we have a responsibility to ensure they are doing their work, just like it is to ensure they get dressed, eat well, bath etc.

After Easter, it may change and systems are in place to properly implement doing GCSE work from home jeeze you can’t even be bothered to
Log in to a system, what could they provide that would make you bother?

It doesn’t fall into any definition PrivateD00r. The curriculum and the education are being set by school, that is distance learning not home ed.

My 8 year old mainly got sent workbooks and sheets home, so she is doing a bit of that each day. One suggested activity has been a shop so we did that today, working out costs, totals and giving change, so nothing too high brow.

However ds (12) is having no pressure on him at all, the work isn't being done, but seeing that he isn't have back to back meltdowns I am prepared to take the grief from school.

Twinkl is great, DD has been using it lots.

What could they provide?
Someone on the other side of the screen who knows what they are talking about. Who could answer questions like if they were in an actual classroom. There is nothing virtual about the system used.

For all we know, exams are being re-written at the moment to scrap the new work missed. Because parents cannot teach gcse level.

I’m shocked at year 4 kids having five hours of work a day. Given how much faster it is to work individually, surely that’s more than twice as much as they’d do in a normal school day? The work my DS has been set takes well under two hours a day. I’ve been finding him other stuff to fill the time.

Well unless they are teachers themselves. But even they would struggle to teach a subject different to their own.

@ChipotleBlessing
I am shocked as well, considering from an hour lesson, 20 minutes goes on settling children, giving out work etc, 20 minutes to teach the subject and 20 minutes to do the actual work.
Obviously timings vary and work time ends up as 5 minutes if that.

Can a secondary school insist on this , legally? we are not teachers

We were told that 1.5 hours a day is more than sufficient based on how little time is actually spent learning at school.

My daughter's school uses Twinkle a lot for English and I believe it's free to access online during the lockdown.

Anyone with primary aged kids worrying about maths, try whiterosemaths.com/homelearning/. There’s a lesson for each day so two weeks worth at the moment with more due to be added each week. Each one has a short parent and child friendly video. Then there is a pdf sheet with questions and an answer sheet. All perfectly visible on a phone and you could just jot working out and answers on a scrap of paper.

For OP if the school can’t help, try the white rose lessons, practice 3,4 and 8 times tables (Y3 should know 2,5,10,3,4,8 off by heart), read regularly and write a simple diary or similar to keep up the writing skills. If you do all that for a couple of hours out of each day, primary age DC will probably be okay and not fall behind.

Can a secondary school insist on this , legally? we are not teachers

If I was a teacher, having to prepare new work to let parents teach I would wonder why I bothered training to be a teacher in the first place. Many, with their knowledge and skills, could quite easily go and make a load more in other industries. By sending out new work it really is undervaluing them. Damn, they have enough to do on a normal day. Now they essentially have to teach the parents who can teach their kids.

Schools teach things at different times so they can’t just take certain topics out of the GCSEs.

No schools can’t make it compulsory but you are seriously disadvantaging your child if they are studying GCSE subjects and not encouraging them to at least try the work set

@PumpkinP - have you contacted the school and asked them to post out a pack - they should be doing this for all children who are unable to access the learning via internet.

Mine can log on but I have printed everything from their online classroom as with 4 dc and studying a degree myself, we don't have enough tech to allow everyone to get on line nearly as much as the schools would like them to. The schools mine attend and the one I work at have all printed resources off and posted it to vulnerable children or those who have requested hard copies.

Some schools don’t have the budget to buy all the paper needed to give packs. It’s coming to the end of the financial year for them, and many were already struggling heavily.

If my child went to one of those schools, I would feel even shitter tbh hearing how I’m fucking up my child’s future even more because of my postcode. Or because I have to work in between juggling childcare, trying to get food and I cannot teach gcse level.

Thankfully someone in the education department has foreseen these issues and said it’s not compulsory to do the work. This way it ensures no one misses out and falls behind. If your child is already falling behind in some areas, yes it’s a fantastic opportunity. However as an engaged parent I am more than aware of any issues without the need to be told by a screen.

But if they are in exam year classes they will be falling behind if they don’t do any schoolwork. Secondary school teachers on here have confirmed they won’t be teaching topics in full again that they are currently teaching online. There just won’t be enough time.

Now hopefully exams will be amended but I am not sure how that will work and so in my mind to give my DS the best advantage I will encourage him to do the work he is currently being set.

Ok it’s not compulsory but it’s a poor lesson to teach your kids, it’s too hard, you probably won’t do it right so don’t bother even looking at the work!
canigooutyet I think you have a very low opinion of your capabilities and are projecting it onto your DC.
Good luck regardless.

I find this really sad to be honest. No it's not compulsory, but I don't understand why you wouldn't want to try. We have 3dc, two with sen, 1 secondary and 2 primary. Dh is still working full time out of the house as a key worker and I'm working from home. It's tough for me at the moment, juggling their work and mine, but it's not impossible. I would rather I found it a bit tough now than they found it tougher than it needed to be when they go back.