Failing at lockdown parenting

[Karlkennedyslovechild]

It’s just so bloody hard.
Just had DD in tears over a bloody maths sheet we were trying to do. She’s 6 and so reluctant to do anything or listen to me. I can’t force her to write a story or draw a picture and she just rushes and takes no care. Her handwriting is getting worse and worse. The main obstruction to getting stuff done is the 4 year old who wants to be involved but neither of them seem to be able to anything independently.

I know the responses will be homeschooling isn’t too important as long as we all come out with good mental health, etc but we’re not doing that either. Every activity takes far longer to set up than actually entertains them for. We barely go for walks anymore as they never want to. When I do drag them out it’s constant whining over tired legs within minutes. Screen time is through the roof but they don’t even want that just constantly bicker and fight. Just feeling like a complete failure as a mother at the moment.

My seven year old is the same, doing anything results in tantrums and huffiness. It’s just me and am working full time. I manage about 45 mins a day “schooling” keeping up reading/numbers and something else. I try to encourage her to do crafts etc but screen time is used a lot. She also FaceTimes her friends a lot, and dragging her out for a walk is a nightmare and does my mental health no good because of the anger that comes with it. It’s just hard work.

I'm totally with you, I've tried and failed to do much work with my 7 year old she just won't let me help her, rushes at everything and is careless but goes ballistic if I try and gently try and help her with anything ! We managed to colour in a Union Jack today for VE Day which is her current homework as that's it.

We've given up on the school work. I've got one in primary and one in Secondary.

We started off with lots of enthusiasm and have relaxed so much now that we're lucky to do one thing a day.

I've noticed they're learning different stuff from what they'd learn at school. And from what has been set for them. But they're learning - just learning the things they choose to learn. Which might not seem important in School's eyes - but actually it will probably be more important and useful to them in the long term.

What I'm saying is - just relax. Stop trying to do the school work and let them do what they want to do. Schools are probably going back soon anyway. Let them enjoy these last few weeks.

If we all agreed to stop home schooling, then no child would be disadvantaged, as they'd all be equally behind

We’ve found it pretty shit most days - occasional days where there appears to be light at the end of the tunnel, but overall we are finding it hard.

I wfh 4 days a week while husband is out at work every day, so trying to home school a 13 & 7 year old is challenging & quite honestly I feel like we are failing massively.

My 13 year old has never found learning/ school easy & she can be quite unmotivated(& lazy). Her school send a relentless stream of work at all different times & formats, much of which would be easier to work through printed, but is far more than my little desk jet is capable of and the school are only now starting to get in touch / email her directly to chase up outstanding work & pile on the pressure to get stuff done (in some ways this is helping her, but would have been better if there had been more direct interaction earlier on, rather than all of a sudden when she’s gotten quite far behind) . She doesn’t spend enough time on it to catch up though and I’ve lost count of the rows and tears and heartache it’s caused both her and us. I think she wants to do better, but doesn’t know how to & pushes back at me when I try to help.

We’ve done some of the home learning being set for our 7 year old, but again, much of it is not stuff he can work on independently while I’m working. We’ve just been working through a pile of Collins work books & focusing on telling the time and times tables. He is reluctant to do hardly any of it though & I feel like I’m turning him off learning, especially reading for life.

When we take school work out of it, the days have been much better but while I appreciate advice not to worry about it, it is a massive concern when you have children who were already finding school work hard. I really hope they do go back to school before September, even if it’s a reduced timetable.