If you have kids under 8 and WFH

[ElizasMusicBox]

How much schooling do you actually get done? How do you manage to look after them and support them?

My jobs is going get very much busier over the next few months and I will be expected to work 9-5 mon-wed with several client calls during the day rather than working more flexibly, which i was able to do in the last few months, even before CV.

I am home based anyway so that bit I'm used to but I find that my 7 year old dc who is in year 2 needs a lot of guidance and attention during the day and I feel so stressed about how to juggle it all. I have a 9 year old who gets her learning sent on the computer and mostly gets on with it.

Can anyone please share how you structure your day and also look after your infant school dc?

Feeling so stressed already even with being able to do my hours more flexibly e.g. some of them in the evening when kids are in bed.

Honestly something has to give. Inform her teacher and concentrate an hour on reading/writing, do phonics games. Print off the tricky words. Go on top marks for maths. Leave everything else.
I have dd in yr1 and ds in preschool. We can't work from home and keep up with school work. I do a bit from 9am onwards as I work but I think as long as a bit of reading writing going on she'll be ok. I'm a teacher .

My son is 6 and I am a teacher, currently working from home.

I am focusing literacy, phonics and maths and then doing what we can of other things.

It's not easy but you/we can only do so much.

I have a 5 ye old and 10 year old. Oldest dd sorts her self out and I write down her literacy questions 5 ye old little bugger get up early do literacy and reading I'll do one topic a day

We do school work from 7.30 to 9, then jo wicks. Anything after that is a bonus. I don’t work Mondays so get a bit more done then

Nothing. I'm ft wfh and my dp it out for at least 60 hours. I can't get my 6 year old to do a single thing and my 8 year old won't because he brother won't. I have told the school.

Maybe do bbc bitesize and oak academy. Then any online maths and 30 min twice of reading?
We didnt get much done today learnt about clocks and some handwriting y3.
If they can read independently bitesize has topics, weve done lots of clips on vikings etc.
My issue is getting dc to do work. Im getting 20min resistance for about 30 min work

Thank you. My younger dc's school does give them tasks it's more that I have to sit with him and explain the tasks and keep an eye while he is trying to work though them.

I just feel really down about this it's not just the fact that his schooling is probably falling behind, I am actually mainly worried that I won't be able to look after him mostly during the day.

I am wondering whether I should resign but then we really do need the money. I know i should just be grateful that I have a job and I am really enjoying having my kids around much more but the competing demands are really tough already.

I probably am not helping myself as I alike to do things very thoroughly and I don't thinks I am that great at multi tasking.

I just need to become better organised any tips as to how would be very much appreciated.

Don't resign!! Lower your standards though.
My tips would be:
Give up on being perfect.
Do the minimum of schooling, all at the weekend. Add one hour eg. 9-10am if that works for you- dedicated time.
Get your DC to help with the cleaning- even a 7 year old can spray and dust, mop, put laundry out. Ditto food prep.
Is there any hope of the elder DC "teaching" the younger one? Mine will prep quizzes, challenges etc (nothing too serious obviously).
Rest of the time just keep him occupied with whatever is vaguely sensible- lego, drawing, reading, kicking balls, digging holes and then blessed screens after 4pm is what happens in our house.
Are you a single parent? If not, sort out a rota with your other half.
Yes it is bloody awful! Yes we can do it!

Very little, my two are 7 and 8, 8 year old with additional support needs - I’m doing stuff, whether it be baking, or reading, or written work throughout the week but both struggle for different reasons. I know in my kids school they’re mostly in the same boat so I’m not worrying about it.

We find we can do our work in about 1-2 hours, but maybe you can do a bit before your hours start and a bit during your lunch? Or catch up on weekends?

As everyone else says, maths and literacy is the main thing to focus on. Activities like building a marble run, colouring, play doh etc will help with motor skills.

Don't be too hard on yourself and don't quit your income for this. Hopefully the end is in sight.

Thank you Heliumballoon that sounds like a sensible approach. 8.30-10.00 3 days a week and a bit more on the weekend.

We will have to try and have earlier bedtimes again at the moment both of them don't sleep before 9.15 pm so we all wake up around 8 and are not ready to do anything really before 9am.

Letting go of doing everything 100% is going to be a challenge. I'll have to see how to do it, it's ingrained and has caused work stress previously.

I always feel so uncomfortable and guilty when I have to tell them "not now, I have to work" or "quiet now, I have a work call."

I like to do things properly and giving up on that will be key, I think.

None! And I'm a teacher! I ordered the CGP books for her year group, they arrived today. As of tomorrow one page English, one page maths and one page handwriting a day before anything else happens. After that she's a free agent while I work.

Hardly any, my daughters school is very relaxed about the work anyway, she's year 3. She gets a pack of work every Monday and it's her choice if she does it or not, we did some today then she just got silly so I stopped !!

DD is 5years old. On Sunday evening we write up a chart with subjects for each day, just on A3 paper and masking taped to the wall.

So this weeks is

Mon - general mix - life skills, maths and English, painting/craft
Tues - fitness
Wed - English
Thur - maths
Fri - curriculum activities - this week is continents and oceans

We get a crap tonne of worksheets put up by the school each week which we pick and choose from, and have lots of the wipe clean/sticker reward type learning books covering maths, English, science french....

If DD does 6 or more worksheets/tasks relevant to the daily topic she gets a sticker. If she gets a sticker every day that week she gets a bribe, sorry 'reward'.

This usually means she does 1.5-2 hrs work a day, the rest of the time is play and tv.

1 hour a day here - of worksheets sent by school. The rest of the time they eat snacks, do lego, eat, read, eat, muck about, eat, bit of exercise, eat...

I don't know if you have a partner OP, we are juggling things between us but with DS1 (8) with ASD, DD (5) and DS2 (18 months) it's a bit of a nightmare! I've just logged off work now after trying to catch up since bedtime.

I'm picking the bits from the school-set work that I think they will engage with most easily. I've also subscribed to doodle English and doodle maths which we've used before and they enjoy. This often keeps them busy for half an hour or so.

For their various topics (currently Stone Age for DS1 and space for DD) I'm seeking out long-ish YouTube videos rather than the 5 minute bitesize stuff. They're both watching each others so that takes up double the time

The thing that is falling by the wayside is the longer writing tasks, which DS1 struggles with at the best of times and is just impossible to get him to concentrate with the other 2 around. We are trying to talk around the topics at mealtimes or on our walks instead.

It all feels very difficult to be honest!

We've all but abandoned school work. I can't get either of mine to do much at all. They are misearable. They do loads PE, art and their music lessons. We are both trying to work FT. I spent most of the day trying to stop them just watching TV or playing computer games whilst DH works. He's on the verge of a breakdown due to his workplace acting like nothing wierd is going on. Massive workload and tight deadlines.
Mine are more flexible but I feel awful as want to get some work done but am managing about 1/2 my hours. My 8 year old is acting like a child having a breakdown. Neither sleeping well.

I'm sorry to hear that other posters are also struggling and I should probably lower my expectations. i am a bit worried about ds falling behind as he is not as academic as his sister. But we'll just have to deal with that.

At this point in lockdown, I feel the positive and supportive mindset I had in the early weeks is disappearing and I am struggling to keep being the strong, supportive 'all well be well' parent.

On a separate note, I realise that I may have a problem with being organised in my work. I often work to a high standard but it takes time so in this age of multi tasking and working on multiple project streams, I am actually struggling. Thrown in the expectations of being there for your kids whilst managing various projects and I feel like throwing in the towel.

I'd like to learn from this though. What's 'wrong with me' if I have the need to focus on one thing 100% and struggle with multiple concurrent tasks and is there any way i can learn to manage my approach to work better?

Nothing apart from the BBC Bitesize programme and daily reading.
Impossible to do more, we are both wfh FT