Has anyone else given up on home schooling

[nikkijr1990]

First six weeks all was well, was getting a decent amount of work out of DS1 (year 4) but the last few weeks things have got progressively worse. This week we have done next to nothing. The arguments and stress of it was getting out of hand and also trying to take care of DD (seven months) has added pressure! Just wondered if anyone else's children had lost all enthusiasm for homeschooling as I'm feeling rather crappy about It!

[Travelban]

Mine all have a strict schedule of zooms and times to hand work in, so they have had a lot on. Dh and I both work full time and with four kids it's been fun...

Some have needed more support than others but it has meant Dh and I working effectively in our breaks and after work one of us has had to help a child most evenings with a project, an experiment, a cooking task, complex art work or dt whilst the other cooks, cleans, shops, you get the picture!

Some of them are doing facetime with their friends to complete the work but not all the time.

We have had to argue and there have been meltdowns but we have been fairly strict. It really has been exhausting.

[Whatnametomorrow10]

I’m a bit jealous of the schools providing zoom & teams - not sure if that would have helped but might have helped my 10 year go into school mode! I guess it’s up to me to try and engage her positively but when work is pulling you in it’s very hard :(
She’s has all her dance classes over zoom and has been positive & focused!

[PeterRabbitt]

The novelty has worn off here too, especially as the oldest is the kind of kid who needs to know how he's doing from a teacher... School are setting the work but they don't want it back to 'mark' as such. Just say to let them know if anyone is struggling. I don't blame them- can't imagine the kind of logistical nightmare it must be to organise work for kids of all different abilities, backgrounds etc on a daily basis!

[PeterRabbitt]

Also- my eldest is the same age as I was went I went to live abroad for 18 months. My parents thought to learn the language they'd just enrol me in a normal school rather than an English speaking school. I picked up some of the language but essentially I missed the whole of yr.5 and the first term of yr.6- which made sitting the SATS a little harder but I got good grades despite being the youngest in the year and everybody expecting me to fail miserably... This time will pass and most children will get back on track pretty quickly so don't stress to much about it!

[PineappleUpsideDownCake]

The thing I remember is that homeschooling families rarely spend all day at a screen, and threads on here they often dotn do a lot of sat at the table academic work at all - but they learn and develop.

We decided instead of recreating school at home we would join home edders and so our own thing really, picking and choosing what fits. School seem fine with that.we do the free Harry Potter chapters as they're released and questions from wizarding world, we do do the mymaths homework they set, and they read a lot. Apart from that we've followed their interests and had discussions and gardened and baked (one wants to type up her recipes she's made with photos, so that's her next project.)

We're taking it all really slow as I think emerging still loving learning is more important than x no of tasks or hours a day. We're ignoring the spelling tests, and random comprehensions they've set (although theyre doing the Harry Potter instead tbf.) We watch the youngest ones bitesize and disucss the topics they have. After the Maya one the youngest made pasta necklace but because she wanted to.

It feels so very different now we've moved from formally trying to sit through printouts of work and do it our own way!

[PineappleUpsideDownCake]

Gosh I cant type on this phone to sace my life 🤦‍♀️. Ridiculous no od typos. Apologies.

[PineappleUpsideDownCake]

Seriously?!!? I don't see why I don't "see" them till after I post. I need to use preview don't I... (sorry sidetracking!)

[SistemaAddict]

It's only my reception child that needs me to constantly do work with him. My year 6 and 8 just get on with it and year8 has to submit online so her teachers know if she's doing it or not. Year 6 needs prompting and checking but I don't need to actually do anything with her. Ds has his own personal TA now and has come on Lewis and bounds.
I am so glad it's half term now though as my own work has fallen behind. Primary has 2 weeks off here so a nice rest from teaching here although I'll keep going with teaching them to cook and bake and keep up with the phonics and reading.
It's hard.

[june2007]

To do nothing I think is damaging. One should do something, Both childrens schools give work but really not much. So we use bBC bitesize as well and Twinkle on the web. We also sschedule PE. Which is football in the park, Dog walk, Cycle round the villages, sometimes a Joe wix. We also Schedule Art, which could men colouring in a colouring book, painting a picture.

[girlicorne]

It seems like there is such a difference between what schools are doing. DS is year 5 at a state primary we get a timetable for the week on Monday with all of the attachments and links for the week then a daily email reminding us what we need to be doing. All work that’s completed on the online system is marked and we get feedback the same day and if we have any queries the teacher gets back to us within an hour or so, it’s brilliant and I don’t understand why it is so different between different schools. I am working from home myself so can only manage homeschool because of the structure and support from school I really wouldn’t know what to do without it and we probably would have given up!

[peoplepleaser1]

I guess it's a matter of priorities, which is down to parents to decide.

I think that if it's a priority you will make it happen (if you're able to around your own work commitments), even if that involves angst and difficulties. In the same way that you make sure other things that you see as 'important' are sorted, but less vital stuff can fall by the wayside.

I've no issue if you've genuinely decided that for whatever reason 'formal' school work is not currently a priority. I would be a bit more concerned if you did want it to happen but your DC were refusing to cooperate. That would suggest a problem IMO.....

I say this as a parent of generally compliant teens. I give them plenty of freedom and choice, but when things are important they know they need to get them done. This started early on with me insisting that the basics from teeth cleaning to turning the tv off at a decent time were stuck to, and as long as I lick the important battles they've continued to do what matters as they've grown up and they accept that nit everything in life is as they want it.

If you can't get young DC to do what you feel is important you may be storing up problems for later unless they are atypical in which case different ways of parenting obviously apply.

[Oopsiedaisyy]

It's been a pain, with trying to work as a solo parent but we also bought the CGP books and he's been doing maths and English from those, plus some topics suggested by school. I wanted to ensure his maths and reading skills were improved over the lockdown

[ClaraEccles]

Don’t worry everyone. Help is at hand

🙄🙄🙄

[0v9c99f9g9d939d9f9g9h8h]

Unless all the op wanted was validation, this thread does have some helpful posts for her situation.

[nikkijr1990]

Yes very useful suggestions ! Looking forward to regrouping after half term and trying some out ! Thanks everyone !

[Ilovemyhairbeingstroked]

Yes OP - also yr 4 some days we do things ( bare minimum) other days we don’t. I did worry to start but I don’t now . I’m not his teacher and it’s a frustrating situation . As long as infections seems low in our area, he will be going back to school if he has chance in July. Other child is YR 7 and has to stick to a Virtual timetable and has just about managed .

[SerenadeOfTheSchoolRun]

I have years 10, 7 and 3 all on teams. Thank goodness the older two get on with things themselves and the school follows up if they don’t.

My year 3 is a different story and needs a lot of input from me. I am also working from home (part time). The school don’t want to pressure us which is good in a way but she has just taken to refusing to do anything now. It was better when it was all new. Maybe after half term we can reset and get back into it. If she was just a bit motivated it would be a great opportunity for some 1:1 support for her and I would enjoy doing it. But the reality is battles and misery and giving up on both sides.

[nikkijr1990]

@Serenadeontheschoolrun you have put it perfectly ! This is us!!! Like you said I was actually enjoying working 1:1 with my son and actually seeing first hand what he was capable of ! He's such a boys boy so does a lot with his dad (football matches, computer game farting/burping competitions) etc so I thought this could be our thing how very wrong I was

[nikkijr1990]

@SerenadeOfTheSchoolRun got you tag wrong sorry !

[TheGriffle]

We never really got started with homeschooling. Dh and I are key workers trying to work from home whilst simultaneously looking after our 3 year old whose nursery shut completely and sending our 7 year old to school a few days a week.

There are not enough hours in the day. Dd works better in the mornings but we are working and she is at school. They don’t do any of the home learning at school and when we try in the afternoon when she gets home she’s tired and emotional and gives up after one mistake.

We have had to buy a laptop for her to use as some of the things weren’t working on our old IPad and our work laptops can’t be used for anything else. It’s been nearly two weeks and we’ve not even opened it yet.

Our 3 year old is being ignored and left to her own devices while we try and work during the day so when dd is off school we just let them play together until the fighting starts.

Dd1 needs us to sit with her and help her do the school work. She needs worksheets printing off but we do not have a printer and can’t afford one on top of the bloody laptop we’ve had to buy.

We just do not have the time and I feel awful and like a shit parent. I look on google classroom and see her ten completed modules that we’ve managed to do and the 40 others that we haven’t done sit there, highlighting the fact that we’re crap and she is suffering.

[nuttymomma]

I'm lucky that DD is 12. It would be more difficult if she was younger.

That said, a lot of parents I know clearly can't be arsed and that's the real problem unless a child has SEN.

One of the school mums, who is not working atm, and has one child in DD's year, is complaining on facebook about how teaching is a teacher's job not a parent's job and its not fair that vulnerable kids are getting priority re: school places. It was so nasty and her post got lots of likes and lots of agreement.

My best pal has two kids 6 and 2, she and her DH are both WFH.

She uses many of the celebrity lessons listed here and the kids mostly watch them quietly and leave her in peace. www.webanywhere.co.uk/blog/2020/04/your-free-timetable-for-celebrity-lessons-in-lockdown/

She also does reading books, going for walks, drawing and painting with the kids, and the schools lessons too.

[Spillinteas]

Yep! We’ve hit a brick wall here! My 7 year old is struggling even though the school has been amazing with the work they have put out for us.

Apparently it’s really common as I was speaking to a headmistress and a lot of children are losing focus and concentration. She has told me to leave it a week or so bit too be honest I don’t think dd will pick it back up again. We do read a lot at nighttime so there is that at least!

This is why it’s vital we get back. I know parents that have done nothing because they’ve had to WFH

[FurForksSake]

I really would check out oak national academy @TheGriffle my seven year old was really struggling to engage with worksheets and needed loads of help. With oak he just gets on with it. He might have the odd question, but generally can crack on.

[nikkijr1990]

Thanks @FurForksSake I will check it out!

[nikkijr1990]

@Spillinteas same here the school have been great and also a lot of same reports from parents saying the same thing! I always had a feeling we were living on borrowed time with the whole homeschooling thing so the sooner school resumes the better IMO (safely ofcourse). Thankfully he enjoys reading before bed so that's been a plus!