To dread homeschooling

[Johan23]

I’m in Scotland where the schools don’t go back to the 11th, and for a week it will be remote learning (I imagine it will be longer). In the last lockdown my son was still at nursery, so we didn’t have to homeschool.

It was still a freaking nightmare working from home as he wanted our attention all of the time.

Our work is going through a ridiculously busy period, and we are all expected to just “get on with it”. But, I am totally stressing as I really can’t bear to go through all this juggling again.

I think the best way to assist secondary students with their online work would be to have them show you the systems they use and spend 10 minutes each day checking that work has been handed in. Maths is often on a different online delivery system, like Hegarty Maths, so you will need to check this in addition. Our main problem was not with work being done badly, but work not being done at all. If your children tell you no work has been set, they my well be lying to you. Ring their school. Check that work is being set. It probably is. Your job is to make sure your children attempt it. Check their scores, if you can. If they are getting very low marks, are they actually giving it a fair shot? Or are they just turning in nonsense.

If you spend a little bit longer on the first couple of days making sure that work is being done to a reasonable standard, you shouldn't need to spend quite as long after that. If students genuinely cannot access the work at the level it is set, most teachers will provide alternatives if you inform them of this.

I would also suggest that you ensure your children log on and check work at 9am, and then again at 1pm, doing their best to follow the schedule of a normal working day. I know I do try to get all work or invites to live streaming lessons on for the day by 8:30, but it isn't always possible.

That's good advice from Nellodee and, additionally, most schools should have gone over and gone over how to access all the online systems etc during this last term (plus, in most schools around here, most classes/years have had at least one period of isolation already to practise this.)

Imagine for one moment that your having to teach a key-worker pod in school, while simultaneously providing curriculum-approptiate online learning for your class at home. Oh, and keep in touch with the children and their parents. Oh, and look after your own kids who also can't go to school. All. At. The. Same. Time.

With pretty much zero notice.

I'm not a teacher; when trying to homeschool my youngest earlier this year, I did develop a very deep appreciation for teachers, and how hard they work.

@BustopherPonsonbyJones if you wave support that’s are better ways to phrase things. I do think you should have safety measures.
We purposefully used as little KW place as possible to protect teachers and pupils.

After June we used on 5 occasions, on one of those days DD 7 wrote 2 words in her book, asked for help, wasn’t helped (it was childcare only) just sat there for hours. That was pretty heartbreaking when she told me that ( I’d been working in an acute nhs setting).

I do think that enough hasn’t been done to protect teachers and pupils.

@christinarossetti19

Yes, as I said upthread, one of the worst things about suspending the curriculum for me was that schools had no frameworks for identifying and acting on concerns about children.

Please don’t tar all schools with the same brush.

I'm dreading it, because our school says DC has to sit downstairs at all times with an adult. I'm honestly thinking of not logging in to every session and just doing the assignments. I really don't think dc gets much out of the 'classes', but we will play it by ear.

What happens if you just do the work in your own time instead of logging on to the classes? Probably report us to SS or something ridiculous. Tempted to just take dc out of school at this point. The half and half is just shit.

We have other, younger dc, so we will all have to sit in the same room, while dc1 does the work. All day, every day. Load of shit.

SantaAssociationRepresentitve

See my previous posts- I'm not tarring anyone.

I pointed out that the suspension of the curriculum with no statutory attendance/checking in meant that schools couldn't escalate concerns about pupils they couldn't reach through the usual absence channels ie the local authority.

So when a friend of my ds's went off the radar, the school could phone and try to visit, but didn't have the usual LA back up route of persistent absence to progress their concerns.

That's all.

Another friend of my ds's was in a long-term foster care placement which broke down at the beginning of the summer.

She was moved 200 miles away overnight.

It was only just after the beginning of term when the LA had a statutory duty to ensure that she was in school that she was moved back to our local area where she had friends and a school place.

@Bustopher Changing my kids' school would be a big decision, and I'm not going to base it on one substandard performance during a few months because both before and after lockdown I was quite happy with the school. It doesn't change the fact though that the previous lockdown provision was poor and I am therefore not keen to repeat it. It also doesn't make any sense to put my children into a different school that is undersubscribed but low-performing on the off-chance that it might do better at teaching children at home. I am doing a remote degree. Our lessons are via Zoom or Adobe Connect; I can participate live or watch the recording later. I just don't understand why so many state schools in the UK cannot provide something similar.

[quote Barbie222]@OverTheRubicon absolutely - it's just one of those times when "good enough" for you and yours is going to have to do, and that's really annoying about the decisions around promotion that you faced. Shame on your employer.[/quote]
You do understand that 'good enough' is still not achievable for all of us, right? And that it wasn't an 'annoying decision' about promotion, I was made redundant and now am an unemployed single mother. As I said, I understand that it may have to happen because this is about the many not the few, but well intentioned posts about learning to love screen time might be fine for a few weeks or for older children but are zero help to those of us who have younger children or those with additional needs, who cannot safely leave them with a screen and just go and work.

I don't know what the answer is, and more lockdown may be necessary. But for some of us, lockdowns are leading to looming homelessness. Of course, school isn't childcare but our lives (and the benefits system) are structured around being expected to work with school aged children. I'm generally a doer and have never had anxiety or a panic attack in my life before, but can't even think of having to do this over months without starting to feel ill.

@christinarossetti19

Another friend of my ds's was in a long-term foster care placement which broke down at the beginning of the summer.

She was moved 200 miles away overnight.

It was only just after the beginning of term when the LA had a statutory duty to ensure that she was in school that she was moved back to our local area where she had friends and a school place.

God love her, that's cruel to do that to a child. I hope she is settled now. The pandemic is really showing up the 'care' system in this country.

I was horrified to read that kids moved into homes had to self isolate for 14days. Wtaf.

@Nellodee thank you that's really useful advice and now he's in S3 and doing less subjects it should be a bit easier to keep track of.

Are there actually people here suggesting that parents should be trying to switch schools in the middle of all this???

Sorry also meant to thank @BustopherPonsonbyJones for advice.

Although if DSs school had provided a timetable of zoom classes, I wouldn't have had any concerns. But am trying to be positive and constructively thinking about the next few weeks.

Thanks Bikingbear

She's having a hard time in various ways but it is so much better that she is back in London with friends close by.

OverTheRubicorn I'm so sorry to hear about your situation. This pandemic and its effects are pushing people to the absolute edge.

I hope that the New Year brings some better fortune your way.

Me too. DS has dyslexia and I simply don't have the specialist skills to teach him. Plus I will have to take unpaid leave to do it because it's not a case of pointing him at a website and leaving him to it. And I am the sole earner in the house.

@Kokeshi123
Yes, I would definitely recommend moving schools if you are so full of anger (rightly or wrongly) you can no longer have a working relationship with them. But I work in an independent school and parents vote with their feet. It might mean a longer journey and more inconvenience for you but, honestly, if you feel so strongly about the school’s poor performance, get your children out if there are spaces elsewhere, regardless of OFSTEd ratings. Online learning might continue for months.

@Pomegranatespompom, I assume you meant if I ‘want’ rather than ‘wave’ support? To be blunt, it’s nothing to me if you support me or not. As I said, I work in an independent school with very supportive parents and management. This thread was about how people were dreading online learning. So are many teachers, which is why I opened the thread. Then I read some very unpleasant and stupid remarks from Us4Them types, who still seem to feel that teachers spent all lockdown drinking gin and that they needed to be ‘made to work’ as they were ‘lazy’ and that they would send in their children to ensure this happened, even if they didn’t really need to do so. I pointed out and will point out again that this will lead to MORE home learning because if there are more children in schools, then more teachers will catch Covid and be off sick, leading to more school closures.

Please direct your anger to people who deserve it. My state school colleagues deserve better than dealing with such petulance when they are working so hard AND picking up the pieces for social services, counsellors and the police. Parents are incredibly lucky they have done it.

@Johan23 @RaggieDolls @EyelinerRocks @thepeopleversuswork nice to see that the Daily Fail have lifted all of our comments!
www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9078435/Priti-Patel-says-school-children-eventually-return-classrooms-New-Year.html

Daily Mail quotes Mumsnet again- what a shock.

@rookiemere
They might be providing Zoom lessons this time as the government have provided different guidelines. And honestly, there are many flaws with six hours of Zoom lessons and they can work with recorded lessons, Oak Academy and the like too.

I hope it goes well for your and your son.

@Johan23

Part of me thinks that large businesses need to take a bit of the hit on stuff like this and show their staff some understanding and flexibility

Exactly. They have to. Good luck.