How much home schooling is everyone doing?

[VEGAS2016]

Just that really.

Dont feel im doing a good job at it. Ive dd 6 (year one) & doing probably an hour a day, split between maths & English- she hates English so thats always interesting 😕

No live lessons, work provided by school which we are following a little but proved to difficult for her to understand (& me if im honest).

Is one hour a day acceptable?

My dd y6 is going to school mornings I pick her up at 12.30, she has face to face English and maths every day and we have 2 hour topic lessons to do online in the afternoon

None. We both work and have no time. We print off their work sheets in the morning and DC have to get in with it alone and they upload their work themselves. (Ages 8 and 6).
The way I see it, they are in a routine, they are using their brains and we are all doing our best.

Year 1 and 3 here, we've been give 6 activites a day, English, Maths, Science and History. Then access to Phonics and Oxford Reading. We're just chipping away at it through the day (have a preschooler home too) Some of it is quite confusing and isn't very clear. But i think this week is just getting work out to pupils and next week will be a more structured approach.

My 5 year old won't be doing 3h of set tasks regardless of what is set. Her school day is play based with short, 10 min activities, so at home I will do some work I set for her, some of the schools play based activities, time allowing due to work. But 40 mins a day on num and lit will be plenty and 30 mins on phonics, reading activities.

My DS is in year 1 he has 3 live phonics sessions, 1 live music lesson, 1 live story time with his teacher and a live recognition assembly per week. He has a maths and writing task each day and the days he doesn’t have a live phonics lesson he has a task for that. They offer some fun activities they can choose from as well. We obviously still do reading with him as well. The teachers are really good though and understand if we can’t always do it due to work etc, but luckily at the moment we’re coping ok. We have lots of breaks in between tasks and probably don’t start till about 10ish. We’re done by about 3 then go for a walk. In total we probably do about 2-3 hours work.

We have been given about 2 to 3 hours worth for each primary aged child... But they need help with most of it, and I can't do both children at once so usually do 1 child at a time. It's hell, yesterday I spent most of the day crying, and have probably traumatised my kids and shown them how to not be resilient when the going gets tough! But today I got my shit together and haven't cried through it all, but it's shit, really really shit and if I have anymore days like yesterday then I will cut the amount in half just to stay sane. It took till 4pm to get the majority of the work done for both kids, our 3 year old hasn't had a look in, I just put the TV on and some play dough on the table.
I might have to ask to 'unschool' every Wednesday and just do reading and spellings/baking as we haven't done much of that and I think that's important. One of the schools have been fantastic at emphasizing about just doing what you can and mental health is important too

Around 2 hours worth a day with my 5 year old, but today we both ended up getting ridiculously stressed with it to the point that nobody was learning anything (other than how not to act), nobody was benefitting from that and so tomorrow I am not going to push it. I am not a teacher, my daughter is not in a school environment, she is bored and missing her friends, it isn't how she is used to learning and she has her 18 month old sister distracting her, taking my attention away and trying to get involved in the work too which doesn't help. Then there is housework to do and meals to prepare. That is without other challenges some people have such as working from home, taking care of our own health, other caring duties etc. Don't put too much pressure on yourself to get everything done, if you skip something it isn't the end of the world - they will catch up eventually.

year 1 child here and so far we are doing 2-3 hours of work per day. I don't think its sustainable, am finding it very difficult to fit in and around my 2 year old. We could do more as further work is being set but i think it's over the top. My son is 5 years old, he needs a balance of work, play time and his own time to explore stuff not 4 hours a day stuck in front of a laptop. I appreciate the school's effort to provide the resources etc. but it is putting alot of extra pressure on parents that I know in a time which is already very pressurised. I just hope my school accepts this.

Teacher and mum of 3 here (yr 2, yr10, yr12)
I'm leaving the teens to it - they have a key full time table. With my little one in doing a solid hour of maths /writing and then getting it into the fresh air around mid day then doing a bit of reading. Apart from that, a lot of TV and video games.

I am truly astonished at those who have Y1 children who will do 3 hours of work a day. Granted mine is a young (July b’day) Y1 but that seems an astonishing amount of work given at school it is short bursts interspersed with play. I wonder if just to keep parents happy in that they feel they should be getting a full day provided more than anything 🤔

Ds15 yr11. I work 10 plus hour shifts so none really. I cant teach him what he needs to learn thats down to his school. I do try and talk to him about lessons (just grunts back) but he only has max 2 hours lessons a day. Good job he won't have to sit any exams really. I regularly speak to his SENCO teacher, DS dyslexic and voice my concerns and O have set him a few tasks/aims to achieve but as I'm at work and he is home alone it is very hard to police

5 year old in year one. 10/20 minutes on set tasks. Then he does loads of craft stuff as he loves crafting. He often does drawing and writing within this play. And we read at least one book a day together.

8 year old: maximum one hour a day. Usually worksheets. He reads every day.

We also get out every day to walk the dog/play in the park etc etc.

We don’t make it like school. At all. It was a disaster when we tried to do that.

I'd also like to add I have had many serious doubts and complaints about DS school which both his elder sisters went too, year after year, with all 3 DC. I don't rate the school much at all and they always seem to do the bare minimum at everything. However we live rurally and this is the only secondary school in our catchment area so I don't have much choice. Feel the school has let all 3 of my kids down in lots of ways. Constantly feel like the bad parent for them being there and the shit education they have had. But limited finances and living rural have forced that unfortunately 😔

I have a son in Yr1.

During the summer term whilst he was in reception i didn't send DS back to school and the they didn't provide work.

For maths, numberblocks is your very best friend and was my sanity saver.

Try and get anything intensive / difficult before noon. Anything difficult after midday is a disaster for us. Its not even worth attempting if one or both of you aren't in the right frame of mind.

I think for reception/yr 1 - 2hrs of 1to1 is more than enough before they start losing the plot.

We are currently being set 3 or 4 hours and i cant say its necessarily a good thing. I genuinely think theres only about 4 in the class who will manage everything.

DD year 1 is about 1.5 hours depending on what is set. Today it was less.
DD year 5 is doing about 4 hours but it’s online led so I’m not having to get too involved I just check she’s completing everything.

My son is in Year 2 and I’m already broken.

We’ve got 4 lessons a day (set by the school) and then they have to do spelling practice, handwriting practice and reading too.

My husband is WFH and is snowed under, I’m juggling my job with my studies (part time at uni) and trying to find the time to supervise the learning, do everything around the house and look after my three year old is exhausting.

I was even in tears yesterday because of how unmanageable it is and the thought of doing it for 6+ weeks just broke me.

I’m already dreading tomorrow and having to go through it all again.

I feel like just saying Fuck it to be honest to their 5 hourly daily timetable, the endless online working that needs supervising, their never ending Power Point slides they want watching and God knows how many printed worksheets they told us to complete.

It’s just too much for me to manage in our family set-up

5hrs for Y2 is unrealistic. Don't do it.

4 and 7 both have full school schedules. It’s incredible. I started out furious but now I’m in awe.

Year 3

A full school day with a set schedule. 2 hours of that live and about 1.5 hours pre recorded stuff like reading books to the kids or phonics. 1 hour to do worksheet in own time. The whole day is scheduled to run from 9am till 3pm with a 1 hour lunch break. The school is amazing.

Yr2: about an hour, almost all worksheets
Yr5: 3 hours - all online tasks but no live sessions, they are hoping to start some from next week but local internet may not cope.

We need to put less pressure on ourselves and our children. I agree with pp that keeping a healthy happy family is far more important. Do what you can. There will always be some that do 8 hours and some that do none. Little ones really won't get behind coveting basics,

reading, spellings, some maths games. Older gcse and A level students should hopefully be getting more support from schools but if not there are plenty of websites to help if you have access. Most importantly try not to stress about it. It's counterproductive. Ignore what Mrs X is doing with her laminated time table etc.

Not much because I’m having to ‘live’ teach all my lessons, which means I have a crying, primary-aged child with SEN who can’t sleep because she can’t get her work done without help.

Still, never mind, eh? At least your teenagers are being kept entertained.

@Raaaaaaarr

Year 3

A full school day with a set schedule. 2 hours of that live and about 1.5 hours pre recorded stuff like reading books to the kids or phonics. 1 hour to do worksheet in own time. The whole day is scheduled to run from 9am till 3pm with a 1 hour lunch break. The school is amazing.

You see that just wouldn’t work for my child, way too much to be doing at home. I’d being saying the schools a pain for setting too much. I hope they are flexible for those who find it too much.

I wish teachers could be furloughed. I would jump at the chance.