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Original poster

Homeschooling - how are you feeling this evening?

114 replies

Jouuuuuuuuule · 10/01/2021 18:11

I work 4 days (now from home) and both dc (junior school) have learning schedules with daily live video assemblies thrown in. Younger dc needs a lot of handholding, I have to sit next to him, get him started, explain the tasks etc.

I feel so anxious and stressed about 7 weeks (or more of this). I basically feel like a rabbit in the headlight and just want to go to sleep.

How are you all feeling?

OP posts:
Original poster
Jouuuuuuuuule · 10/01/2021 18:11

*learning schedules set by school

OP posts:
LickEmbysmiling · 10/01/2021 18:16

I think the schedule set is loose?
How old is your dc, luckily neither of mine are at critical points.
Mine is year 3 so we are concentrating on the essentials. Its hard to get work done so we do short bursts, not long blocks, and there is no way we can fit in the pe...

I'm concentrating on English and maths but my dd does have sen.
If she was a stronger more able student I'd be more relaxed!

SomethingOnce · 10/01/2021 18:19

Same here, OP, wake me up when this mess is over.

EcoCustard · 10/01/2021 18:20

Anxious, stressed and generally fed up tbh. Have two primary kids, and just hoping they don’t close preschool or nursery for my other 2 dc as we will struggle. Been a thoroughly rubbish day today, tired, It’s my 40th birthday today too and frankly I want to hibernate until Easter.

Scottishgirl85 · 10/01/2021 18:21

Yup, 5 days full-time wfh in demanding job. Homeschooling nightmare. I'm fast losing motivation with nothing to look forward to, but we can do this!

Scottishgirl85 · 10/01/2021 18:22

I've worked all weekend to make up for time lost through week. Utterly exhausted.

RuleWithAWoodenFoot · 10/01/2021 18:22

Well, I'm the teacher and I've worked for 7 hours today to prepare for this week. And my year 1 child will be with me. My partner has time off on Wednesday and Thursday, until then it will be chaos.

cloud9ine · 10/01/2021 18:25

Just stay calm and offer carrots and sticks when required.
Reward good behaviour and good work.
Remove screen time / lock under stairs etc when they are playing up.

Keep it light, keep it fun, dont get stressed and just do what you can.

LickEmbysmiling · 10/01/2021 18:30

Our work has been posted and is not live taught which has advantages and disadvantages.
I did some this weekend to try and get ahead and have less to do each weekday.

Dd complained saying it was the weekend but we got a chunk done in 40 mins and she's had lashings of relaxation for the rest of the day

KeyboardWorriers · 10/01/2021 18:31

I have worked all day today in preparation. But obviously all the meetings have to happen mid week.

I feel like a hugely unfair disadvantage is being placed on the children of keyworkers who WfH and the guilt of letting my children and my work down simultaneously is awful.

I don't want my children to miss out on their education. And I don't want to not deliver at work when our service users need us more than ever in lockdown.

It just feels impossible without cloning myself!

KeyboardWorriers · 10/01/2021 18:32

I think it will be like this until Easter as well so it feels like the light at the end of the tunnel is very small indeed

Whoateallthechocolate · 10/01/2021 18:34

I like the idea of hibernating! I feel as though I've done what I can to get ahead of myself as I have done a few hours work yesterday and today, have done some batch cooking so I know we'll have some "proper" meals this week rather than beige food, have washed everything that could possibly need washing so I know that I won't need to do any more until next weekend however bulging the laundry basket looks, have got the DC to sort out a stationery set each and come up with a timetable for Mon & Tues which fits around my meetings and their live lessons, have blocked out 40 mins each day to take them outside and, most importantly, have hidden some chocolate in my bedroom and put a couple of walks in the diary with a friend who is also wfh with primary aged DC.
I will probably still want to cry by 10am tomorrow and no doubt one of the children will have already been in tears by then!

Kissthepastrychef · 10/01/2021 18:35

Bloody thankful that

  1. i only have 1 child
  2. she is 11 and doesn't need too much help
  3. my parents pay for her to go to a private school who have a fantastic online provision
  4. DH and I work 24/7 shift patterns in the emergency services which means neither of us have work we need to do at home and we can juggle the childcare
  5. I'm not other people for whom life if so tough. I have no idea how some families are managing
Beebityboo · 10/01/2021 18:36

Stressed. DD is only 5 and has four or five lessons a day. She just can't sit still long enough to take anything in and is so distracted as she's surrounded by her toys (small open plan house so nowhere else to sit). I don't know what to do about it really as they're expected to be on camera too and whilst most of the children are sitting nicely DD is crawling under the table and making silly faces. She's the youngest in her class too so is just finding the live lessons really difficult.

CoffeeWithCheese · 10/01/2021 18:38

I'm onto the second panic attack of the day and it's taken me 2 hours to work out and find where they've saved all the work for tomorrow - since both me and DH have 9am meetings we need to be on I've had to get us as sorted out as I can in advance of the morning. I'm already at the point of mentally breaking down.

BernardsarenotalwaysSaints · 10/01/2021 18:38

You, & all the other posters too, have my utmost respect to be able to do it on top of working.

I'm a sahm, Dh is on furlough & we found the 3 days we did it last week exhausting, just trying to get the 4 of them online, at once was a nightmare, never mind helping the younger 2 with the work set to do after (y1 & y3). We'll have dc5(3) to wrangle until after lunch on Wednesday too. It is quite nice that I'm not currently making up 4 lunch boxes though (I have to find a bright side)!

To answer your question I'm feeling apprehensive, I'm hoping once we've done this first full week we'll fall in to it all a bit more of a routine & it'll less hard (tech issues aside).

Kissthepastrychef · 10/01/2021 18:39

That sounds ever such an unreasonable expectation @Beebityboo

AmoElCafe · 10/01/2021 18:40

Sick to the stomach. A big ball of anxiety.

Thesagacontinues · 10/01/2021 18:40

Really anxious here.

First day back homeschooling tomorrow. Have 7yo ds with asd who needs help to focus. School sent home books which would be manageable, its the live assemblies and video interactions that will cause chaos.

Im wfh full time in finance. We are really busy and my job is so mentally draining and I need to be able to focus.

Last time school just used google classroom which was ok as we did the work in the evenings or weekends, but I cant do that with live assemblies Sad

Ihatemyseleffordoingthis · 10/01/2021 18:42

@Beebityboo i don't think it is even a good idea for such young children - hell, even teenagers - to sit in front of a screen for hours at a time

One of us will be doing the maths and english things set for/with DC3 in the morning -and getting him outside for a bit - and the daily zoom check in. He will be left to his own devices in the afternoon - audio books, lego, reading, music, drawing - whilst we work. DH 2 teenage DC also at home. Not sure our bandwidth will take it.

GreeboIsMySpiritAnimal · 10/01/2021 18:44

Kind of dreading it, and I've no reason too really. I don't have a job atm, so not trying to juggle that, and all of tomorrow's work I'm capable of teaching - unlike last week's geometry. Blush

There just seems rather a lot, and frankly, it's just not how I want to spend my day. I'd quite like the lockdown experience of having time to bake, and read, and learn a language, rather than being more stressed and busy than normal.

spaceghetto · 10/01/2021 18:52

How old is your dc op? Last week, I had a really horrible few days not coping homeschooling ds5 and entertaining ds2. I have now set ds up with his own office in my bedroom (including snack). I explain the task downstairs and then he trots off upstairs to complete it. He really loves it!

Beebityboo · 10/01/2021 18:54

Whilst the school is doing a great job, I really do think four or five live lessons for a five year old is asking a bit much, DD is sen too with issues around her attention span/sitting still etc so it's just a bit of a nightmare and I end up telling her off because she keeps running off which makes the whole situation even worse. It would be much easier if they just allowed us to do the two registrations a day and let us go at our own pace for the rest, she's just too little for the current set up to work. Not sure what to do.

Ihatemyseleffordoingthis · 10/01/2021 18:56

The only positive I can think of are

  1. Not having to make up packed lunches - so much easier all havin glunch together
  2. Not having to get up at 6.30 to get the teens on their respective trains by 7.30
Ihatemyseleffordoingthis · 10/01/2021 18:58

"It would be much easier if they just allowed us to do the two registrations a day and let us go at our own pace for the rest, she's just too little for the current set up to work. Not sure what to do."

Tell school this. You are not obliged to follow their curriculum. No-one is going to be fined or deregistered for their 5 year old not logging on. With any child younger than 10 I'd completely sack it off, read books together, poss some times tables, play and exercise.