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Tips for home schooling - how to keep them motivated?

11 replies

3littlewords · 14/01/2021 20:57

Only in the 2nd week and already the novelty of learning online has worn off especially for my youngest ( hes in y1). He isn't interested in being involved in zoom lessons? He keeps running off mid lesson, he is seeing his friends on the screen he wants to converse with them he wants to show his toys off etc, he doesn't really understand why he can't do this and he should only concentrate on the teacher.
He is a little bit behind some of his class with reading and writing, sometimes the work set is beyond him and overwhelming that he then refuses to do anything at all.
He flat out refused to do anything today, the short times he did sit in on the zooms he was messing about the whole time, not listening or concentrating. The zoom meetings aren't for too long and they aren't continous throughout the day theres good breaks in-between. I cant fault the teacher shes doing an amazing job. On the whole the work load is appropriately for their age (although ds is behind for his age). I can see the look on his face sometimes that he really doesn't have a clue what's being taught or asked of him its quite upsetting tbh. I dont push him to do too much, for example if there's 5 questions to answer ill only make him do 2 or 3 because I can see hes struggling.
How can I make this easier for him to engage with? Hes 5 hes never learned this way before. Im not a teacher so I've no idea how to actually teach him face to face although I am trying. His reading and writing are so far behind his peers i dont won't him to fall even further behind.
How can I keep this up long term without failing him?

OP posts:
ThePug · 14/01/2021 22:56

My DS is in reception, he turns 5 next month. He behaves similarly on zoom but luckily we don't have any live lessons, just a weekly class catch-up and a few one-to-ones with his teacher to listen to him reading.
Today he got his work done a lot quicker and with marginally less resistance as I introduced tokens for him to get after he'd completed each piece of work. He likes watching rubbish paw patrol toy videos on YouTube so I made little YouTube logo circles that I printed and fashioned a box to post them into out of a hummus pot Grin He had 6 pieces of work to do today so I told him he had to get 6 tokens before he could watch any YouTube (he'd been watching a bit on and off between work previously). He was excited about earning them and was really happy when he had enough - i even gave him a bonus one for doing something extra which won him a sweetie. Feels a bit less like bribery this way and more teaching him you have to work for the things you want. Will let you know if it works beyond day 1 Confused

Gwenhines · 14/01/2021 22:59

Can you change your settings so that he can only see the teacher? So his focus is solely on her?

Mol1628 · 14/01/2021 23:06

Tell them zooms aren’t working for you. Teach him in a way he enjoys. Stress free and fun. Play based.

My son is also year one and they only do weekly zooms and he absolutely hates them so we don’t participate. I’m just honest with his teachers and they’re fine. Quite a few others are the same.

To be honest, I just concentrate on keeping him happy. It’s not fair to expect young children to learn like this I don’t know why it’s being pushed so much.

3littlewords · 14/01/2021 23:11

@Gwenhines

Can you change your settings so that he can only see the teacher? So his focus is solely on her?
I will try and do this, sometimes the teacher has made it so they can only see her but most of the time. its a view of everyone. Im not great with IT im scared of logging him off mid meeting.
OP posts:
sittingpondering · 14/01/2021 23:12

Aw he’s very little. Focus on reading for enjoyment - read to him as much as possible, not just at bedtime. Go for what he enjoys, include picture books, read favourites over and over. Find fun and funny books, silly poems. The Book With No Pictures is great. Do all the voices, chat about the pictures. Let him choose the books he likes. I’d really just read, read, read and not worry too much about the rest for now. If the zooms are not working for him maybe talk to the teacher? He really doesn’t need loads at his age.

Also it’s still really early days, they’ve just had their little worlds turned upside down again and missing friends is natural. My DS is 10 and really struggling with all the changes. It’s hard for them to learn when they’re stressed/sad/confused etc.

junebirthdaygirl · 14/01/2021 23:19

If he was in lreland he wouldn't even be starting to read or write yet. He is so young. Plenty of hands on activities. Stuff to strengthen his hands. Plenty of stories for language development with lots of chats about the story. Singing/ nursery rhymes. If he goes back to school having developed in those areas he will be more ready for reading/ writing. Lots of fun. Maybe something like Starfall online.
And short bursts instead of anything stretched out.

3littlewords · 14/01/2021 23:19

I dont really want to stop the zooms so soon as once I do it will be very hard to get him to do them again and we could be in this situation for a while yet

OP posts:
Topsyandtimison37 · 14/01/2021 23:23

We do reward chart. Every day she (she 7) gets a star if all work complete then on Friday I give her a 50p prize

sortmylifeoutplease · 15/01/2021 01:36

Struggling with a YR and Y1 - more due to the volume of work and learning becoming a real chore.

sortmylifeoutplease · 15/01/2021 01:42

I promise mine screen time after school. Thinking of jacking it in. I'm so fed up and thinly spread and it's shit for us all (have a baby too, and given the year we've had with no groups etc, I'm pretty much the only world she knows, so feel like I'm extra neglecting her by the amount of time spent schooling). Four videos and four pieces of work for oldest, plus zoom lessons and work for reception - we are eating crap, place is a pigsty, rarely getting out - I wanted to just forget school so much today, so I'm sure they do too.

HadleysHope1 · 15/01/2021 07:10

My youngest is 5 and similar, we do short bursts with lots of time to play in between. One thing I would recommend is an app called reading eggs, my DS loves it and it's really helped with his reading and maths. The zoom lessons here no one is his class seems to be listening, they all bring toys and pets and spend the whole time pulling faces at eachother. Lucky we only have one a day.

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