Anyone on the verge of giving up on homeschooling?

[Lemons1571]

It’s crap isn’t it. I seem to remember they were off for 17 weeks last spring/summer, and by the time we got to 14 weeks no one on here was managing more than half an hour a day, if that. No idea how this works now the schools have to monitor attendance but surely we can’t keep this up. Particularly if you have other kids, lack of devices, or wfh simultaneously. So unfair, and seems to be a hidden “silent” issue. Anyone else feel they’re going to crash and burn imminently?

I don't think it is silent, I have saw nothing but people saying how flipping hard it is. It is a bit soon to be giving up though, we need to keep powering through. We will get there!

I dont know about nobody doing more than 30 mins a day. I guess it depends what thread titles attracted you to open them. We maintained a structured day until summer holidays. I found structure to be absolute key. And also my children were yr 3 and 6 so could work independently for chunks. Younger ones would have been a nightmare to manage and continue to work myself. I do kiss the flexibility though. We worked mornings on school work sent home, then afternoons on things like bbc bite size, horrible histories, a Youtube channel teaching sign language, blue peter badges etc. This year they dont even have the time to look at the new bbc programmes as theyre on live lessons most of the day.

It’s hard core. We did very little in lockdown 1 but the school is setting 4 subjects a day this time. We too have not enough devices and I am trying to work. I think it’s important to pace ourselves. It doesn’t matter what anyone else is doing as they don’t have your kids, your job, your combination of devices etc. You can only do what you can do.

Firstly, I think the first lockdown was a proper one. Sure, some people were still working. I was one of those. A key worker. Checkout operator at Sainsbury's. I had already lost my career (was a sports Therapist, degree educated but ended up with severe arthritis) fast forward a month and we were in a Pandemic and my Mum was diagnosed with advanced bowel cancer. Cue hospital admission, surgery, ICU etc meanwhile not being able to have visitors.
Despite this, I start (as a single parent to an 8 year old) to home school. I'm now poor. I use my Mums debit card to buy a £50 printer. We manage. We even do exercise outside. Mum comes home. I'm her carer as she is very poorly. I change dressings etc. Fast forward 9 months and I am still doing my best to home school (despite school switching from Purple Mash to Sumdog to BBC Bitesize, Twinkle, Oakfield Academy etc) and now they are sending assignments on Google Classroom despite having no knowledge. Yes, I'm fucked.

Schools were shut for 14 weeks in summer. The year groups that came back in June missed less obvs.

That time around the curriculum was also suspended because we were on 3 week rolling lockdowns and no one knew how long it’d go on for.

This time it’s different because the curriculum is still in place. The term makes a difference. Summer term is filled with sats and sports day and trips etc whereas a lot of the year’s most important learning gets done from September to March.

The weirdest and most difficult thing about this school closure is the pretence that schools haven't closed and pushing a school curriculum and timetable online at home can work for the medium term. For under 11s!

Nope, haven't even started with that. We're doing our own thing, getting out for walks in daylight hours, using BBC Bitesize, lots of reading, little bit of written English & Maths each day, spellings and timetables on their school sites.

We've got in to a routine and I'm prioritising the housework this time round. Not putting myself under the pressure I did first lockdown. I've seen this attendance thing a lot, some even having online registration in uniform? My understanding is I need to be giving my children an education and engaging with their teachers to some degree, not that we could be sanctioned for non attendance.

Hoping now with the hugely positive news about the vaccine rollout they'll be back in class during the second half term before Easter. My Year 6dd particularly needs it.

I pretty much gave up at the end of the first week. It’s just impossible as a single and working parent to supervise the work of two children at different levels AND get my work done and stay sane. I was about to have a breakdown by the Friday and ended up sending an email to to the school to explain. Since then we have been logging into Mose morning video calls - not really teaching anything but just to say hello and catch up - and doing a tiny bit of work but really not that much at all. I’m much calmer. I am self Employed and if I can’t work I don’t have any income. I just have to hope the kids catch up eventually.

We have video to watch each 20 or 30 mins etc.
I can't do pe it takes huge amount to get her through that, English and maths.
We had a very hard day today and it seems they really crack through, I can't see how my 8 year old can remember everything they do, esp all the grammar, many different concepts in one week!

I agree, noone seems to be discussing how dominating it is on a parents life. I have only one child that needs input (eldest is college age so independent) AND a DH who does his share and we still both hate it.

Its the fact there is no break, we are parent giving breakfast and getting them ready for the day, teacher, snack and breaktime supervisor, teacher again, lunch duty, teacher and then we have the rest of the parenting - exercise, entertainment and housework before our own work!

We have to do 3 hours a day of work but no child can concentrate for more than 20 mins at a time so it's spread across the day. We also have no live lessons yet so it's all on us - spread across about 5 hours.

I am an ex-teacher, your own children don't listen to you like they do a teacher. You have no discipline system to back you up and implementing your own is hard as you can't let school and home become blurred - home us supposed to be a safe place.

Our 6 year old is great at school but at home she wants an audience. My work is suffering, as is my DHs.

I take each day as it comes. Some days I have little spare to invest or the DCs (one has ASD) are just going to make it an exhausting, fruitless battle. Other days are better.

We limped through March- July trying a bit most days and picking our battles. Not ideal, but they hadn't fallen behind completely relative to where they'd been at in their class before.

Education is important, but so is surviving this with minimal emotional damage. There's more than one long-game at stake.

I am starting to feel pretty down and exhausted right now and I'm only a week into homeschooling. Im in Scotland so I have my almost 2 yo dd, and 6 year old ds at home with me. My boss, is totally unsympathetic, and refused my furlough request. Im just supposed to muddle along, but still have the same work output as normal . I had good structure for the first month or 2 first time round, but then the enthusiasm wavered and dies altogether. Sending love to everyone going through this hell.

So good to read this thread, I have felt very alone with it all at the moment as luckily last time I was not working (my own choice I had resigned previously)

I am home schooling 3 primary aged then having to do my paid for work til about 1am as I can’t start until they go to bed.

Is that how it is for others/is that how it was last time ? Are people doing their full work hours? (I am full time 5 days a week)

We are only on week 3!😭

I really feel for early years kids. Some missed 14 weeks of reception and will probably miss 8 weeks of Y1. It’s so damaging at that age. My sister is a primary teacher teaching Y1 and she said most of the kids coming up from Reception had forgotten everything they had learned and she had to go back to teaching that. Basically at the age of 5/6 they are already a year behind. Tragic.

I'm not ashamed to say that my 2 DDs Y2 and Y5 are doing very little. I am on my own with them and I will not have my home become a war field as my 10 year old is completely uninterested in anything school related! I tell her she needs to log onto google classroom several times a day and she doesn't. My 7 year old is slightly easier and will sit and do some reading, phonics and maths. The most important thing to me is that they feel happy and safe.

I think if we had actual live lessons for the 10 year old it would make a huge difference!

I'm giving up. It's a battle, they are clearly upset by it, and it's more important that they return happy and ready to learn than traumatised by arguing over doing a bloomin worksheet from twinkle.

@LittleDonkeyKong

I think if we had actual live lessons for the 10 year old it would make a huge difference!

I have a 10 year old. She and her sister have one live lesson a day each plus the occasional reading or PE session and to be honest they make life so much harder if you have multiple people in the house who need to use devices and broadband.

We have DH trying to teach off Teams, I'm a primary teacher and do a couple of live sessions a week and pre-recorded videos as well as various Zoom meetings. The DC need to keep using my laptop if they have a Teams session as it seems to work better on there than on their tablets, which means I can't get on with my work. If the three of them have something scheduled at the same one of the DC has to miss out because the broadband can't cope with three devices streaming at the same time (even though it's super-fast).

The government has insisted that primary schools keep up the curriculum and provide 3-5 hours of learning a day but (understandably) parents are finding this really tough. My KS1 class have done really well so far but enthusiasm is waning already and it's only been two weeks. What will happen is that a few will manage to keep up and the rest will tail off then we'll be all over the place again when we come back. With primary-aged children especially, it's impossible to know what's the best thing to do that will work for everyone.

I know the exam classes are important but I hope when schools do go back that the younger ones will be prioritised as it really is so much harder for them to learn at home.

We're struggling too.

SN secondary child needs my full attention. - DS Yr 6 is being left to his own devices and not coping very well.

We're all so fed up with each other now, live in a tiny flat and despite going out for a walk every day have real cabin fever.

They're missing their friends so much.

I"m a carer for eldest DD so available full time to help supposedly but I can't cope with it all. How working parents are managing I have no idea.

Kids are going to be at such different levels of attainment when they go back aren't they? Especially as this time the curriculum is still rolling - unlike last time when it stopped.

I can't get my 6yr and 8yr olds to work in the same room as they keep interrupting each other/ needing my help and we were getting nowhere.

So this week we are trying 2hrs of one to one whilst the other plays on the ring fit (PE 😉)

I don't think we'll ever get on top of the work being sent and I've actually done some maths and written a poem whist they're sleeping ... I'm quite pleased with it actually ☺️

I'm not working atm so hats off to all of you that are trying to do work as well 👏

My 7 year old is doing a 1 or 2 of the assignments a day on his own through sheer boredom I think. My 5 year old point blank refuses and watches t.v. most of the time. I work full time, my husband is not working but stays up all night and does shit all to help during the day.

I am at my wits end with it already! My year 1 is resistant and it just ends in tears and my older primary is producing work that worries me terribly. Mental health in this house is at an all time low and my employer is losing patience. I either give up and deregister them or lose my job, its a decision I need to make this week I think as I am feeling unwell with the stress. We had months of it before and emotionally we can't do it again.

We are struggling. Reception and year 2 children as well as a newborn, with my husband WFH and desperately trying to maintain a veneer of professionalism during his constant conference calls. We also have a lot of building work going on simultaneously and nobody nearby to bubble with. I honestly feel like I'm losing it.

I had 10/25 join in the first week. Now down to 8. Some pieces of work I set only one child does. Thank you everyone for trying. This is so far from sustainable. We have tried so many things already to try and keep them interested. Feel like I am failing them.

@Elephant4 Children are always at different levels of attainment in a class though. I teach Y4 and have children working at reception level and one at Y8+ level in the same subject. No TA.

It must be really hard trying to home school a primary child and work at the same time. The situation feels unsustainable for everyone, really.

Unfortunately what seems to be a minority of parents pushed for this, and now we have ended up in a situation where if you don't/can't engage then it's likely your child will be behind some others when they return to school. It depends how much that bothers you, really - and how much it is likely to bother your child.

But the most important thing is definitely making sure everyone's needs are met. And as long as you don't completely drop off the map, there won't be any sanctions from school.