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?

We are getting much more from a school this time. We are in a fortunate financial position in that we’ve accepted DH must focus on schoolwork not his own paid work (self employed) and so he is supervising our kids more. We have improved things from last year, they work in separate rooms which helps. Not doing a reasonable amount of schoolwork is non negotiable, however tough it is. This may go on for some time and my two fell behind last time as we were both working so hard.

It's good to read this thread. I'm more on the side of wanting to quit my job to focus on the children as I feel terrible for them. I'm exhausted already and have spent too many evenings crying. Not sustainable at all.

Totally agree OP.
I got into a nice little routine last lockdown and it involved about 1 hour work with each child.
It doesn't sound like much by I need to WFH, do housework and get a little down time for myself.
Both DC made great progress. DS(8) did especially well. He has ADHD and ASD and really struggles in a classroom so I was delighted for him.
Going into lockdown 2.0 I already know what works for my family and I'm sticking with it.
One hour each per kid. They get as much done as they can that time.

I'd much rather keep it realistic and consistent from the get-go than burn myself out in the first few weeks.

The first week was dreadful , it was basically ds behaving as badly as possible in the hope that I would give up and let him watch star wars all day . Hes yr 2 .
I'm wfh self employed and we've settled into a routine where we do my stuff in the morning , his in the afternoon or visa versa depending on my work needs .
I've also stopped standing over his shoulder , as much as possible I let him get on with it. It's his education after all , and I'm happy to help but if he wants to be lazy I've told him he can explain that to the teacher himself ( so far it's worked)
Evenings are spent catching up on my own work and printing off his work sheets for the next day .

YANBU. It is shit and unsustainable. My year 1 DD will not engage with the work and will cry and hyperventilate if I ask her to watch a phonics video. At school she was doing brilliantly but she will not engage at home.

Schools need to be absolutely the first thing to reopen as this situation is just not workable long-term.

We're keeping up with it but we all hugely look forward to Friday afternoons and have a new kind of awe for teachers! DS12 gets a lots of classes and set work but manages himself very well and focuses, gets through it all by about 2.00 but DS10 needs one of us next to him the whole time - he fidgets, gets up, daydreams, apparently needs 52 snacks etc etc and yesterday DH and I took turns working with him and he didn't get finished till 4.15. We don't get heavy handed and we have breaks but they know their time is their own when the work is done. Put it this way, I'm definitely not choosing homeschooling after all this... roll on Friday night and a gin and tonic!!

I’m a SAHM. One SEN child, one NT. We are doing everything the school asks including the additional work. I am killing myself in the process but I have no excuse not to do it. My child needs to keep working to stand any chance of keeping up with their peers. My youngest has to keep working as otherwise their foundational knowledge won’t be there for next year.

Homeschooling is one of the most stressful thing I’ve probably gone through as an adult. Add working full time into the mix and there is no way I’d still be here, so I have nothing but total admiration for those who are juggling WFH with homeschooling. You are absolute heroes.

I know that some people are really struggling through this. If you can keep their English and maths up to their age level (the Bond books are great and there are some fun online maths games) and get some fresh air every day then you're winning.

It depends on age and if you have to work, but if I had younger kids and was working full time or close to it, I'd just be parking them in front of BBC Bitesize every day.

Schools should be setting work that the kids can largely do by themselves - but I guess they're so used to setting homework for the parents to do that this has been a massive pivot for them in more ways than one!

It shouldn't be for parents to supervise everything. It's more difficult for YR and 1, but I think that's when BBC Bitesize comes into its own. I think my son would have been quite resistant to me teaching him, he did lots of stuff at school that he just wouldn't have done for me. Schools = learning and home = play for him!

(also as WH Smith are open, have a look at their workbooks if they've got any left - otherwise look on Amazon).

And Times Tables! Chant them on walks, bath, everywhere! We gave our two the challenge of getting £5 for every TT to 12 (even the the 1 x table so they got a good lot the first day!)!to do it they had to say it all without hesitation then answer 3 quick-fire questions including division: 'how many 7s in 49' eg. So they would get the reward when no hint of hesitation.

I'm really struggling if I'm honest lockdown 1 we ended up doing very little towards the end probably logging into Ed shed to complete maths and spelling and that was it. This time round it feels like the pressure is on and if you don't do it then your kids going to fall behind.

I'm starting a new job in 2 weeks ft in the office At that point I'm going to manage even less worn and we will have to spend weekends learning I'm even considering a tutor at this point.

It is hard but do the simple things.

If you don’t have enough devices, get more! If you can afford them, buy them. If not, contact the school and let them know. Most schools will help ( they all should).

Routine really helps. Create an area in the house/flat for school work (even if the ‘area’ is one desk. Try to emulate the school day. When they should be in lessons, they stay at that desk.

Try and get out once a day for fresh air and exercise.

I have y1 DD, she needs someone sat with her or at least hovering around in the same room or she will literally not even pick up the pencil. The school set 3 hours work per day but realistically it's taking longer than that with a 5 year old's faffing. I'm on furlough, DH works shifts so is at home during the day a couple of days in the week. I feel like we have no excuse not to complete all of the work so we do.

It's my 2yo I feel bad for tbh, he just gets ignored for massive stretches of the day. I have to put him in front of the TV or he comes and distracts his sister and then she'd never get any school work done at all. What with all the time I'm spending helping DD with schoolwork plus trying to keep on top of basic housework (washing, preparing meals, clearing up etc) I feel like I give him hardly any of my time. It's much better when DH is around as one of us can play with him while the other is home schooling.

Also in school the children are split up into groups and learning different things depending on ability whereas online learning is all at the same ability. At the moment they are learning "new" sounds in phonics but these are not new sounds for DD. Whilst it's definitely good for her to regularly go over things that she already knows, she's not actually learning anything new in phonics. I want to teach her new sounds but in school they learn sounds with a little rhyme and I can't find the rhymes online, I don't want to mess it up for her for when she does learn them in school.

Honestly I have so much respect for people trying to do this with multiple school age children and/or juggling work as well. I don't know how you do it 🤯

I've started this week, first day yesterday, cancelled all this week's work to do it. Girlfriend can't help as she's snowed under with wfh.
Ex and her partner are struggling too, she's NHS, again mowed out with work and stressed.
9yr old is ok, she can manage.
7yr old hasn't got a clue what's going on needs to be lead.
Seems like there's too much being set.
I wish teachers would pack it in with arts and crafts cobblers as well, its not appropriate to be building castles out of cardboard or videoing performances.
Focus on the basics of Maths and English.

I personally can't delay my business forever, I've already lost £100,000.

Stressed parents..

Struggling too. Two DC with ASD, one yr 5 and one yr2. I am basically DC2’s 1 to 1 TA now. He doesn’t need one at school and is beautifully behaved there, bringing all meltdowns and challenging behaviour home. But now he is super high maintenance and I feel like collapsing by 8pm every day.

Oldest is doing work set by school but is inevitably distracted by sibling. Also very anxious about getting it all done, but can’t because he’d be sitting there until 6pm every night if I let him. So things are left undone, which stresses him out with his aspie black & white thinking.

DH is wfh and does a lot with kids despite boss’s annoyance, but we are often needed at the same time and youngest only calms down for me when he’s melting down.

I’m self employed so have earned close to zero since this started. Current account is flatlining. Trying to work when they’re asleep but am so exhausted it’s hopeless. House is a tip. I am running on empty.

I don’t blame the teachers at all, they’ve done an amazing job of getting all this ready. Also support schools closing. But damn it’s tough.

I feel this time round there is more pressure for teachers to evidence their work and that pressure is passed on to parents in terms if the constant messages, work sent (typically needs to be supervised, unless it's a link to an education app or a short video). I would also argue about the quality of some of it. We're prioritizing PE meaning walks and parks, maintaing social contact (online, walks), focusing on developing their interests - I'm lucky one likes to read and the other likes maths. We have no live classes whatsoever and setting up online check-ins took over a week. I refuse to bend over backwards for the sake of target meeting in a middle of all this mess we all struggle with!

Completely agree Countdowntonothing
I always thought the "Zoom Meetings" thing was misguided. People seemed to think it would be less work for them.
They forgot they would have to supervise the bloody things.
3 to 4 hours is definately too much for primary kids learning at home. Home learning is much more intense and concentrated. 1 hour is fine imho.

Also struggling!
3 children who all need my attention Ds1 9 is quite behind awaiting assessments and this worries me terribly the impact this is having on him , work is a battle and I am guiding him through most of it so not sure what he's actually learning!
7 year old is doing ok but needs to have me near or he will get distracted and not put pen to paper
And then my 4 year old is in the middle of it doing activities set by pre school to occupy her, I feel so sorry for all the children in this! The effect this is going to have on them missing massive chunk of education I don't think some will ever catch up if I'm being completely honest.

I blame the minority of parents screaming and stamping their feet for live lessons for this

This thread shows there are just as many parents who would be happier with maybe a workbook of previously learned skills to practise and ideas for creative activities, and probably parents who want a whole range of things in between.

I can tell you being a teacher feels like being between a rock and a hard place at the moment. Parents don't have time to explain work for their children - totally understandable, I'll make some full video lessons that you can just press play and leave your kids to it. Cue parents complaining their children won't sit and concentrate. At my school, parents just want printed work on paper, yet the government expects them to.be learning new things with live or recorded input.

I teach KS1. The reality is, there isn't much they can do at home without parental input which puts a lot of pressure on parents. I feel like I'm going round and round in circles trying to please everyone and probably pleasing nobody. It's so disheartening.

I’m grateful for live lessons

Reading this is comforting. Year 3 and Year 6 here.

My Yr 3 has 2 live lessons and the Yr 6 has 3 live lessons a day. Both need help outside of these, especially my 7 year old, he has 4/5 assignments a day that we are expected to upload. DH working as his job can't be done from home.

The live lessons are good but feel like it interrupts gaining any momentum with getting the work done. I'm working from home too so everything we do is in short bursts, it's exhausting. I feel like I can't give either of them any quality time, and I just end up stressed.

and to everyone tackling this.

I think you just need to do what you can and try not to get stressed. Children in primary age has a lot of time to catch up.

@Countdowntonothing

Honestly, I blame the minority of parents screaming and stamping their feet for live lessons for this. A full timetable is too much for at home. If I'm on the computer for a full day my eyes hurt and I lose all concentration after lunch. I can't imagine many teens, and definitely not primary age coping with this until Easter. The schools doing pre-recorded inputs so that children can complete the work at a suitable time that fits in with their circumstances is better for everyone. Primary doing a few live meetings a week just to keep tabs and to motivate, and secondary maybe 1 live per subject per week, again to keep tabs and for children to ask questions/general feedback would perhaps be helpful but not a full timetable.

Have you SEEN the prerecorded lessons on Oak Academy? My seven year old is watching grammar videos on the BFG. We've now watched the first five minutes of the film thirty billion times, I'm getting "this work isn't your usual standard" comments through google classroom and I can't even blame him for his attention wandering during the video because they are So Bloody Dull.

With a live lesson I could at least go with "yes, you have to be online now because your teacher says so". I don't want a full timetable but yes, a lesson now and then would be nice. Hell, an option of a worksheet would be nice even -- right now I don't even know if his answers are half-arsed unless I watch it with him because I've no way of knowing what the question was.