No time to homeschool much but 70% of DC's class is in school. Worried about DC falling totally behind....

[Angelfishfan]

that's if really. I don't wanna discuss if we agree or not with the government. But my 10 year old who is needs a lot of help (no Sen though) can only do so and so much alone. Due to work (WFH but extremely busy, zoom calls frequently etc) and caring responsibilities (another child with complex needs, though luckily in school 9-3), I just cannot spend much time with my supposedly home schooled child.

I was much less stressed during lockdown #1 as it was the same for almost all of the kids in the class but currently 70% are in and are receiving lessons. Most of the others at home have a Sahp and get much more help. It means a huge gap will open up by Easter or even May for DC.

Not sure what I am asking but I am very stressed and worry, that DC will fall completely behind. How do other parents deal with this. School will just send some weekly work packs home but it doesn't work well die DC and we get some stuff online but it's all very basic.

Does anyone of any online tutors and is the financial help available? It not fair that 3/4 receive an education in school and a minority are left without for months and months. Just trying to figure something out so DC gets a regular education if this is gonna go on for a few more months.

And no, furlough refused and no other family support.

@Angelfishfan

ah, I see, 3. that is much better. In our school it's 100% lessons in school vs the total absence of lessons for those at home.

That's completely not fair, my 10yo is having online lessons with his teacher hence him needing no support from me to explain things, good job really as I wouldn't have a clue about improper fractions and even if I could remember 25 years ago to when I was 10 learning them I find many things are taught differently now .

Dd2 is in school as she is 5 and both DH and I have critical KW roles that cannot be done from home. If it makes ylu feel any better she does the exact same worksheets as the children at home do, and then spends the rest of the day freezing out on the field as to reduce transmission...there is only her, 1 other child and a TA...If I could keep her home i would. I feel so guilty every time I drop her off, at her age school should be about fun and friends and it is really not at all To say she has any advantage over the others not in school is utter bollocks!

there is only her, 1 other child and a TA

if you would have read my post, you would have noticed that 70% are in school and they have normal lessons with class teacher and TA. I am sorry that your DD is not getting much support in school but it's pretty obvious that this has nothing to do with my situation

@ChablisandCrisps

Dd2 is in school as she is 5 and both DH and I have critical KW roles that cannot be done from home. If it makes ylu feel any better she does the exact same worksheets as the children at home do, and then spends the rest of the day freezing out on the field as to reduce transmission...there is only her, 1 other child and a TA...If I could keep her home i would. I feel so guilty every time I drop her off, at her age school should be about fun and friends and it is really not at all To say she has any advantage over the others not in school is utter bollocks!

No really relevant to the OP's situation though?

@Angelfishfan you're going to have to push for your son I think. Most of us hate being a difficult or demanding parent at school but at this point we need to advocate for our children.
You aren't asking for anything unreasonable, just for your DC to have the same teaching as those in school.

The DfE require schools to provide live or recorded teaching so I would ask the school how they are going to do that.
Is the school part of an academy chain?

thanks Stacey, I didn't realise that the DfE does demand this. will find a link and get back to school with that.

schoolsweek.co.uk/dfe-reveals-new-remote-learning-expectations-for-covid-lockdown-3/

thanks :)

@Angelfishfan

Why does a 10 year old need so much support? In what way? Ours is just getting on with stuff.

eh? some kids just need more help than others. is that so hard to grasp. If a 10 year ago old could teach himself, why do we have school?

DC struggles with spellings massively. Over the last 3 weeks we have to introduce fractions - proper and improper fractions. How to add e.g. 3/4 + 3/8 (i.e. sorting the numerator first). Maybe DC is not a bright spark but he needs a lot of help with this new concepts and could not do this himself.

Congrats, Wolfie, on your obviously much brighter and more self sufficient child. Mine isn't. 🤷

It’s hard, but it is what it is. I’m hoping we will all find ways to get some kind of routine in place that works. I’m wfh. Very hectic schedule for work. 3 kids. 2 primary aged and 1 baby. I try and help them where I can. Usually during my lunch break or “toilet break” I have all 3 at home with me whilst trying to work and look after them including the baby at the same time. I’m trying my best, if I still find I can’t manage then i will have to just get signed off with stress for a few months 🤷‍♀️

oh, 2boys that sounds hard. I was on mat leave then the DC were babies and could not have worked at all, let alone work with a baby and homeschool 2 DC. Hope you have a sympathetic GP. That's just not doable.

It doesn’t sound like great provision from the school. My year 5 has everything on Teams, the teacher and TA are at home, and keyworker children are supervised by other staff in school to do exactly the same work. They have a live half hour session each day, some of the work has brief recorded videos to explain it, and the teacher is online to answer queries (and I think calls to go through things where necessary with smaller numbers). Each day the work gets feedback from either the teacher or TA.
I do feel similar to you about my reception child (different school). About a quarter of his class are in with the teacher and two TAs, whilst we just get a daily email of work and no live or recorded interactions.

so you all have teacher contact?

DC had a 2 week isolation stunt just before Xmas. We therefore have not spoken to the teacher at all since. Just the TA twice. Teacher will just prepare work sheets.

did not realise our school was so unusual. Will defo raise it. glad I have posted. I thought we got the 'standard' package but obviously not!

We are in the same position, its a bloody nightmare at the moment. My work is so incredibly busy currently as well. I could cry. DH is out all day doing hard manual work so exhausted when he comes in.

@Angelfishfan you sound like me! my 10yo needs loads of input. zero zoom classes. lots of "teaching" needed and I have no idea. what I have done is :

• submit work every day - if its crap/wrong they tell me and I am engaging. - does your school ask for this? its on the guidelines.
• email them with questions if I don't understand wtf they want him to do or if he's struggling
• agree a timetable with him every day first thing
• put at least 30 mins in with him first thing so I know what he's meant to achieve
• a structured timed break after each piece
• most difficult task gets done first so he can revisit if nec
• gonna book half a day off every week
• talk about the work when we do our daily walk to try and enthuse or get a perspective
• stay calm hahaha
• keeping a beady eye on school as they suddenly gave him minimal work towards the end of last week
• remember to thank them profusely in every email as its hard for them too

@Angelfishfan

that's if really. I don't wanna discuss if we agree or not with the government. But my 10 year old who is needs a lot of help (no Sen though) can only do so and so much alone. Due to work (WFH but extremely busy, zoom calls frequently etc) and caring responsibilities (another child with complex needs, though luckily in school 9-3), I just cannot spend much time with my supposedly home schooled child.

I was much less stressed during lockdown #1 as it was the same for almost all of the kids in the class but currently 70% are in and are receiving lessons. Most of the others at home have a Sahp and get much more help. It means a huge gap will open up by Easter or even May for DC.

Not sure what I am asking but I am very stressed and worry, that DC will fall completely behind. How do other parents deal with this. School will just send some weekly work packs home but it doesn't work well die DC and we get some stuff online but it's all very basic.

Does anyone of any online tutors and is the financial help available? It not fair that 3/4 receive an education in school and a minority are left without for months and months. Just trying to figure something out so DC gets a regular education if this is gonna go on for a few more months.

And no, furlough refused and no other family support.

I think that if the school are letting your child down then you need to step up.

Not saying I have it all sussed, but I was in your position last March and it didn't improve.

My suggestion is that you have activity workbooks set at the right level for your child. If struggling this may be the year below.

Like you my day is chaotic and filled with video conference calls. I structure my day so that my 6yo has set activities that CAN be done independently. So for example there's handwriting, motor control activities, phonics, comprehension and some of the other workbooks I have bought. This means that during the time I am on conference calls, my child can continue to work and does. I should add my child has ASD and associated specific difficulties so I've had to ensure that I keep up the momentum and continuity.
If you have no online lessons I suggest that you use the Oak Academy lessons as a starting point, look around the different year groups and SEN lessons and use those. There are also the videos on the BBC which are good quality.
It will require you planning and bejng proactive. I introduce new concepts either during lunch, or when I'm not working. I make sure the materials needed are found and printed night before or workbooks all ready too.
Ultimately, if you want to improve your child's situation, you're going to have to do it.
It's all well and good saying he should go to school etc or report to ofsted, but that won't change the here and now.
Fwiw, friends who are teaching are talking of how parents are having to produce proof now that they meet the requirements etc. So some may not be in school in the coming weeks....

@Angelfishfan what provision was given to students during their isolation period?
My ds class was the only bubble to burst from sept- Xmas in the school but within the day they were set up with lessons on zoom for their remaining isolating period. Im in a very working class area so its not as if our children are from privileged backgrounds, far from it, school offered provisions for devices and Internet dongles for those that needed it. Your school should be doing this especially if its only 30% of pupils they need to offer it too, and that is assuming no child at all at home has device or WiFi access, some will

*submit work every day - if its crap/wrong they tell me and I am engaging. - does your school ask for this? its on the guidelines."

we do some stuff online. At most it's a 'well done' but 90% does not get commented on at all. I chased it initially but no response (guess teacher is busy teaching). I just don't have energy to keep running after them. during the day I am so busy with work and once my other child is home from special school at 3, I have no time at all. it's just too much.

My 10 year old son has autism and severe learning difficulties. His ehcp says he needs 1 to 1 support in a special school. However I am meant to home school him whilst working and caring for a 15 month old as his special school is only accepting 'vulnerable' children.

I have a call with his teacher tomorrow to see how he is getting on. It is a total joke.

I'm also going to raise with my 10 year old's school that I don't think there is enough direct teaching going on, but he does have maths, english and topic work posted each day (videos with the maths and power points for some other work), commented on and marked. We also have an email for the teacher and the teacher calls every week.
No video teaching from his teacher though which I want to ask about.

Do you have proof that your other child has specific needs, e.g., medical letter giving diagnosis? E.g., my son with autism has a diagnosis letter and lots of correspondence about his physical problems. If you could show that, that may be sufficient to prove that your son is a special case. It might be worth a try. As you are working from home and after work (when you could potentially do the worksheets with him) then you can't help, as this is when you look after your child with high needs - means that you cannot support your son after your work, as you are looking after your child with high needs. I think you have a case personally.

@Angelfishfan what about a well worded email to the teacher then if nothing to the head? maybe referring to the dfe guidelines in passing...or play dumb eg "i seem not to have the right email for feedback, can you confirm this? do you have the right email for me? I am concerned he will disengage and feel out of my depth. how often can I expect individualised feedback for him? I appreciate this is a huge challenge but I don't think he's getting the 3 or 4 hours' meaningful teaching a day or the feedback (quoting guidelines)

@Angelfishfan also

That sounds really poor. He should be getting teacher live calls, if kids are getting teacher input at school.

To motivate my 10yo with spelling I bought an app (squeegees I think?) that makes it into a game, seems to work for now. Same with maths. He won’t self motivate on paper but will play the apps and take a screenshot to submit to the teacher.

I have a Y3 a Y1, a disabled toddler and I WFH. DP (main earner) works out of the house.

I dread to think how we are going manage this if it goes on until Easter. Quite frankly I can't see how I'll manage the coming week.

Take up of KW places has been much higher this time round (we are a double class primary so 60 kids in each year group and each year group was allocated 20 KW / vulnerable places - all have waiting lists). So that is a third of my children's peers having a more beneficial educational experience. Then there are those who are SAHP / have only children / full time outside support. Again these children are probably doing alright and not falling too far behind.

Then there are people like me. My kids have to share a Chromebook, they have to take turns (around my work schedule) to do their set work and they spend the rest of the time amusing themselves. The toddler thankfully goes to my MIL for a few hours a day as part of our childcare bubble! Otherwise I'd have to quit my job.

I'm desperately trying to arrange annual leave and looking at taking some unpaid leave but it still won't be enough. Not to mention how utterly draining and soul destroying it is to home educate in the first place.

My poor kids.

My kids are at home.

They access learning lessons online provided by school.

The children who are in school (vulnerable and key worker) access the exact same online lessons as my kids do at home.

The teachers them selves are working from home.

The TAs are in school, making sure the kids sign onto the correct online lesson at the same time, sorting out Wi-fi issues, answering questions when kids are stuck.

Seems like a MUCH fairer way of doing it than at your school OP: my friend is staff at a school where they are doing it your way and she says the results are that all parents are clamouring to be "more key worker/entitled to the places" than others. To the extent that 70% are in and the staff are at risk and the school now has the unenviable task of working out who is taking the piss, who has both parents as "proper" key workers (eg she says nurses rather than solicitors). I think they should change the way that the school is working so that those who are taking the piss will think "oh, so DS will get the same at school as here, but if he is working here then at least I don't have to do two school runs "

@MotherExtraordinaire great suggestions but best go with the school set work before foraging around for other things imo, I had to cobble it all together in lockdown 1 and got a tutor as the school did zilch. I think I do not have the expertise compared to teachers with years of training and he will be onadifferent page when he eventually gets back to class compared to his classmates as 70% ofnthem are in school. it sounds as if the schiol are neglecting the 30% amd need a push. op email them now!