At what age should children be able to do their school work without help?

[elliejjtiny]

Just wondering as we had an email from the head teacher at dc's primary school saying that there are too many children of key workers in school and if you work from home then your children shouldn't be in. It then goes on to moan about children fidgeting during zoom calls and children not doing enough school work at home. It says that parents working from home is no excuse as children from year 2 onwards can do their school work independently after a brief explanation from the parents.

I was surprised at this as I have to help my years 2, 3 and 5 children a lot and there is no way I could work from home at the same time. Luckily I'm a sahm so although I don't have time to do the baking/crafts etc that I would like to do with them we are doing ok, getting the school work done and not too far behind with the housework. I would massively struggle if I had preschool aged dc as well or was trying to work from home.

Meanwhile my mum keeps telling me how lucky I am that my secondary aged dc are getting on with their school work independently as long as I make sure they get up in the morning and check class charts to make sure they have done everything.

I thought what my dc were doing was fairly standard although my 2 youngest have SEN so I am probably giving more help than most. My nt year 5 child still needs help and supervision though which I thought was normal. His friends mums are giving the same kind of help as I am. A lot of parents working from home started off with their children at home but now a lot of them are in school. Year 2 started off with 5 children in at the beginning of January and now there are 15. Year 3 started with 2 children in and now there are 8. I know I have more dc than average but I don't think it's possible for most year 2 children to do 3 hours school work independently while parents do a full time job at home.

It then goes on to moan about children fidgeting during zoom calls and children not doing enough school work at home. It says that parents working from home is no excuse as children from year 2 onwards can do their school work independently after a brief explanation from the parents.

Hmm, so who is he trying to blame? If the parents have given a brief explanation and the child is older than Yr2....When they are in school do they never get distracted?

Sounds like he is just having a rant....Bit unprofessional, really, but it can be difficult for everyone involved.

NT child more or less from 8/9 yrs old with my hovering supervision and checking in..

my child with SEN is yr9 and still can't do anything unless i'm 100% engaged and guiding him, and i'm glad he's still going to school because there is no way i could cope trying to keep him on track for 4hrs a day.. we struggled with one during 1st lockdown >.

Totally depends on the child.

Mine is Y5 and works independently 99% of the time. Parents of others in his class are having to supervise

From year 3 unless they have SEN children should be able to work independently.

Depends on the child. Can also see why it would be a lot harder for you with a few children than someone homeschooling just one.

Dsd 8 does on her own. Hers is set 9 am till 3pm with lunch and break.
She knows the order of lessons and what websites /zoom.
Rarely ever asks for any help at all..

My NT Year 5 DD is a model pupil at school, but at home she does wriggle, around a lot during Zoom calls, plays with things on the table, drops things, gets off her chair, whistles and hums (!). Sometimes she just runs a lap round the house. I encourage her to stay seated and focus. But I think it is normal when you don't have the peer pressure of 32 other kids seated nicely and quietly around you.

And yes, my DD works much more effectively when I'm sitting there.

Sorry pressed send too early.
Depends on the child.
My teen needs motivating a lot and would never have done on his own at that age.

Also I guess if other kids around it could be harder.

The work should be set so the kids can do it without help, barring the very youngest.

The problem is that some (many?) primary schools have got into the habit of setting homework for the parents to do, and they need to get out of the habit again.

As for sitting still for Zoom calls, my mind wanders so I can't imagine kids have much of an attention span. But surely they fidget in face to face classes, too.

There’s no way my children 8 and 9 can do work on own. I need to go through work and see what needs printing, which attachments are the main lesson, often the lesson is a PowerPoint that I have to present to them, then any worksheets have to be photographed and submitted from my phone. Nothing set is stuff they can do alone, I’m confused by half of it (not because the work is too hard, it’s just put online in a confused jumble.)

I do feel lucky the videos we are set probably all cover 2 hours a day and we only do the basics...there is no way we could do 4 solid hours a day!

Our school has also put no pressure on us to work, not that we could manage more than we do. My dd has sen so needs total input! I am trying to pull back..but at 8 thats not possible right now.

HOweer I do really feel for schools with loads of pupils in and the poor staff having to work with them.

Mine are year 3 and 4.
The youngest has no idea how to navigate the google classroom correctly..

The eldest can do it easily, however she also likes to have Roblox open in the background, when she thinks know one is looking.

Girlfriend was a on a 2 hr zoom call yesterday with 8 others, negotiating and setting out a new product launch. Coma inducing.

Hopefully this fiasco will all be over in a few months.

It depends on what the work is.
My 9yo can organise her own work. Her teacher has set up the work so the children can do it themselves. I print what's needed in the morning. She then just comes to me when she needs help. (My next task is teaching her how to scan her own work). The exception is her Computing topic, which we do together.
For my 7yo, I have to load up the videos and remind her what to do. Her work isn't as well organised on the platform. Plus some of the lessons are PowerPoints, which apparently have audio but don't work on OpenOffice.

It depends on many things, such as quality of the lesson, whether it's the right level, , age and maturity plus personality of the child... Which way the wind is blowing...

Maybe at about 21?

My 10 year old son, is no where near working on his own. I’m having to sit with him and lead the way. It’s a nightmare, the whole home schooling is stressful. I’m going to have to pay for a tutor when things cool down a bit. I also go on line snd it looks like plenty girls in his class are working on their own, doing the zoom calls.

My 6 year old concentrates and works more independently than my 9 year old, totally depends on the child I’d say!

My 10 year old works independently. Though this is different to last lockdown.
The difference is this time he’s accountable for handing work in. So for him that’s enough to motivate.
It’s actually been a revelation. He worked out on his own how to take a picture of his work on the Mac, then upload to Google docs. I’m not sure I could have worked that out and I would have been all stressed.

I do worry that he’s handing work in with mistakes but that would be the same as in school.

Completely depends on the child though.

I think my Y5 would be ok if work was issued piece by piece with a brief intro from the teacher.
As it is, he faces a mess of work, not all for him, in one big list, and needs guidance to move on, or what to start next.
Y7 is totally independent, but has a teacher at the other end of a computer for much of the day, and structure put into the day.

I'd say it depends on what and how the work is presented, and well as the personality of the child.

As it is, on the days I'm at home I cant work when the 9 yr old is working, as we are sharing a device. Luckily I have complete freedom of hours if at home.

My younger child (5) also works more independently than 9 year old who needs a lot of coaching .

Last lockdown I had to stand over him to get barely an hour or two a day done. Because the work wasn’t handed in or marked. Depends what motivates the child!

My year 5 child doesn’t need any help, except occasionally with printing and finding craft supplies. He needed more support during the first lockdown though.

Surely it depends on the work too. Could it be made a bit simpler?

My year 6 can’t work independently I need to sit with him (on top of my 80 hours a week job!!!) and support him. But his sister in year 6 would have been able to take herself off and work through it so I think it depends on the child. Most of DS friends have help from their parents as well I don’t think many sit and do it alone.

My Y4 could if the work was presented accessibly, but we get a long word document with links to follow for videos/instructions for tasks. She can’t look at a week’s work presenter like that & work out what she should do on each day etc. Also it’s often hard to click on the links, no idea why, maybe because she is using the iPad (my Y8 uses the laptop).