How to keep 4yo still for Zoom lessons

[RuleConfusion]

Any tips?

Last lockdown he was still in preschool and the lessons consisted of a short story once a day. Now in yrR it’s 45 minutes of phonics and then 45 minutes of numbers later on in the day. Which was fine for the first lesson as he was sat on my lap and I could keep nudging him to stay focussed, ask him questions, hold him still etc. Now though parents aren’t allowed on screen (or to even look at the screen as you can see other kids) and ds just completely zoned out.

I’ve set up a desk in the box room with no distractions, comfy chair, take him to run around in the garden before each session so that he’s physically tired. But he’ll still just sit there picking his nose/ feet/ nails/ eating the table because, well, he’s 4yo.

I listen to the lesson but he will come out of it having understood nothing because he just can’t pay attention. The teacher asks the kids to put their hands up to answer a question but by the time she’s unmuted them, the child has realised they’re unmuted, she’s repeated the question again, whoever it is that was selected to answer has forgotten what they were going to say. Then it’s another 5 minutes of trying to get the child muted again, get the lesson back on track, sort out the children that are physically in the classroom as by this point they’ve got bored and started fighting/ licking each other’s eyeballs etc.

It just seems completely pointless. The thought of trying to cajole ds to do this twice a day for the next few months is awful. Any suggestions that don’t involve me sedating him?

That doesn't sound like the best plan really. I have a 4yo. I think 45 mins is too long. Would he benefit from something to fidget with under the table? Not sure what else to suggest really.

Are school sending the work in another format for those who can't access zoom? Maybe request that if you're able to do the teaching part yourself.

We're the same here. I don't think mine will cope with zoom for however many more months. So we look at the work sent, or the learning objective for the day, and I do it myself with them. I may not be as qualified as the teacher, but it'll be easiest for my kid to learn something in 15 mins from me, than in an hour on zoom when it's like you describe.

I think you'd be best speaking to the teacher and saying it doesn't work and what do they suggest? 45 mins is an insane amount of time to expect a 4 year old to concentrate for.

45 minutes! Around 5 to 10 minutes is the attention span of a 4 year old. After that it’s just pointless words!

Why on earth are school even trying to do this for infant school age, let alone reception?! Do you reckon they had complaints last time round so have no swung the other way?

Our attempt at doing a zoom chat with the classes was very short lived. Parents had called for it last time so we gave in and did one per class. After the first one, parents on mass, decided they preferred pre recorded after all.

Even with pre recorded we are not doing anything like 45 minutes at a time. When in class we don't have 45 minutes, listening inactively and sitting still for reception.

Maybe send the school an email to say that whilst you are really happy school are providing remote learning and that you appreciate what they are doing at this time, he is fixing it challenging and asking if the lessons have been recorded to post later. The staff might actually appreciate parents telling them that they don't need to force little ones to do this long live each day.

This is a problem with the format. You need to be able to be present on screen, or you're not going to be close enough to him to keep him focused.

You need to speak to the teacher and get them to re-evaluate the system. Perhaps get all parents to sign a waiver? Your son is likely to be faaaaarrr from the only kid struggling to engage with this format.

Yea, email the school and explain what you have just said.
Short recorded sessions, or much shorter live ones would be more effective.
As a general rule, children can sit still and pay attention for one minute for each year of their lives. So at 4, that's 4 minutes. This is a fairly standard principle taught in teacher training ( or itv was when I trained). The school should be aware of this, but maybe haven't thought through!
I know my school does treat parent comments seriously and will welcome feedback. Hopefully yours will too.

I think schools feel obliged to do live lessons because of parents demanding it but it's not always the best thing.

I think they definitely had complaints last time - during the whole of the last lockdown my then Yr4 child had one 20 minute Zoom lesson, the rest of the time it was just a weekly email saying ‘watch something that catches your interest on BBC Bitesize and email us a photo of anything interesting that you’ve been up to’. So this time they’ve gone absolutely to the other extreme and are expecting 4yo to sit still for 90 minutes a day.

It’s frustrating as I was one of the ones that complained last lockdown for the lack of contact so I’d feel a bit of a tit if I complain again this time for there being too much 🤦‍♀️

Our school aren’t doing any live lessons- they’ve said there is nothing to suggest live is better than pre-recorded for primary and realise that for infants, the parent will be doing lots so might as well do things at their convenience. Reception-aged kids are always going to be a nightmare on zoom. We’ve got 5min max videos explaining the tasks. I find there is quite a bit of set-up eg finding duplo blocks, drawing a jellyfish for phonics games, find objects to weigh etc but I’d rather the school did something age appropriate and fun tbh.

I agree that this expectation is insane for the age group. I've got 3 beginner violin students that are reception/yr 1, and with a parent actively involved one of them can manage about 20 minutes focus in a 30 minute lesson, another may manage something, a third we already know it's not worth it. One of my jobs tomorrow is to plan and make some short - maybe 10 minutes - video lessons for them. Something they can go through more than once will actually be a lot more productive anyway.

Even a pair of 7 yr olds who've been learning 2 or 3 years, are unpredictable online. They can play quite well so sometimes I just have to let them play for a bit and then offer my next suggestions ...

My DS(6) is in Y1 and he's no better. Even recorded lessons aren't great, because his attention floats off and even if I sit there refocusing him, he can't tell me at the end what the lesson was about.

He does enjoy seeing his teacher and his friends though, and we labour through the assigned work together. I will be deranged by February.

I hace 9 year old Brownies who can't sit still on zoom for an hour... and we try and make sure they don't need to, even if it's just playing Simon Says type games in their seats. Who in their right mind expects a four year old to sit still for 10 minutes let alone 45..?

Although I said no live lessons, we have had some zoom interaction which has involved scavenger hunts, dancing, games etc. Even then you could see some of the kids were not managing to engage. I can’t imagine how you’d try and get 4yos to sit still for proper zoom tuition.

I have teens and the listening to the teacher part is 60 minutes long and that's their limit really.

At school, phonics/maths in Reception would be 15-20 minutes tops and they are sat with whiteboards etc so it's not just sit and listen. 45 minutes is excessive for a lesson apart from PE perhaps as changing in and out of clothes might take a while.

You won't be the only one who wanted live lessons but realised later that it's not as good as you'd hoped. We heard lessons about private schools with Zoom all day and assumed our kids needed that too to keep up.

Why on earth are school even trying to do this for infant school age, let alone reception?! Do you reckon they had complaints last time round so have no swung the other way?

Yes, there has been massive pressure to teach live lessons this time around. So much so that schools feel obliged to squeeze it in even when it clearly isn't working!
Op is the lesson recorded or set in another form? In the circumstances I think I might be tempted to switch it off partway through a couple of times then claim that your WiFi can't handle it

It’s frustrating as I was one of the ones that complained last lockdown for the lack of contact so I’d feel a bit of a tit if I complain again this time for there being too much 🤦‍♀️

Unfortunately you may now find it hard to complain as this will be in response to those complaints from last time.

I was always taught that too much TV rots the brain. What is the difference between that and putting a developing child in front of a screen for a few hours. I suggest getting a few scrap books so drawing, colouring can take place. Nothing excites a child than a large cardboard box to play with. They use their imaginations. Maybe a few handwriting books to practice by tracing. The only formal teaching is reading with your child, max one hour a day.