Having a shit morning - tell me about your year 2 boys please and how their faring with home schooling

[justanotherneighinparadise]

Things haven’t been too bad but this morning I can tell he can’t be arsed. Lots of head on the desk and general moaning. He has some ASD traits but school aren’t interested in pursuing as he has to be two year behind for anyone to be interested.

This is our current timetable (he refuses to do PE but I can drag him on walks)

Mathseeds - he is on map 27 and generally does around 16 tasks to earn an acorn each day which moves him forward. Sometimes he does another section off his own back in the afternoon too.
A maths activity sheet from white rose
We do a daily English lesson using National Academy
We complete a daily journal which is usually something written, just a few sentences or something drawn
Some spellings
Some number bonds
Some activity from the school blog

Interspersed with lots of pretend play with his brother, some televisions, bit of iPad.

What do you think? Too much? Not enough? He can jump from being really really happy to frustrated and cross to mini meltdowns over the writing. I give lots of praise. He earns screen time and at the weekend we give him back his favourite computer game to play as a ‘great work, well done’ treat.

Somehow I just feel deflated. His concentration isn’t great. I don’t really know how his friends are getting on at home as noone’s really talking and if you do talk about work it sounds like I’m bragging somehow.

Anyway I’d love to know how other mums are faring and if you’re achieving much.

Oh and he reads to me nightly. I know that’s really important.

Sounds plenty to me. I have a similar child but he is in Y1 and we do about that on a very good day. I would be pleased if my able, compliant Y3 child did that much each day.

We do joe wicks, a maths worksheet with much moaning, an English worksheet and an afternoon activity which is more fun based. Ds is struggling with being at home.

My son is also Y2 and you are doing a lot more school work than us. I also have a 3yo and am working from home which limits us but our day looks like this:
8-9 Breakfast at table and do small piece writing depending on weekly theme from school (this morning we made a weather chart)
9-9:30 PE whilst I do work
9:30 -10 bbc bite size videos on laptop while I do work on whatever week theme is
10-10:30 white rose maths worksheet
10:30-11 snack and read books and set text from school
11-12 comprehension tasks from set text
12-12:30 play whilst I work/get lunch ready
12:30-1 lunch
1-2 play in garden while I work
2-3 watch bbc bite size daily lesson and an educational programme eg horrible histories
3-3:30 snack and read fact books
3:30-5 play or watch tv while I work
Practice spellings before bed and read another book at bedtime

You are doing a lot more than us. We do hour and a half - 2 hours in the morning. That will be 3 or 4 tasks set by his school ( seesaw app- brilliant) they set about 6-8 we never do all of them. He will then play some maths games online. After that we listen to the David Walliams story . Then lunch. After lunch we have what's called Freetime where he has to amuse himself without screens or tv for an hour. He will generally play in the garden and talk to his friends next door through the fence. ( my chance to do jobs😀). We then go out for exercise , either park with a football or a bike ride. He is allowed screen time at 6 every day for an hour and a half. In the morning when he is supposed to be doing his school work he leaves the chair about a dozen times , messes about , runs outside, it's draining 😟

That sounds like quite a lot - I have a Y3 and a Y1 and I try and get the Y1 to do about 3 or 4 school activities (many of them very short) and the Y3 who has SEN to do about 4 or 5 though some of them he really likes (e.g. typing practice which is more of a game).

school aren’t interested in pursuing as he has to be two year behind for anyone to be interested.
This is a load of crap by the way.
Some LEAs pressurise schools into believing that a child cannot get an EHCP if they are not two years behind academically. Some schools believe them or make up this rule themselves.
You can get help without an EHCP in any case, in particular it has absolutely zero to do with a school whether you get an ASD diagnosis as it is a medical diagnosis - talk to the GP.
If your DC is struggling educationally for their ability they should be getting extra help and they could potentially get an EHCP (not all children need an EHCP especially if the school puts things in place without one).
First step - see the GP.

It sounds fine. DS has maths sheets, reading comprehension and writing (or spelling) every day from school, thatshould take a couple of hours max. We get a list of suggested activities as well but school is happy for us to substitute our own as well. DS does Joe Wicks every day with his big sister which he loves. If it was up to him he'd spend the whole day roller skating (current obsession) and playing minecraft. We have lots of grumpiness and tantrums and not wanting to do the written work, we've had success with BBCBitesize on the kindle and he loves reading thankfully.

I think 7yo boys are just old enough to begin to understand what is happening but lack the emotional maturity to deal with it. DS is really missing his friends and hates zoom. He has 2 older sisters and they are coping much better.

Sounds good. DS is year 3 and he’s doing a maths task, an English task and one other- topic/ science/ art/ French/ reasoning/ PHSCE every day, averaging about 2.5 hours work. This is set by school.

Interesting dr spouse, I didn’t know that!. He had a paediatric assessment when he was 4/5 and they said he was fine. School then considered a further assessment in year one but eventually that was shelved. Now he is described as ‘quirky’ and we all just carry on 😬

Oh yes mine hates zoom too! Doesn’t want to do that at all.

Today was a good morning with my Yr2 DD. We read a dinosaur book together, she did her maths exercise, and has done some handwriting practice. She's done some colouring aswell, and watched Bitesize Daily. All this involved her only storming off in anger once (when I corrected a sum- apparently I was playing a trick on her...)
While this was going on her Yr4 sister managed her Maths, English, Handwriting,Reading and Reading Diary plus her Bitesize Daily.

So you are doing a lot more than us!

Ours is Y2 and we are averaging 2 lessons from Oak Academy plus 2-3 lessons/worksheets from school so probably similar amount. Monday was hideous, yesterday he was happy and wanted to do even more.

We found the Oak work has really helped him because it's more interesting having teachers talking on screen and providing continuity each week than just using static work set by school.

I'm trying to go with the flow so on bad days we'll let him choose the lessons and stop at lunch rather than trying to get through a specific timetable.

I’ve recently realised I’m starting to feel very angry this is falling on me. I’m not qualified for this and I’m not intelligent enough to teach anyone anything. I’m letting my seven year old down and I’m letting my four year old down as I’m concentrating so much on my seven year old who just can’t or won’t work independently. My house needs a good clean, I hardly have time to cook if an evening.

People trying to WFH and home school unmotivated children need a bloody medal at the end of this.

Don't feel your letting him down , you are doing your best and you are not a teacher. I really don't think the teachers are going to be expecting every single piece of work set to be done. Don't beat yourself up about it , I was struggling keeping my patience today had to keep taking deep breaths.

Sounds like plenty. I have a 6 yo in Year 1, he does:
15 minute phonics activity from schook
20 minutes on a maths activity from Bitesize or school
20 minutes on a English activity from school about 3 times a week
Reads a book

Other than that he watches some vaguely educational TV, does games on Purple Mash/TT Rockstars/Bitesize.

I just aim for him to read, write and do some maths every day.

I know it's easy to say but you need to lower your expectations and take the pressure off yourself. We aren't teachers and we aren't "homeschooling": our kids are at home because the government have decided it's safest for them, and society, to not be at school. Whatever they are managing to do at home, while you are also trying to keep your own job going, is positive.

There are kids in our year who, judging by our zoom catch ups, are either playing games all day or doing schoolwork 9-3. Our house is somewhere in between and I'm ok with that because I know that forcing him to work all day would be horrible and stressful for us, but not doing any work would be equally damaging due to his character (quite obsessive, wants to do the 'right' thing and needs structure to feel secure).

I’ve recently realised I’m starting to feel very angry this is falling on me.

You really don't need to worry, you care about your child and are trying to do the best by him. Everyone is finding this hard. I'm in Pharma, as you might imagine we are very busy at the moment. My workmates with kids are all saying it's an exhausting nightmare at the moment trying to balance work and home education. And we're the lucky ones, we're in well paid secure jobs and are all very well educated and yet we're all struggling trying to teach our kids. It's impossible to balance the two, something has to give.

"I just aim for him to read, write and do some maths every day."

Yup, this. (6 year old boy, year 1, here.)

It is a good day if we get to that point with no more than one tantrum/storming off incident along the way.

2 parents here, both trying to WFH 5 days a week and juggle childcare and schoolwork between usl It is relentless. I take 3 hours out from mid morning to do the schoolwork and then catch up the lost work time later, as DS will not do any learning tasks with DH at all, which is infuriating as (a) it all falls on me and (b) DH is by far the better and more patient educator of the two of us. But we haven't the mental energy to ride out more tantrums just now than we have to, so me doing it all is the line of least resistance. Sigh.

What we don't get done, school wise, I am not stressing over. A lot of the "extra" stuff sent home by our school is pretty much busywork for those with the time, and the school are relaxed about it not being done and are emphasising mental health over academics, which I am fully on board with, particularly with little ones (would no doubt feel differently if I had a year 10 child).

When I say 3 hours to do schoolwork that isn't 3 hours OF schoolwork. It includes cajoling, persuading and tantrumming time, play breaks and usually lunch.

When I say 3 hours to do schoolwork that isn't 3 hours OF schoolwork. It includes cajoling, persuading and tantrumming time

That made he laugh 🤣. Oh yes.

I think that sounds an awful lot to be honest. How long does it all take?

My rough plan with my Y3 is that she will read some of her book, watch the BBC Bitesize daily programme, 1 piece of Maths or English work - a twinkl worksheet, something from BBC Bitesize, a page or 2 from her Maths book. Then a Maths or English computer based task - BBC Bitesize games, Maths Factor, Bug Club, TT Rockstars. Sometimes something else like looking at a topic, a bitesize or Oak lesson or something from school. We don't always get this all done. The rest of the time she is doing arts and crafts, playing with her toys, watching tv, playing games with her brother (electronic and otherwise) or trampoline/playing in the garden. We did nothing today. I have been encouraging her to try hard at her work by saying if she does she will get a treat on Sunday. The treats are arts and crafts, science kits, dvds, books. I am a perfectionist and can feel very depressed if we don't absolutely make the most of our day including her home learning but I've had to let it go a bit.

I have a 6 year old DS in year 1 with ASD.

He is doing maybe about 30 minutes online games (maths/reading) set by school. He does about 10 minutes speech therapy with me. He may draw a picture (under duress) and this will take about 2 minutes And twice a week he has a 20 minute zoom chat with his teacher & classmates.

That is it. And it feels like a momental effect on his/my behalf!

Sounds like you're doing really well to be honest. It's hard to keep them on track at home. Our rough timetable is 2-3 hours in the morning (whatever school has set) with short breaks in between each activity. Then the afternoon is "free" as long as he's done his work. This is a great incentive to crack on and not mess in the morning.

Afternoons we do storytime and reading/ local walk/diary entry plus lots of playing, FaceTiming and screen time. It works well for us, we sound like we're doing a bit less than you but I'm not worried and feel like we can get him ready for year 3.

My son’s school does an (almost) full online curriculum . Year 2 do daily

• 30 min maths
• 30 min english
• 15 min reading
• 30 min PE (most joe wicks, we do football or swingball outside)
• some sort of art (junk modelling, building with lego, playdoh etc)

They also do topic, history, geography, biology and science once or twice a week(30 min sessions), these include reading and writing but also drawing.
It works well for us.

Just to add, my son is dyslexic and dysgraphic, so keeping on track id very important