Not using half term to catch up am I wrong?

[CatAndTheChild]

NC for this.

DD is 6, year 2. I am a single parent and she is an only child. She also has some health issues, although I am furloughed.

School do 1x live lesson a day for maths or English, then 1x prerecorded maths or English (they alternate so one day it’s Maths with A Class/Bubble and the next it’s English with B Class/Bubble). Then the other topics/subjects are set a task and/or worksheet to complete. Live lesson is uploaded in the hour after the lesson to watch back/again at leisure. All worksheets/tasks are uploaded to an online system at the end of everyday for the next day. School are also good at printing anything off in advance and posting it through letter boxes/letting you collect from school.

DD is about 2 weeks behind with maths and English and 3-4 weeks in all other subjects. She’s had zoom medical appointments during this lockdown which take much longer than normal in clinic appointments so those days she’s done 1 or 2 tasks rather than the recommended 5-6, and she’s also had a few days of doing nothing as she’s needed to attend blood tests or go to the actual hospital/clinic for tests that can’t be done at home (they’ve closed all the local clinics temporarily and keep sending us to the big hospital 25 miles away so a simple blood test can easily take all day when I’d usually be able to pop with her to the clinic in my town and it take an hour).

Teacher called me today and very apologetically told me that DD will need to use half term next week to try and catch up. She fully admits that if DD were at school she’d be having extra support to get her through and she’d also be setting much less work in school because she’d be able to assess the childrens understand and adapt tasks.

I do feel for the teacher, she’s doing her best. But I don’t want to use half term to catch up. Selfishly I was looking forward to some time with DD where I don’t have to consider her schooling for a bit, she has no appointments so it’ll be my time to run around with her, bake, play games etc. I am happy to play maths or English related games with her.

My DD doesn’t have an EHCP as she doesn’t really need one (class TA can keep her up for now) so doesn’t class as vulnerable. But she is getting a really raw deal atm, she has me teaching her, no siblings to play with and is still battling her medical issues. We’re spending all day 9-3 working on schoolwork and sometimes still not getting it finished. Even cutting out other subjects and just focusing on Maths and English there’s just too much to do.

So do I use half term to catch up? Or just pick up where are at when the new half term starts?

There is no such thing as "two weeks behind", development is not linear.

I would ask the teacher to be very much more precise in terms of what she needs to understand and focus on. Not the output of having done a specific set of tasks but concepts she needs to grasp to be secure in her learning.

When I ask the school what the most important thing to focus on with DD is she says "Everything to do with Maths, Phonics, Reading, Handwriing, comprehension and spellings is important and some of the other topics contribute to the above so you need to try and do everything".

I will repeat she has admitted to me that she's is setting more work for home learners than she would if they were in school.

It’s ridiculous - your daughter will thrive with some reading, some making and some maths here and there.

Have your time off. Keep her love of learning and the gains will come. Mine collected icicles this afternoon which was way more fun than a grammar worksheet. More important too.

Reading and maths are the big two. Especially the reading.

Oh god OP, that sounds like she is wanting to show boxes ticked against work done, not really focussed on your DD at all.

None of the work set is essential in and of itself, though all of it will have value. I would take the holiday off but spend time reading together and to each other as much as possible. And tell the teacher your daugher can happily enjoy and focus for a morning of emergency education at home each day only.

It's too much OP. It sounds as though the work is not differentiated for your child and is not accessible to them.

It is not all equally important. If your dc's handwriting is legible, then skip handwriting (drawing and colouring and lego and craft can all help with fine motor skills and penmanship and doing the other work will also help).

Can you complete the set work without watching the recorded lessons? As that would save you some time!

If it is taking 3 hours a day to cover the maths, then either there is too much volume or it is not accessible to her. In which case, can you use cgp or Collins or similar workbooks to work through the gaps in knowledge or build the foundations in the topics being set?

Three hours of maths?? That is bonkers, OP. You need to explain to the teacher how long this is taking, that the work that’s being set is much too hard for her to do.

@Schoolchoicesucks

It's too much OP. It sounds as though the work is not differentiated for your child and is not accessible to them.

It is not all equally important. If your dc's handwriting is legible, then skip handwriting (drawing and colouring and lego and craft can all help with fine motor skills and penmanship and doing the other work will also help).

Can you complete the set work without watching the recorded lessons? As that would save you some time!

If it is taking 3 hours a day to cover the maths, then either there is too much volume or it is not accessible to her. In which case, can you use cgp or Collins or similar workbooks to work through the gaps in knowledge or build the foundations in the topics being set?

DD absolutely loves drawing and she got lego for Christmas which she's keen to get out again and build with, she wants to build a barn for her farm animals, which in itself is both helping her motor skills and her maths (sorting, counting etc.).

We read every night, its the one thing thats not suffered and she can pick out the keywords and the tricky words but can't blend very well. I am working on it, but we've got no school reading books (haven't had since March) so it's hard to know what level I should be pitching at, we tried oxford owls website but she really didn't like the books on screen. I do keep trying with it though.

I think the work is a mixture of there being a lot of it and not being accessible. Sometimes we fly through it, other times we get stuck on one bit for ages.

If you don't watch the prerecorded/live lessons then you don't know what you have to do for that task. If it's a task broken down into several parts, we pause the video do the first bit then watch the second bit etc. I am watching them myself first but the teacher explains it much better than me so sometimes I do have to use the videos to explain things to DD.

Remember in class, they do group learning, individual bits, stuff as a whole class and with "shoulder partners", very little with one to one adult supervision or entirely on own devices. A lot of what is sent home doesn't translate well to home learning in terms of volume and doesn't adapt to different learning styles either.

Do one live/task set per day. I bet she is getting a much more thorough understanding by working this way with you. Read. Bloody reading scheme books are boring as hell, ready something well-written instead, with ideas and plots and crafted sentences. Creative play like you've described. Tell the school what your approach is. Don't have a miserable time because the teacher would prefer to tick off that all the children have submitted the work.

Three hours of maths is madness.

In non-covid times the set-up would be more like:

• 5-10 minutes of the teacher going through the new concept and modeling it.
• 5-10 minutes of the teacher getting the class to show that they've understood.
• Everyone goes off to spend a maximum of about 20 minutes on the set activity.

A 45 - 60 mins live lesson for YR 2 also sounds far too long to me. Even the Oak Academy ones are more like 20 minutes.

OP rather than letting school dictate to you, I would be clear with them what you are able to achieve. I know they are saying it out of concern, but they can't make you do anything and have no idea what your personal circumstances are. I'd just say, "we're working hard every day, the current format of the work means it's taking her longer to understand concepts and for her mental health she needs a break over half term. I will aim to cover x,y, z with her."

I have a 6yo yr2 DC too.
I echo the others that 3 hours of maths a day is nuts and counterproductive. In your circumstances, if you are confident with maths yourself, I would be working out what topics need to be covered then teaching them myself with the aid of Twinkl and CGP. The videos and having to search other people's FAQs isn't working and is taking far too long. If you don't feel confident with that, then set a strict timer on the school's set work per subject per day (max hour). If you can afford it, it may be worth employing a tutor and keeping them on for a while once schools are back to catch her up.

For reading, you need to find out her level. There are some basic tools for this online (I think Oxford Owl may have one?). Once you have an idea, you can buy reading scheme books second hand on Facebook Marketplace or Ebay. They can then be resold (often for what you paid for them) via the same channel. I am currently selling all the books we've finished with, and they are selling well.
Teach Your Monster To Read is also a fantastic app. Both DCs have loved it and not viewed it as work/learning.

FWIW, my DCs are sick of all the video lessons and workload too (other DC is yrR). They are tired and need a break from it. However, we will still be doing home learning over half term. We have nothing better to do, and a structure to the day is really beneficial. The difference is, it will all be done away from screens and lead by the DC's interests (plus a bit of spellings for DC1 and phonics for DC2). There will be plenty of opportunity for free play also, as there has been during termtime (because I've set aside time for it). I have a topic planned with a few activities and crafts, and our bedtime reading will be around the topic. We also have some fun science experiments planned. None of it is on their curriculum, but they will be practicing reading, writing, fine motor skills etc whilst learning something fun.

With my teacher hat on: you know she finds maths hard, if she’s on the table with the TA then she is below the level expected. ‘Behind’ is a bit of a gentle way of saying ‘weak at maths and can’t afford to miss lessons’.
You should be trying to help her - you’re at home, she hasn’t got siblings, everything is shut - no excuse for not doing an hour of maths a day.
BUT the schools lessons aren’t working - it shouldn’t take that long to do the work and the videos are too long. I would suggest you tell the teacher this and ask for something more straightforward for your dd. Don’t do anything except maths and English.

If she says no, ask what they are doing each day, buy a cgp/ bond maths / English workbook for her age and work through the page on that topic, for an absolute max of an hour. There are some super books out there, very accessible and clear.

Tell the teacher what you are doing and why, you can send her a pic of the work if she wants ‘evidence’.
IMO you should be doing everything you can to help your daughter lockdown or not. As a teacher I’m seeing the gap widen between the kids that find it easier and some of those that find it harder. Unfortunately some of the kids that find it hard are missing lessons ‘because they are tired’ etc. I understand how hard home schooling is (I’m doing it myself) but it is really sad watching some children falling further behind.

Link attached- might not be the best value, I haven’t looked at delivery but these are the books I would use for her. www.slapdash-bookstore.co.uk/products/year-2-maths-and-english-home-learning-workbook-bundle?variant=37586893176986&currency=GBP&utm_medium=product_sync&utm_source=google&utm_content=sag_organic&utm_campaign=sag_organic&utm_campaign=gs-2020-08-14&utm_source=google&utm_medium=smart_campaign&gclid=Cj0KCQiAyJOBBhDCARIsAJG2h5ceeVStCKzwOvwY9ktWdgzNXuCrcrwqEgjE9A1ON1KsvvqC23nLqrkaArNFEALw_wcB

[quote Sittinbythetree]With my teacher hat on: you know she finds maths hard, if she’s on the table with the TA then she is below the level expected. ‘Behind’ is a bit of a gentle way of saying ‘weak at maths and can’t afford to miss lessons’.
You should be trying to help her - you’re at home, she hasn’t got siblings, everything is shut - no excuse for not doing an hour of maths a day.
BUT the schools lessons aren’t working - it shouldn’t take that long to do the work and the videos are too long. I would suggest you tell the teacher this and ask for something more straightforward for your dd. Don’t do anything except maths and English.

If she says no, ask what they are doing each day, buy a cgp/ bond maths / English workbook for her age and work through the page on that topic, for an absolute max of an hour. There are some super books out there, very accessible and clear.

Tell the teacher what you are doing and why, you can send her a pic of the work if she wants ‘evidence’.
IMO you should be doing everything you can to help your daughter lockdown or not. As a teacher I’m seeing the gap widen between the kids that find it easier and some of those that find it harder. Unfortunately some of the kids that find it hard are missing lessons ‘because they are tired’ etc. I understand how hard home schooling is (I’m doing it myself) but it is really sad watching some children falling further behind.

Link attached- might not be the best value, I haven’t looked at delivery but these are the books I would use for her. www.slapdash-bookstore.co.uk/products/year-2-maths-and-english-home-learning-workbook-bundle?variant=37586893176986&currency=GBP&utm_medium=product_sync&utm_source=google&utm_content=sag_organic&utm_campaign=sag_organic&utm_campaign=gs-2020-08-14&utm_source=google&utm_medium=smart_campaign&gclid=Cj0KCQiAyJOBBhDCARIsAJG2h5ceeVStCKzwOvwY9ktWdgzNXuCrcrwqEgjE9A1ON1KsvvqC23nLqrkaArNFEALw_wcB[/quote]
I have £0 to my name (all bills are paid and I have enough food in so it's not a major worry) until end of next week when I get my monthly wages, so it's school resources or nothing. I don't have my own printer.

DD is with the TA for both Maths and English, so assuming this means she's struggling in both? I can well believe it with Maths.

I'm actually not sure she's going to remember any of the learning we've done anyway, I asked her to do some basic addition which we did right at the start of lockdown this morning and she's cried as she can't do it I've suggested she use her numberline we made last year, we use her fingers, lego etc but she just cried and said she can't do it, I've left her to it and she's attempted to work them out but got all her answers wrong. Teacher said she could confidently do it at the end of last term. I've set us for a 10 minute break then back to it, but I do wonder if she's going to be behind anyway.

That doesn't mean I'm scrapping homelearning at all, but I do worry what benefit it's having for DD specifically. I just have to do my best.

I agree that using cgp or similar workbooks to spend an hour a day covering the topics that the school is setting in maths and english for 1 hour per day each subject sounds as though it would be more achievable for you and more useful.

If you can't access these, are there any oak academy or bbc bitesize lessons which cover the same topics?

For reading, some libraries allow you to download ebooks for free onto a tablet. Or ask the school if you could borrow some reading books if you can collect them.

In that case just focus on the basics - make your own questions or just some of the first ones from the school work. 3 or 4 better than none! Do a bit of adding one day some subtracting the next. Use number lines. Do some number bonds. Play with coins. I agree that learning from a screen is much much harder!

School are not sending reading books home I've asked several times and been told no as they don't think they'll get them back. We've not had a school reading book since March. Library in our area is closed but the main library in the next town is open, but again I can't go until I get paid as I have enough fuel for an emergency trip to hospital/to get me to the petrol station and thats it (there's a hospital with an a+e 10 miles away but we've never had an actual appointment there).

I keep using the oxford owls website but DD doesn't like books on screen so I don't think a reading app like Teach Your Monster To Read or similar would help. She's has her own tablet but I'm trying to cut her tablet time not encourage it further. When she's at school she only has 2 hours twice a week and 3 hours a day Saturday and Sunday and not at all when she's with her dad (EO Saturday) because he doesn't think a 6 year old needs a tablet. He also won't do schoolwork with her so I'm stuck doing it all.

It doesn’t matter if she doesn’t remember it - it’s the regularly doing it that helps. Its more like a curve than a series of steps. You sound like you are doing the right things. 10 mins of something useful is better than 3 hours of stuff that’s too hard!

Ask on Facebook local to see if anyone can give you any old books - give them an idea of reading age. You will probably be inundated.

You need to tell the school you need books if you can't afford to buy second hand and are not getting on with ebooks (I understand this, they don't work for us either). I'm sure our school would drop some round in your circumstances as they would want to help you help her, and your school would likely feel the same. It isn't something they would advertise though, you need to ask.
Teach Your Monster isn't reading as such. It's a video game where you have to sound the letters (and later read short sentences) to progress through mini games and collect accessories for your monster. It is nothing like trying to read an ebook, and even DD1, who absolutely hated reading until she was pretty fluent and it no longer felt like a chore, loved playing it.

I know it must feel really hard at the moment and like you have a mountain to climb, but PPs have made some really good suggestions. You seem quite intent on dismissing or finding reasons why the ideas won't work before you've tried them. You do need to try some for your DD's sake. And yes, she probably will drag her heels, because her experience so far has been 3 hour maths lessons. Even the keenest 6yo mathematician is going to baulk at repeating that each day! I would set a timer for an agreed time - maybe 30 mins initially if she's really averse to the studying now. Tell her that is what you are doing, that once it goes off it is pencils down and you'll be doing < insert fun activity > regardless of if you've finished. Sit and help her for the time, and then be true to your word. You can extend the amount of time once she's more settled with it. Walking off and leaving her to do something she has no confidence with will not help her.

I sounds like you are explaining too much to her. Give her an explanation and let her get on with the work. She needs to learn it’s ok to fail, lots of learning happens when fixing mistakes. So let her make those mistakes, walk away from her working to make a cup of tea if you find yourself trying to stop her from making a mistake.

Go over her work with her if necessary or upload it as is so the school can see where her errors are. Set time limits for a task.

Lots of parents try to teach how they were taught which isn’t the way children are taught now; this in turn leads to the children not understand as they have too many methods to problem solving.

Thank you, I do like the suggestion of a timer, I have a visual timer I can use which will really help. I think I will stop explaining stuff to DD and just let her watch the pre-recorded video or the live lesson back, help with technical stuff and thats it.

She does not like failing at all. It's something school were working on with her before Christmas. She'd genuinely stay back at playtime to get work finished until it was all right before giving up. She got very upset when the teacher told her she needed to go out to play and stop. I am trying to pick my battles so it's not going well saying "stop" as she keeps trying and trying which is making things worse for her I think.

TenaciousOnePointOne Her DD was crying and saying she didn't understand. How is leaving an upset (and likely under confident) child who doesn't understand the method alone to get on with it going to help? I can understand walking off to make a cup of tea if frustrations are building, but otherwise if able you sit with them and offer encouragement and the odd prompt if necessary. It is one of the few benefits to DCs of home learning for those that have a furloughed or SAHP - they have their own 1-2-1 to help explain the tricky bits. The child is already failing/struggling, they don't need any more of that life lesson right now.

Ok so interestingly the headteacher called me today as I needed to go pick something up from school, and in amongst the stuff I picked up was a handwritten note to DD from her teacher telling her she's doing a good job and to keep up the good work. So I'm wondering if it was a tick box exercise of "I've asked them to catch up I can't force it"

My school have explicitly advised parents to not do any work. Your DDs teacher sounds silly.