is anyone else completely overwhelmed by the amount of teaching and help you need to give/are expected to give?

[grumpypants]

I have 4 dc so prob worse. After parents eve I need to help ds write faster, and homework is to learn three sets of tables. Plus homework and reading. Youngest ds starts school soon and I need to get him going on letters and words. Other ds needs help with learning logs and maths - I just feel a bit exhausted. I work too, and have to listen to oldest secondary dc talk about schhol and options etc.I am worried that they won't have the basic skills they need for jobs later.

Sounds exhausting

Could your oldest help with reading, for example?

I only have 2 and homework overwhelms me sometimes so I sympathise. Can anyone else help? Or can 2 or even 3 DCs work at the same time? I've found it easier since making them both sit at the table for 20 minutes after tea (easier for me though as they are probably closer in age than your 4). It's become a habit and they don't moan about it anymore. We also do homework on Saturdays straight after lunch. Plus bits of reading as and when they can be fitted in, DS likes to do puzzles and crosswords at bedtime which is fun. DD is younger and too tired at bedtime, any work for her needs to be over well before 6 pm. She is better reading to me before breakfast, in the evening she loses concentration really quickly.

joan that is not the worst idea. She wd be quite happy to do that I think - thanks!
anthony - if they all work together, they get distracted. Ds1 can't concentrate with any noise going on, so need to have the others out the way! Dh works nights and weekends so not much help.
I just feel under pressure to teach them stuff !

Is yours a school that gets really good results? I'm interested because my DC's school gets okay results but there's not much homework. A friend of mine's child is at the best school in our area, which has excellent results, and she wants to take her out because she is overwhelmed with the amount of homework that comes home. It would be interesting to know if the schools that get the best results are the ones that pile the homework on.

My year 2 DS has a weekend book where he has to write 4 sentences about his weekend. Apart from that we just have to practise tables (No formal way of checking if parents are doing this or not), spellings for the week, and of course reading for 10 mins every night. So in effect, you could get away with doing nothing but the 4 sentences in the weekend book and just reading with them.

Year 5 DS has a couple of A4 handwriting/spelling practise sheets and a maths sheet and a literacy sheet every week. This takes him about 15-20 mins in total to do, and seems a bit pointless to me. And that's it.

I don't know how this compares to other schools.

No,altho it was outstanding at ofsted (is infants and separate jnrs - jnrs not a great ofsted) neither ds could read at the start of year 2. A part of me feels as tho they should teach this stuff at school, and I am really worried that ds (year 4) can't do his tables.

Don't worry about Y4 and tables DD2 went through all her tables again in Y5 and Y6.
Because lots of her class were still shaky.
He wont be the only one who doesn't know them.

Older DC may enjoy practicing tables or reading with the younger ones.

Unfortunately in this house it's DD2, who likes to pick holes in DD1 and I's reading, spelling and tables

Oh no! Maybe she could help you.......I am trying really hard not to feel overwhelmed by this!

Learning tables and reading need regular peaches at home and in school in order to be embedded. It is not 'just' the job of the school to do these things - after all over the year they are more in your hands then the schools. I appreciate that it must be hard with four children and an oh who works evenings etc, but it really does help the children if they learn good studying habits. The link between homework and achievement is so minimal that a lot of schools have dropped it in other countries. However, key skills and the reinforcement of them at home is essential to success. Could you practise timetables and spellings in the car or when walking to school (that's how I learnt them).

That is a good idea - walking might look a bit (what's the word) performance parenting? But I do drive a cple times a week when work is tight. It is such a massive task tho - ds had time homework, and I realised he had no concept at all of how it worked.

As you probably guessed on phone! Peaches?

Walking to school doing tables is a good idea. My mum did this with me and they are still firmly stuck in my head. I plan on doing this with DS as soon as he's old enough. We used to march along singing "one two is two, two twos are four" etc. had quite a long walk to school which helped

Regular peaches not a bad thing