Y2 and Y4 dc flat out refusing to complete schoolwork - ideas?

[BewareTheBeardedDragon]

I have 4 dc at home right now. 3 are primary, and one of them will more or less happily complete his work each day. The other two, in Y2 and Y4 to a greater or lesser extent have become more and more resistant to doing anything as the weeks have gone on, and today just flat out refused. I know that they can both do the work set, but they just don't want to. We have reward charts, which do add a little motivation but not much. I have handed out rewards in previous weeks but I can't afford to keep buying stuff. I can't think of any free rewards that would interest them.

I am getting really frustrated with wasting hours each day trying to help two kids who are unwilling to cooperate and I feel like I'm banging my head against a brick wall. I know they are capable of doing it, and doing it well if they'd just put their minds to it. They don't have too much to do, the one who gets in with it can be finished in less than 2 hours and so could they.

I'm not a teacher and I clearly don't have the knack of interesting and inspiring young minds to learn. I can't just give up because god knows how long this will go on for, and they need to be doing at least some learning. Also their siblings would stop if I let them stop. So that's not an option, but I need ideas on how to make this less tortuous and more productive - please?

I let them have frequent movement breaks, and we go out to the playground each weekday. They also have snacks and drinks on hand. I'm just at my wits end and I don't want to ruin my relationship with them through it becoming a massive ongoing battle.

No television or devices until work is complete. That's all....

I tried that - they went without for the rest of the day and didn't seem to care.

What do their teachers say? Maybe a quick conversation with each child and their teacher would help.

I feel your pain. I took my y2 and y3 kindles away because they were refusing and they played with their lol dolls that they haven't played with for ages. Managing to get them to do 2 pieces each per day but it's a battle I tell thee!

Do you send in/upload work for marking, and get feedback from their teachers? My Y2 child is very pleased to get comments and Dojo points on the app we use. He's generally fairly biddable though - I can imagine it'd be very hard work with a more feisty child, especially when you have other kids to look after.

I really would t bother in primary. Watch a bit of bitesize and do cooking and nature walks and stuff

Thanks - I do upload what gets done and they aren't in the slightest bit interested in the feedback or team points that they get awarded

I will try asking teachers for advice, good idea.

Unfortunately my eldest is autistic and getting him to come out of the house with us to go to the playground daily is a struggle and an achievement - nature walks etc ain't gonna happen

We tried bite size last lockdown and all the dc hated it (I thought it was a bit shit tbh). We have been watching some documentaries about their topics, but it's mainly the hard working compliant one who enjoys that and the others wander off.

With the Y2, I had already dialled back my expectations and she has only been doing maths and English but now she won't even do that.

I'm really not trying to be negative and rebuff every suggestion - I'm just so drained by it all.

I made a cake with youngest this afternoon - got her to do some maths as we went. She rolled her eyes at me every time, don't think I managed the stealth learning very well...

What's your routine like?

I wfh, so insist that we both start by 8am. I also have a visual timetable that my Y2 child can see. It's not set by time, but task. So 3 tasks completed =1 timed break. Some tasks are quicker and some more in depth. Effort is rewarded not correct work the focus, though obviously the aim. 5 pieces of good effort = a chocolate or sweet treat reward.
Sometimes the school work is completed quite quickly other times not. Though I supplement it extensively.
Some days this could mean 10 or 11 tasks, other days 4,i try not to flog a dead horse so to speak.
The larger bulk of the academic work is done at the start of the week. So a lighter end to the week.
I no longer make the mistakes of having easier lazier starts to the day as this makes it harder, so an 8am start every day.

Hth.

Thanks - we start by 9, but don't have a visual schedule. I will definitely try that.

We have now abandoned the very poor work set for dcs on the dojo. We get no live teaching, very little feedback and the work set has been so difficult that it demands continual one to one with me at home.I use workbooks, Twinkl and dcs now choose their own topics. It’s not ideal but they enjoy learning again.

I have two school aged children and I’m a teacher, this might be an unpopular view but I think it’s so important parents don’t give up on home learning if at all possible. All this ‘they’ll all catch up’ makes me cringe because for some children who are already behind they’ll get further behind. Sounds like you’re working so hard with them.
A timetable sounds good. Mine cry and moan and it’s so hard as mine are at home and not in school as well. I try rewards for getting work completed earlier e.g. allowed to watch YouTube when I usually restrict it, stay up a bit later, have a snacky tea in front of the tv like a movie night, get a chocolate bar from the shop, arts and crafts, a walk where I promise I won’t complain if I end up carrying scooters - anything I can think of. So I try to reward getting it done but a bonus reward for getting it done without moaning! Could you reward your child who is doing the work?

@Clymene

I really would t bother in primary. Watch a bit of bitesize and do cooking and nature walks and stuff

Whilst I understand the sentiment, I know this simply doesn't work for a lot of parents of primary school kids. Personally I'm glad to have work to do otherwise a) I'd struggle to entertain them all day every day; b) one of them would literally forget that school exists (and it was hard enough to coax him in there in the first place) and c) when I'm WFH it's actually preferable sometimes it have them sitting at the table with me doing some work, even if it leads to a lot of questions and often needs a lot of input from me.

Cooking, craft and nature walks from 9-5 would honestly be more trouble than home-schooling!

My boy Y3 is under investigation for ADHD so trying to keep him sat and focused is like knitting fog most days.

I've found that lots of short bursts with a sense of achievement is more productive on the days he can't focus.

So if he has a live lesson (1 hour) they're then supposed to do another half hour on their own, completing the work sheet.

I allow him a 15 minute break where he gets to do his hyper jumping up and down on the spot, or a mad session on the trampoline. Then a drink, biscuit and back to work for another half hour.

If we are doing a 2 page maths sheet, an English written task and geography, I split it up:

First page of maths (15 mins top)
Discuss what he wants to write for English and jot some ideas down (15 mins)
Geography - online research and notes for another 15 mins.

He then has a break (usually lunch) and we do the 2nd part of each task over the following hour.

Without realising it he's done his set tasks for the day.

I've spoken to his teacher and she is more than happy with how we're doing things and has said we are one of the few families regularly submitting completed work.

In lockdown one school were just issuing worksheets and he hated it so I bought Leap Frog work books and a reward chart and that worked brilliantly.