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Secondary education

Connect with other parents whose children are starting secondary school on this forum.

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Original poster

Google Classroom schedule - a bit much?

55 replies

NiceandCalm · 04/01/2021 14:17

Not sure if there's a more specific place to post this.

My DS should have been back at school but was informed after Xmas that it's closed til 18/1 (possibly longer having seen the news). I've just received his schedule and it's a full on day, just like a school day, even down to the 40min lunch. Some lessons will be live. All work to be completed etc.
My DS is Year 7 and I think he's going to struggle keeping his attention at home. Do I sit with him to keep him focused?
Last year at Junior school they had work packs and had to submit the occasional piece of work online. After leaving him to it initially, I realised he was skipping through a lot of it so ended up spending 2 hrs a day with him and acting like his personal TA.
What is it looking like for everyone else? Do you trust your kids to get on with it? Poke your head round the door to check they are OK?

OP posts:

PeppaPigMakesMeGrrrrr · 04/01/2021 14:28

At year 7 he should be able to get on with it, as he would at school, without your input. If some lessons are live then this will help him focus. Maybe add in a couple of small breaks to give him a rest. But otherwise he should be able to get on with it.

BookShark · 04/01/2021 14:34

That's exactly the same as DD had last year when she was in year 5. We found it helpful to have to structure, the only thing she needed help with was making sure she kept to the timetable rather than spending ages on some topics. And if she finished early, making sure she took a five minute break etc. Sounds like your school are very organised; I wouldn't complain!

HelloDulling · 04/01/2021 14:36

My Year 7 DS, exactly the same. Following the timetable as if they are in school. We had it for the last week before Christmas too. The live element kept him focussed.

SoupDragon · 04/01/2021 14:39

DD has this. Her school has shortened lessons by 10 minutes though to allow for movement and stretching after a class, rather than having hem sat down all day.

BeeDavis · 04/01/2021 14:48

This is where children need to to learn about working and keeping focused. They are supposed to be in school anyway with a strict routine so why shouldn’t they get it at home? Once they show you they can focus maybe then loosen the strictness.

JustCallMeGriffin · 04/01/2021 14:49

My daughter has this. Full timetable being followed. 20 minutes of live learning to start each lesson then they have work to complete either within the remaining 40 mins (submit whatever they've done even if incomplete) or more homework style tasks that will take longer but still have a deadline.

It's much better than the "assign work and leave them to it" approach in the 1st lockdown.

I can sit and review what's happened each day with DD rather than supervise. Far from perfect but really appreciate the effort the teachers have made to make each lesson accessible and workable plus it gives them very much needed structure.

MintyIguana · 04/01/2021 14:52

Same for my y7. They're following the same timetable as in school with live online lessons. They had a trial run before Christmas and it worked really well. My dd said she found it easier to focus as the class were muted other than when the teacher unmuted them .

Truelymadlydeeplysomeonesmum · 04/01/2021 14:58

My year 10 son did 3 weeks of online live lessons before Christmas. Every lesson was live on teams. So the normal school timetable.

It has done him in completely. Normally he is a top set hard working student but even he was fatigued after a week.

Sat at a computer for a school day with just lunch and a few breaks is not natural. He did try a few things that helped. Going for a walk outside at lunchtime. Have a water bottle and snacks to hand. The cameras aren't on so standing up and doing some stretching.

School started back online today. So we will have to see how it goes this term. In London and not expecting school to be back until at least February half term if not easter

Truelymadlydeeplysomeonesmum · 04/01/2021 15:01

Yes a muted class definitely works well

I reckon the teachers will be putting that on their list of demands before they go back

Masks for students and staff
Vaccinations for staff
A real life mute button in all classrooms

Truelymadlydeeplysomeonesmum · 04/01/2021 15:04

@JustCallMeGriffin

It's much better than the "assign work and leave them to it" approach in the 1st lockdown.

We preferred the assigned work. I think it depends on the child.

Ideally I think a mixture of assigned work and live lessons would be better.

Petrarkanian · 04/01/2021 15:05

I would leave him to it initially, just check he's working, he'll soon be found out if he's skipping work.

It's so different at Secondary he may be more motivated to do it himself.

Running a normal timetable is in my opinion the best way for home learning, round here different schools did different things and I found the online timetable worked best.

MrsPnut · 04/01/2021 15:09

DD in year 10 has live online lessons. All children need to be on the google meet at the beginning of the lesson and sometimes for the whole lesson or sent offline to complete work and submit it.

A few lessons have set work for a few weeks with the teacher available during lesson time for consultation but that tends to be Art/photography lessons where it is more project based.

itsgettingweird · 04/01/2021 15:38

What is your concern? If it's same as school what do you feel is different?

I wouldn't stick head around door but I'd make it clear if he isn't doing as he should and gets found out they'll be removal of phone etc.

If they haven't scheduled 5 minutes between each session, got 2 free sessions where they'd have PE and even maybe music or drama etc if they aren't scheduling these lessons I'd wonder why and maybe keep an eye out.

And I'd also expect 15-20 minutes break in the morning as they usually get.

My ds is college and attend 4 days. 3 are 9-4.30 and 1 is 9-3. Their online learning is the same schedule with just 45 minutes lunch.

And some of his lectures are 2-3 hours long!

Original poster

NiceandCalm · 04/01/2021 15:42

Thanks for the replies. Yes Petrarkanian that's what I'm thinking, lol.
He has ASD so finds it hard to focus when he's not into it. Secondary school is all a bit new still. Was actually quite thankful of the strict measures when he started as don't think he'd have coped with the transition in normal circumstances. I just wasn't sure what is expected of parents and on-line learning. Will keep an eye on him and see how it goes. Thanks all.

OP posts:

Truelymadlydeeplysomeonesmum · 04/01/2021 18:14

@MrsPnut

DD in year 10 has live online lessons. All children need to be on the google meet at the beginning of the lesson and sometimes for the whole lesson or sent offline to complete work and submit it.

A few lessons have set work for a few weeks with the teacher available during lesson time for consultation but that tends to be Art/photography lessons where it is more project based.

Now that sounds better than the all day back to back lessons my son gets.

Bin85 · 04/01/2021 18:22

My niece has this .
6 lessons a day.
To be at computer ready to work at 8 20am in school uniform .
Very inflexible, you can't go for a walk if it's sunny and catch up later.

mmgirish · 04/01/2021 18:24

I'm a teacher who had been using Google Classroom since March since our school closed. The students in my school all do a full day. From EYFS up to the 18 year olds. It is full on but we are all used to it now because we've been out of school for so long.

itsgettingweird · 04/01/2021 18:26

School uniform is a step too far imo!

My ds got up this morning. Put on lounge pants and clean t shirt after a shower. Logged on at 8 and caught up with some project work and started online lessons at 9. Break 1-1.45 for lunch and then on until 4.30.

Made him have window open whilst in room and so about 2pm he put his dressing gown on was was cold!

Then we went for a walk at 4.45! He was most indignant about needing to get dressed

If he was on camera I would say jumper and not dressing gown but they work verbally via teams.

Lipz · 04/01/2021 18:37

Our schools tried this first lock down. They hadn't considered that there would be more than one child in the house. I had mine at the dining table but was told to separate them, difficult with 5 kids. I put some in bedrooms but was told that wasn't allowed had to be main living area, but I didn't have 5 main living area rooms. Then we had shit Internet as there was so many electronics going at the same time. Then they were messing. So I just stopped it, emailed the schools and seemily a few encountered too many issues so they swapped to sending work through to students. That worked well for us but may not suit everyone.

SoupDragon · 04/01/2021 19:04

you can't go for a walk if it's sunny and catch up later.

Like school then.

AnneElliott · 04/01/2021 19:30

I think this is great. DS has this now (he's year 10) but March to July it was just homework loaded on google classroom and it just didn't work for us.

This way he has to be up by 8:30am for registration and gives a proper structure to the day.

marshmallowfluffy · 04/01/2021 20:56

My secondary kids log in for each period and the teacher either teaches, tells them what work to do and submit or a mixture.

This is what private schools were doing in lockdown 1.0 and what state school parents wanted too.

loveisagirlnameddaisy · 04/01/2021 20:59

soupdragon

ScrapThatThen · 04/01/2021 21:05

Year 7s have had the most learning loss, I heard. I think it's good, but hopefully they will allow a few movement breaks to reset concentration.

redcandlelight · 04/01/2021 21:10

my teens (y8&9) have their normal schedule.
only 10 min per subject only for presentation by teacher & question, then they are expected to do their work and hand it in online. one 121 phone call per week from their tutor.

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