Schools reopening

[Bevziibubble]

I am glad that your school is sticking to the 4pm rule! It sounds very strict and so much work.
I am keeping on top of it all but having to be very organised. It stresses me out when they are both on meetings at the same time and there's so much noise and they're both needing help.
There is a lot of pressure. I don't know how they expect everyone to manage to get everything handed in in time. One of the mums I know from school who has kids in both my kids classes is lying to the school that her internet is down and not doing anything! There have been a few kids in each of their classes who haven't attended a single meeting yet even when the school has provided laptops if required so I don't know what happens in those circumstances

 

[AngelUK]

Wow I would never have the nerve to do something like that! I can understand it a little as I sometimes wish we could somehow come up with an excuse to do less but on the other hand the kids not getting ANY schooling for all that time? How can she do that to her kids? But maybe she and those other parents work (from home) and just cannot get the time?

 

[Bevziibubble]

She doesn't work at the moment as she's on furlough. I do understand it the odd time if you just desperately need a break, but can't be good for the kids to have months off school and not doing any work

 

[Twag]

DH and I are working full time at home and homeschooling our Year R and Year 2 children we take one each and honestly it is beyond hard and super stressful BUT I would never not make them do work!!
In fact DH and I are taking day off work tomorrow (due to stress of it all and needing a break) but the children will still be doing their online lessons.

I am not sure how I am going to carry on with this until 8th March - considering being signed off with stress but I couldn't do that to the rest of my team at work

 

[Bevziibubble]

it sounds like such a difficult situation with you both working @Twag. I hope you can get a bit of rest on your day off

 

[AngelUK]

I am so sorry Twag, I always wonder how 2 working parents are supposed to cope with this.
Our teachers seem to think that Dominic at least (Sebby has problems focusing) should be able to do the work pretty much independently and that includes the editing and formatting. They are dreaming or delusional! No way!!
Sometimes if I don't understand what they are supposed to to, the work just doesn't get done. For example:
They were supposed to do some work on a formal letter over the last few days and while we did the first part ok, I just didn't get what they were supposed to do the next day cause I thought we had done that part already too - and of course no help from either boy. So I sent it back saying Dom/Seb don't know what to do. Dom's teacher replied again that Dom should be able to do this as it is just the sort of stuff they do in class.
I asked both to listen today. Did they? Nope. So we submitted what I thought they had to do and Dom's teacher returned the work. Obviously it is done wrong. So now I dread that she will call him tomorrow and he will once again not listen and STILL not know what to do. So what am I supposed to do? Do it for him?!

 

[Phantom]

Regarding an earlier conversation, my kids didn't attend a single meeting either. I was honest with the teachers and told them they wouldn't be going on but we did our best to do work our way. It's just not for us. My house isn't a school and nothing we could do would be good enough to pretend it was a school. With one child with autism/anxiety and the other with anxiety/selective mutism and me on the edge of breakdown we did what we had to do to keep what was left of our sanity. The schools can't force anyone to do it. You all are doing amazing and your kids are so lucky to have such dedicated moms.

On a positive note, my kids go back to school on Monday. it was a complete surprise announcement but it looks like the government is finally listening to experts. My kids didn't react as expected. They stared at me for 10 seconds and when I said "why aren't you jumping up and down or something?" My daughter started acting excited but ds just hung his head. He says he's not going back. These abrupt changes are so hard on them.

 

[AngelUK]

Oh Phantom I can not even begin to imagine how hard it must be with kids who have additional needs! I don't wonder that you cannot possibly do all the work that is given out. I hope when they go back it will be for a good long while and not on and off again. Also, I hope you can then get some Me time to recharge your battteries a little.

 

[Bevziibubble]

That must be so difficult Phantom I'm glad they are going back to school on Monday and I hope that you get time to rest and recharge

 

[Bevziibubble]

I am so sorry Twag, I always wonder how 2 working parents are supposed to cope with this.
Our teachers seem to think that Dominic at least (Sebby has problems focusing) should be able to do the work pretty much independently and that includes the editing and formatting. They are dreaming or delusional! No way!!
Sometimes if I don't understand what they are supposed to to, the work just doesn't get done. For example:
They were supposed to do some work on a formal letter over the last few days and while we did the first part ok, I just didn't get what they were supposed to do the next day cause I thought we had done that part already too - and of course no help from either boy. So I sent it back saying Dom/Seb don't know what to do. Dom's teacher replied again that Dom should be able to do this as it is just the sort of stuff they do in class.
I asked both to listen today. Did they? Nope. So we submitted what I thought they had to do and Dom's teacher returned the work. Obviously it is done wrong. So now I dread that she will call him tomorrow and he will once again not listen and STILL not know what to do. So what am I supposed to do? Do it for him?!

That's crazy that they're expecting him to do it all himself including the formatting. Some schools seem really fair while others just seem to be putting so much pressure on the kids

 

[monkee12]

I’m finding home schooling really difficult, my 12 year old is fab and does her lessons but my 7 and 5 year old are really hard to home school. My 7 year old is autistic and he will do the odd bit of maths but that’s it. If I try and push him, he will have a major meltdown which i can’t deal with right now. My OH now works from 7:30am and doesn’t get home until 9-10pm. I know I’ve failed

 

[Deethehippy]

I’m finding home schooling really difficult, my 12 year old is fab and does her lessons but my 7 and 5 year old are really hard to home school. My 7 year old is autistic and he will do the odd bit of maths but that’s it. If I try and push him, he will have a major meltdown which i can’t deal with right now. My OH now works from 7:30am and doesn’t get home until 9-10pm. I know I’ve failed

You have not failed! You are a mum, not a teacher of different year groups! All we can do is try our best..I think a bit of reading each day goes a long way hugs.

 

[Bevziibubble]

I’m finding home schooling really difficult, my 12 year old is fab and does her lessons but my 7 and 5 year old are really hard to home school. My 7 year old is autistic and he will do the odd bit of maths but that’s it. If I try and push him, he will have a major meltdown which i can’t deal with right now. My OH now works from 7:30am and doesn’t get home until 9-10pm. I know I’ve failed

you haven't failed at all You're a mum and not a teacher. The home environment is completely different to school and it is hard to get younger children to do their lessons

 

[Rags]

Monkey, would it help you to remember that in many of the top performing countries in the world, and often the ones with higher happiness levels (such as many of the Scandinavian ones) formal education doesn't begin until children are 7 - believe it or not this might turn out to be a boon for your younger children in the long term. I think its important to give your children the time to play and learn as they need right now. Families who chose to home school don't sit down at a lap top for 6 hours a day, they do a wee bit of this, a lot of that and a bit of something else. It's the great garden bird watch this weekend, sitting with binoculars counting birds and looking up their species and interesting facts - that's education. Counting the number and colour of cars passing and adding up the colours, that's education. Reading the ingredients list on the cereal packet or helping read a recipe and make dinner... it all adds up and it's big important life skills. Maybe take a wee leaf out of pp's book and dont turn the computer on a few days a week, tell the school you're having internet issues and do education the way it will work best for your family right now knowing that they will thrive BECAUSE of your decision, not in spite of it!

 

[c1403]

It's really sad to see how much pressure you all feel under.

I've been honest with our school and said with two children and working from home we won't be doing things to their timetable but will do what we can. We don't do online lessons anyway but if we did I wouldn't be doing them as it just wouldn't work for us. Tbh we are covering most of it but I will not feel pressured. Also it's better to spend more time on the work making sure they understand it rather than rush through it and they forget it days later.
Fortunately our school are very understanding though. We are not doing PE, RE, Art etc as these are things they don't show an interest in (my youngest cartwheels all day long so she's getting plenty of exercise) I do make them do English and Maths. Maths they both really enjoy, English needs encouragement. Reading at bedtime etc.

Please don't feel under pressure. Most decent teachers know what we're up against. Even if reading a few books is all you can manage its something (although I do draw the line at not doing anything at all, reading a book takes 20mins!)

Lots of love x

 

[c1403]

Monkey, would it help you to remember that in many of the top performing countries in the world, and often the ones with higher happiness levels (such as many of the Scandinavian ones) formal education doesn't begin until children are 7 - believe it or not this might turn out to be a boon for your younger children in the long term. I think its important to give your children the time to play and learn as they need right now. Families who chose to home school don't sit down at a lap top for 6 hours a day, they do a wee bit of this, a lot of that and a bit of something else. It's the great garden bird watch this weekend, sitting with binoculars counting birds and looking up their species and interesting facts - that's education. Counting the number and colour of cars passing and adding up the colours, that's education. Reading the ingredients list on the cereal packet or helping read a recipe and make dinner... it all adds up and it's big important life skills. Maybe take a wee leaf out of pp's book and dont turn the computer on a few days a week, tell the school you're having internet issues and do education the way it will work best for your family right now knowing that they will thrive BECAUSE of your decision, not in spite of it!

Totally this. We don't homeschool but I have friends that do and they say this is not what they would do in a normal week. Even they find it tough as so many outside restrictions.

 

[c1403]

I’m finding home schooling really difficult, my 12 year old is fab and does her lessons but my 7 and 5 year old are really hard to home school. My 7 year old is autistic and he will do the odd bit of maths but that’s it. If I try and push him, he will have a major meltdown which i can’t deal with right now. My OH now works from 7:30am and doesn’t get home until 9-10pm. I know I’ve failed

You have not failed at all. Go with what they want to do and enjoy. My youngest loves Mathletics so she does that as much as she wants. I encourage English and she will do it (for a reward) x

 

[Rags]

Like c1403 we ignore the art, re and pe, really not something Ds is interested in. Maths he loves, literacy I encourage and he spent part of this week building a hydraulic robot arm from a kit, it wasn't set by the school but it more than covers his STEM (rather than the 'egg inside a bottle' experiment suggested by the school as he already understands the science behind that).
It's the weekend now, hope you all manage to relax a bit and have some fun - and it's not that long till half term!!

 

[AngelUK]

I am SO looking forward to sleeping in tomorrow lol I hope you all will find some time to recharge this weekend!

 

[Bevziibubble]

I hope you have a good weekend