Homeschooling parents, really so perfect??????

Supervising work provided by others, eg school, is not home-schooling! All those people saying that they may never send their child back to school but 'home-school' them are in for several shocks when they have to go it alone.

My grown up kids are struggling with working from home and home schooling. I do a zoom session with the grandkids every day - starting with a quiz which now they take it in turn to compile themselves. Now I am learning something new! the point is it is unrealistic to get kids to learn like they do at school, but that doesn't mean they don't pick up valuable information all the time. Very frustrating all round, but needs must.

Maggiemaybe

Oh dear, some are just not getting it.

MawB the Hurrah for Gin on homeschooling is very funny, DIL posted it on FB.

felice rather like the round robin Christmas letters!
Apparently older DGC, Mummy and Daddy are all working hard at home
Younger DGC is set to work too, then they notice a little head bobbing up and down on the trampoline.

It's half term next week!

And yes, I do think the OP is funny. My grandson, currently in year 4 has decided he has now promoted himself to year 5 (not on the basis of any work he has done but just because he wants to). His teacher mother is not too bothered.

Exactly Daddima.

Sometimes I feel sorry for those children. There life has been turned upside down. Like ours has. Let them do some learning, I know schools are setting them some work. But also let me have fun with learning, Ie baking, crafts. Gardening if you have a garden, or if not looking for insects in in an open space. Playing games. You can learn through so many different ways. As a childminder we make up games with the children. But they are also learning. This epidemic has such an impact on their lives. Not seeing friends. I know some parents are working from home so more difficult.

Having had a rather strange experience with my youngest child who consistently refused to attend school or to be homeschooled, and who later went to a Russell group university where he obtained a first class honours degree, I am rather philosophical about the value of organised education. It’s easy for me to say, now I am through that awful period in my family’s life, but I really feel that the important thing for children during this surreal time we are passing through, is to know that they are loved and nurtured and that all things will pass. There are many things to learn in life and not all of them are learned in the classroom.

Oh dear, felice, I fear there are some serious sense of humour failures going on here ... it's like having to ask why the puchline of a joke is so funny ???

Simple answer to the OP problem dont go on facebook!

Am I the only one who wants to say people are not ‘ homeschooling’, but rather supervising work set by children’s school? To me, homeschooling is where the parents set the lessons and course work, and do any ‘ teaching’.
It could be different in other areas, but where we are there is absolutely no need for parents or grandparents to get involved, beyond seeing that the work is done, and submitted to the school online.
I do wonder, though, what the children’s teachers must think when 7 year old wee Johnny’s mother posts a picture of ‘his ‘ model he made for his class project!

That's the 'joys' of social media; everything is competitive to some, and I suppose it does put pressure on people, if they're believing all this.... Rubbish.

So damn true. It is like a competition.. who is doing home schooling the best...

Waking my DGS for ‘school’ at 9am I was informed it is irritating and pointless - always a fight

Felice , loved your funny , lighthearted but TRUE post, it was great! Don’t be put off by the few miseries who posted , some people take everything sooo very seriously!

felice, I understand where you're coming from- Having discovered I don't have the stomach for FB, I rarely log on-

It's an absolutely amazing platform, don't get me wrong, but it isn't my cup of tea-

I told a younger friend of mine who has a four year old that I was concerned about my grandson falling behind as he doesn't seem to be doing much learning at home, whereas I have a friend whose grandchildren's school have organised online classes.

She said don't worry about it - there's a lot of competitive parenting/grandparenting around these days and you don't want to believe everything that is said.

My son and his partner are both working from home and my son is particularly busy at the moment. He is finding it very stressful trying to deal with work issues, online meetings, etc, while the children are arguing with each other and playing up. The younger one is especially unfocused and uninterested in learning. I think this is probably fairly common in a lot of families, so try to take the image of "perfect" parents and their "perfect" children with a pinch of salt.

I don't have any pictures of any perfect parents on my FB, and if you do felice it may be that you don't choose your friends very well. I suppose if you have people you are in some way trying to either impress or keep up with that's what you will get. But if you don't like their posts just "unfriend" them then you won't have to see them. Or is this in fact just an attempt at humour or to make us all reassure you that you are doing so well? Either way I don't really care. I suppose like most of us most people are making the best of bad situation.
I am puzzled about a teacher retiring at the start of this crisis most resignations need at least a month's notice. Unless of course she was a supply teacher or not on contract in which case it wouldn't be her decision

This is an extraordinarily odd time. Most families are not choosing to homeschool and so for both the parents/carers and the children it is also very new.

Families who choose to home-educate on the other hand, do tend to settle into a rhythm that suits the family "style". It doesn't happen overnight if a child is taken out of school. I don't think anyone should be beating themselves up about doing a less that brilliant job of it if it's not their choice.

I haven't seen the Facebook posts but I expect they could make some struggling families feel undermined.

In this case I have to say that (like a number of others), I did read the original post as a criticism of the "perfect" families in their tidy homes.

Perhaps these perfect mums aren’t trying to do a full time job at home on-line - itself a new experience when they’re used to being in an office environment - while at the same time as tutoring their children who’re in various years and doing it with no training. Taking into account of course, the different relationships children have with their parents and their teachers.

Either that, or they’re struggling the same as everyone else and just trying to reassure themselves that they’re doing fine - really!

I have seen some mothers feeling depressed though at the posts about how perfectly other mothers are coping when they feel they are not.

Yes, this is how I took the OP, too. A slight (but good-natured) 'dig' at people bragging about their perfect children and how good they are at teaching them.

I don't know if people do it to convince themselves or others, really. Someone on my feed is always going on about how delighted she is that her 15 year old daughter doesn't want to hang about the streets in the evenings, accompanied by one of those shrugging smileys.

It's obviously a criticism of other parents, and a way of 'humblebragging' - (boasting whilst pretending not to), and criticising in a way that can't really be called to account, as she's not coming out and saying anything about the other kids, but it's clear that that's what she's doing.

We have 9 year old twins width their mum in lockdown with us. I try to do the lessons with them while mum works. School is excellent we have a detailed scheme of work for each week. If we manage to do some maths and English in the morning I am happy and if we do anything extra in the other subjects I am ecstatic. It is not easy. I am sure they do not giggle and egg each other on at school. In fact, I know they don’t as they are two of the quietest. However, I am perfectly happy to do it until it is really safe for them to return to school.

There are some good ideas on the Facebook stream but some do seem to exaggerate. DGS1 is 6, DD teaches P1 so she makes sure he does his work as well as doing her online teaching. She does a lot with her own children and is very good at craft, baking etc. He has made videos about space and ladybirds - speaking about them which have been put on the school twitter page. His class seem to be doing what they are asked. DD own class have not been engaging much with the online learning so she is a bit upset as the teachers have zoom meetings to discuss preparations and it is all planned. It is not lack of iPads, laptops or computers as that was all checked before. However it is hard and we have a video of her, DGS and DGD age 3 round the kitchen table and often doesn't end well. The teachers feel as long as the children are doing something then they are learning and to be kind to yourself. I have seen some mothers feeling depressed though at the posts about how perfectly other mothers are coping when they feel they are not.

Felice gang yersel means “go, yourself”
At the risk of appearing obtuse, may I ask where and why mysel or is there another Belgo-Scottish layer of meaning of which I am unaware?

I am not sure where this thread is heading but on the subject of home schooling I would like to praise all the parents who take it seriously. It is no easy task. We are both ex- teachers and have Year 8 (12year old )twin grandchildren living with us. One is autistic and they both go to different state schools. We work from 10 till 3.30 by which time we are quite tired. Remote learning is very different from having recourse to text books and both children have been lent laptops by the school.How difficult it must be for families in cramped conditions and several children.

My DS has 3 children under 7 and a newborn of 2 weeks. He tries to work from home and manage the schoolwork as well while his wife recovers from surgery and concentrates on the newborn.They manage as best they can.

What about those big families on the news last night who try to manage with one smart phone which the father needs for work? Impossible ! Bring back text books I say.