Stop it now!
It is true that the work sent from schools has varied in quantity and quality, and whether you feel your child’s school has or hasn’t sent enough (or has sent too much!) this won’t necessarily determine how much or how little your child has learned since March.
Many parents, whatever their circumstances, have found it stressful trying to be parent and teacher to their children, all whilst trying to keep going with other commitments, such as working, looking after pre-school children, caring for relatives, trying hard not to swear in front of the kids, … far too many scenarios to list them all.
I’m hearing parents lamenting their struggles: ‘Am I spending enough time helping my child with school work?’ ‘Is my lack of knowledge holding them back?’ ‘Are they watching too much TV?’ ‘Am I a bad parent if I admit that my children are getting on my nerves?’
Rest assured, if these are your concerns, you’re not alone. Your child won’t be the only child in their class who hasn’t studied conscientiously from 9am until 3pm every week day. And they certainly won’t be the only child whose parent has had a panic attack when asked about long division or ratios!
Yes, there will be some whose parents have employed online tutors, and who have insisted that their children study the hours they would have done at school, and who post on social media how wonderful life as a home-schooling parent is, and leaving the rest of us feeling like failures. But unless those parents are qualified teachers with nothing to do other than home-school, there’s a pretty good chance their children will still need lots of help once they return to the classroom.
If you’re still worried and would like your children to brush-up on the maths they may have missed over the summer, I’m sending those who have signed up to my email newsletter a summary for each year group in Key Stage 2 (years 3, 4, 5 and 6) of the maths topics usually covered in class from March onwards. Each summary includes a voucher code for FREE access to the tutorial videos on my website over the summer, as well as time-saving links to those videos that are most relevant for each area of maths in the summary.
If you would like to access these FREE tutorials, click https://landing.mailerlite.com/webforms/landing/h3z3q6 to sign up and I will email a voucher code for you to access FREE videos all summer.
If, however, you’d rather forget about home-schooling and have a break – no one here will blame you!
Here’s wishing everyone a great summer – try to have a break, and here’s to a better September!