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I'm a teacher and homeschooling is rough! The one thing that has been helpful for us is to set up classroom expectations. I had my kids come up with them- what do we expect from each other? They came up with doing their best, focusing on the task at hand, stuff like that. When they lose it, I refer to the chart that we all signed.

I've also tried to look for the teaching point that is in the lessons. If the kids aren't doing the thing exactly as their teacher said but they are still able to achieve the point of the lesson, I call it good. It's so, so hard and I can commiserate with you!

I would just focus on whatever you feel is most important and skip the rest. We’re fortunate that our kindergartener isn’t getting too much stuff, and new assignments aren’t given every day. Even with that, we’re told to only do what we can and not stress about it. Right now I focus on having her prioritize reading every day, both herself and with me.

I’m a teacher too, so I’m trying to figure out that balance with my own students. I want it to be meaningful, not too time consuming, and I don’t want it to be boring. It’s hard to adjust everything from in person learning to online!

My DD is 6.5 and also in 1st grade. Our district gave really reasonable work (all review), and doesn’t require us to check in. We aren’t really able to assist with her schoolwork since we’re working, and I’d say it takes her an hour tops to do a combo of computer work and worksheets focused on math, literacy, and handwriting. I also expect her to read on her own (but some days she reads a ton and others barely at all—it balances out) and do a chore I assign. If there’s a worksheet or activity she gripes about, I usually look at it and agree too—and often it’s something I hesitated asking her to do in the first place (usually a worksheet—either from me or her teacher so no fault to the teachers!— that seems pointless, boring, or redundant or could be better achieved with a real-life application).

When your daughter isn’t doing schoolwork, what is she doing? I think the key to our sanity has been that, outside of that one hour of work, everything else is self-guided. I don’t stipulate when she needs to do her assigned work, and if she and her sister are occupied with anything at all and not fighting, I let them carry on without interruption. I’m not worried about her falling behind. It seems like there’s something every day that’s a natural learning experience, like playing Monopoly for the first time and having her count the money/make change—that’s math and life skills!

Sometimes I get stressed thinking about the SAH moms who are doing science experiments I don’t have the time or bandwidth or supplies for but then I remind myself that some of her classmates are doing that, the majority are doing what we are doing (getting in what they can), and some aren’t doing any schoolwork at all whether by family choice or family circumstance. They’re all going to go back to school and be with each other, and just like before they will all be at different places educationally despite being in the same class.

My son is in SK in Canada so all of kinder is play based but I will look at what the teacher sends us each morning (just simple non mandatory activity) and work them into our play time outdoors and indoors without him realizing. This won’t work for actual worksheets but maybe you could be like hey since we figured this out while we were outside playing, let’s write it down so teacher can see! I also lean on reward charts and stickers and m&m treats haha bribery is my friend! But really I was getting huge push back so I made a picture schedule chart and let him check off each task we do each day and somehow we’ve gotten in 30-45 mins of actual learning time each day this week just because it’s on the chart 🤷‍♀️

This week is spring break for us. Instead of all my plans to catch up on assignments we missed, we've thrown all instruction out for now. She's not motivated to do any of it, and I don't have time to sit with her and make sure it's done while also working. We've also had a major spike in meltdowns and whining this week.