‘I can’t make it work': How are under-pressure families coping with the demands of homeschooling?

We asked parents to share their experience of teaching their children at home while juggling jobs and other responsibilities. Their stories shine a light on the challenges that families are facing in these unprecedented times – and on the vast differences in levels of support from individual schools

Derry O’Sullivan and his seven-year-old son Owen homeschooling at their house in Enniscorthy, Co Wexford. Photo: Mary Browne

Liz Kearney and Kathy Donaghy

We’re almost a month into Homeschool: The Sequel and many families are settling into a routine of weary familiarity. With no end in sight just yet, it’s hard to plan ahead or to know just how long we’ll be doing this for.

To find out how families are really coping, we surveyed parents on Independent.ie to ask about their experience this time around and how it differed from the lockdown last spring, when schools closed for almost three months.