Four steps to survive and thrive at homeschooling

Well, who could’ve guessed it, Lockdown 3.0 is here and that only means one thing for all of us fellow parents and carers; home-schooling! If the flashbacks of dread have started to loom over you with just the thought of becoming a teacher again, then don’t fret! We’ve put together four tips to winning at becoming both parent & teacher… 

 

Structure, routine and rest

If school and childcare teaches our children anything, it’s structure. With a clear start and end to the day, kids know what to expect. It’s important to inject that in your home classroom, this doesn’t mean make the learning experience boring and regimented though! Sit down with your child and ask them how they would like to structure their day and work together on creating a learning timetable. It can sometimes help to get the lessons your little one doesn’t enjoy as much out the way first, giving an incentive to get through the day! 

Part of any school's routine is break time and lunchtime. Let’s face it, home-schooling on top of the usual tasks of your day, or when trying to work from home, a break would be beneficial for both of you! Most schools will have two breaks, one in the morning and one in the afternoon and a lunch break, so as a starter for 10, make sure those are incorporated into your schedule. Don’t be afraid to add in some other fun little breaks though. When attention is lagging for either of you, take ten and come back refreshed and ready to learn. 

Core strengths

Every school will focus on the three core subjects, English, Maths & Science. Every parent wants to know everything that’ll help their children, but don’t worry, you don’t need to be superhuman, after all, who still remembers Pythagoras & the theory of osmosis anyway?! Although if you know a tricky topic is looming, it might be worth having a little read the night before so you’re not caught off guard! If you want to step away for a bit, BBC Bitesize is launching a fantastic initiative to help to learn from home. Simply click “Start a lesson” and answer a few questions and a lesson will start! It’s always worth remembering if you’re not sure, Google is only ever a search away from the answer, as we’ve already said, you are not superhuman! 

We've got a fantastic range of toys and games that can help with literacy and numeracy learning, here are our top picks to help your child with letters and numbers and to spark their imagination from the world around them! Check out our top picks here

Get active

We’ve already highlighted how important it is for both of you to take regular breaks, and don't forget, nothing gets the blood flowing quite like a British Winter, get outside, feel the refreshing cool air and get moving! Getting active has long been proven to be a learning aid and luckily national treasure Joe Wicks is back with the much loved ‘PE with Joe’ at 9am on a Monday, Wednesday and Friday. You might have seen Instagram go into overdrive recently with our Stapelstein balancing and stepping stones. They can be a great addition to any climbing or obstacle course around the living room! For slightly older children, there’s always Wobbel Boards, designed to improve balance and core strength while keeping it all very safe and do we need to mention, they just look cool, a great addition to any modern family home. 

Get crafty

As Andy Warhol once said “Art is anything you can get away with” - That ‘scribble’ that sits proudly on the fridge, supposedly meant to be the family, it’s still art, right? Getting crafty is the perfect way to get the imagination and creativity flowing! We've got a great choice of supplies in our Arts & Crafts category. Our must-have product is our range of fun scented sensory playdough from Land of Dough or Curiosity Corner , perfect for little portrait artists. 

So, are you feeling ready to go and smash home-schooling?! We hope that we helped you in planning the perfect learning day. Most of all though, enjoy the process. Remember, this is a unique opportunity to spend time with your little ones and watch them learn & grow.

Follow us