Tips, Ideas and links to help homeschool kids during COVID-19

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Hello Everyone, looks like we have plunged into #lockdown3 with most of us in the UK having to work from home and home-schooling our children while staying calm and collected.  Hope you have survived the first week.  My advice ….if you have managed it the last time, this time should be a breeze.  I understand that this is such a daunting time for all of us especially since we had such high hopes for 2021. Rest assured things will only get better!  I will be sharing some tips for mums, dads and carers out there on how to survive the next few months. Please keep on scrolling to read my tips and links to various educations sites and remember to share this with others who might need some help.  One thing, expect to down lots of wine (so goodbye Dry January and if you refrain from alcohol, make sure you have your secret stash of chocolates hidden from the children for emergencies).

Just remember that you can do it and you are not alone in this!! Solidarity to all parents and carers out there and sending all of you virtual hugs!  Finally, use this as a guide and if nothing works out don’t worry as you can always turn to the help of home tutor.  Lastly, remember that your mental health and work is more important (I would recommend you to set lower expectations of what you will achieve so you don’t stress too much).  This time around both CBBC and BBC2 have confirmed that they will be showing school programming from 11 January.  Three hours of primary school programming every weekday on CBBC and at least two hours for secondary pupils on BBC Two.  So do record this so your children can watch it.  Lastly, remember to zoom call your friends for a quick chat and don’t forget to check on those you have not heard from in a while to make sure they are doing fine.

 

Have a Structured Schedule

Please get a schedule done, no matter if your child is in Nursery, Middle School or High School. I have used my daughter’s middle school time table and will be using it as a guide for both my 10-year-old and 7-year-old. Now each of her class duration is for an hour, but I am only expecting to get a good half hour of studying done for each subject, and the other 15-minutes for some exercise or garden play followed by a 15-minute break (for myself more than them to check emails and attend to calls).  My aim is to achieve a little every day, that way we all stay happy. Most importantly create a set routine and stick to it every day. There has been a lot more support from school this time around so this has made finding teaching materials easier.

 

Home-Schooling

Home-schooling is a form for parents and carers to provide basic educational qualifications which fit your child’s needs and your teaching style. So if you think you want to teach your child geography by being outdoors or history by watching Horrible Histories, Art by doing some craft and PE by dancing ….then just do it. You want them to have fun whilst learning and you want to keep your sanity at the end of the day too.

Do remember to have lots of materials at home, either order workbooks from your local store or start printing online free materials (see list below). Another way to master exam questions is to visit resourceful websites such as Save my Exams.

Besides workbooks, an age-appropriate sermon notebook is an effective tool to teach your kids the Bible. It contains a prayer list, a note-taking page, and a space to jot down their favorite Bible verses and personal testimony. I have stocked up on stationery pens, workbooks, craft items as well as A4 paper.  Find a workspace (which works for you) be it the kitchen table, living area or bedroom. So they can relate to this space as their work area. I am using my dinner table to get my children to sit and do the work as it is big enough to fit in all the papers/workbooks for both of them.  This is also the perfect time to find the hidden stash of presents which you have kept aside from birthdays which you thought was too fiddly to do or ones you have hidden for their upcoming birthday/Christmas.

Cooking and Prepping Food

Don’t forget, you still need to feed your child too with everything that is going on! No, you don’t have to prepare gourmet meals, but a simple sandwich and fruits and plenty of water/juice during breaks with some treats will do the trick and one healthy one-pot meal a day for tea/dinner. If you have a casserole pot or slow cooker or pressure cooker then just add some meat and veg to it and let it slow cook for dinner. If your children are anything like mine and constantly eat, then you need to plan what you are going to cook the night before so you can be more organised and get the meat out of the freezer with lots of fruits and snacks in between. In the morning try to get the ingredients ready so you don’t need to panic later on in the day.  Trust me, you will have more time this way. I also got my children to help me prepare simple meals at home like scones, pasta, cookies and cakes.  This is also the time to get to the bottom of your freezer to use up all the things such as frozen spinach and edamame beans which have been there for months on end.

 

Fun / Outdoor / Exercise

During the Springtime, we used it to our advantage… I got my children on the trampoline/bikes when its PE time in the garden. Being outdoors is a form of learning as well, most importantly enjoy it. With the second and third lockdown being in Autumn and Wintertime, this did not stop us from heading out for walks just to get my children out of the house no matter the weather.  The snow days came as a blessing as my children spent a few good hours outdoors playing in snow and they did not mind the long walks and the cold.

#PEwithJOE is starting again but this time it is on Mon, Wed and Fri at 9am for half an hour, my children enjoyed it during the last lockdown so worth restarting this again.  It is a great way to get some steps on if you as self-isolating and need to do your daily 10,000 steps on your Fitbit.   You can do the same and watch Joe Wicks on his youtube channel.   For those who don’t have a garden or live in apartments, try indoor activities such as  Cosmic Kids Yoga on Youtube or Just Dance for children who love dancing. Sam, my son’s Taekwon-Do teacher from SLF Home Learning is also sharing a lot of materials and videos to help children stay fit. With the clear skies you can also spend time in the garden looking at the stars.

Online Classes

I was sceptical at first about online classes as the fees were the same but I was not sure if we were getting out money’s worth but I soon realised that online classes  such as hurstville tutoring keep my children’s mind active and it something for them to look forward to. So throughout the lockdowns, both my children have been doing their piano sessions online. They also attend an online children’s church group so they have been doing lots of prayers and talking about the lockdown, checking on their mental health and talking about Christmas as we were not able to attend Church.  My son is also doing his Taekwondo lessons online and that has kept him motivated for when the real lessons start. I find their interest dwindles if you don’t keep the momentum going.

 

Gardening (When weather permits)

If you have a garden then use it for outdoor play and learning, here are also some garden/outdoor/wildlife themed ideas which you can do at home.  I will also be getting my children to plant some flowers or beans in the garden, if you don’t have any seeds, don’t worry, here are 25 foods you can re-grow at home from food scraps, remember ‘waste not want not’.  Do also check out Woodland Trust’s website to learn more about planting trees.  I find that getting them to run around the garden for 5-10 minutes between lessons makes the day more fun and a good break for myself as well to take a breather.

 

Music

If your children play an instrument, then get on youtube, and get them to watch the orchestra or follow lessons on how to play the instrument of their choice. Both my children play the organ/piano and my daughter also plays the violin. One good website is Synthesia, it is a great way for you to learn to play the organ/piano in MIDI format even if you can’t read music notes. You can try it for free, but you need to pay a small fee for the full program (totally worth it). I have downloaded this onto our tablet and connected this via USB to the organ and my children get to play songs on it. It is fun and a great source of inspiration as there are hundreds of song which you can download on it for free.  Noteblaster is another piano app worth downloading as you can practise on note reading, rhythm exercises and testing knowledge of key signatures.  Note Rush is similar to Synthesia which will calibrate to your piano and your child plays the note shown on the piano. The levels get harder and faster and the aim is to beat their previous level.

 

Keeping in Touch

Staying in touch with their friends is so important. We plan to create their own email for our children so they can email their friends. I have given my phone at a certain time so that my daughter (who does not have her own mobile yet) is able to facetime and chat on WhatsApp with her friends to stay connected. If you plan to do a group chat, then I would recommend Google Hangout, Teams or Zoom. I find that during the first lockdown, this kept both my children, especially my daughter happy as she could chat with her friends, join fun art and piano sessions to keep her occupied.  She has a group of friends now whom she constantly chats with to stay connected.

Working from Home – Parents Support

For those who are not key workers and still need to get some sort of work done at home, you can do it!  I work from home, doing writing, photography and blogging, so working alone by myself is not a problem. For many who are used to being in a busy office environment, the idea of working from home might make you feel nervous. Don’t worry, if you managed it the first time, you can do it again although I can tell that most of you have thrown the ‘Dry January’ idea out the window by now!

Homeschooling and working from home can be tough especially if you don’t have enough tablets, computers and phones for everyone to use. School teacher’s understand so have a chat with them. I remember my printer ran out of ink during the first lockdown and the school supported us by printing out worksheets so that was one less thing for us to worry about.

My idea is to get some sort of education done and then while they have their break to get some of my work. My husband will be working from home, so our aim will be to make less noise and to spend time in the garden if the weather is good or by going for a walk in the evenings before it gets dark in the wintertime. I am using the carrot and stick approach for this, and it works. You can also reward your children by offering them the xbox, phones and tablets during break times after they have completed all their work.

Here are some websites/links to help you in the coming weeks, no matter how old your children are. Use this opportunity to discover new things, learn new things and to explore.

Chester Zoo’s Animal Themed Learning Resources

Monkey Forest Homeschooling Help

Educational online games – DK Find Out

Activities and quizzes 

How to make a miniature book – The British Library

Harry Potter Virtual Tour – The British Library

Times Table Rock Stars – Free, full access for schools

Khan Academy – Especially good for maths and computing for all ages but other subjects at Secondary level. Note this uses the U.S. grade system but it is mostly common material.

Prodigy Maths – Is in U.S. grades, but good for UK Primary age

Maths with parents  – Free support with school closures

Mathletics – Free trial for school and home

Manga High – Full, free access at this time – Game-based learning

 

Reading Resources

David Walliams Free downloadables and audio books

Manchester Library

Staffordshire Library (Need library card and pin  to access the ebooks)

Cheshire East (Need library card and pin to access the ebooks)

Cheshire West & Chester Library (Need library card and pin to access the ebooks)

Audible Stories – Free during this period

Epic – Free 30-day trial – instant access to a range of books (age 12 and under)

Audible – Free book with free 30-day trial

Gutenburg – Download free books, e.g. Shakespear, Edgar Allen Poe, Frankenstein, etc.

Read free literature online – Free Ebooks, poetry, classic literature

Open Library Access – Free

 

History / Museum Tours

Big History Project – Aimed at Secondary age. Multi disciplinary activities.

BBC – Free curriculum mapped videos

Gelligaer Roman fort  – Teaching resources

Historical association – 20th Century history

University of Alabama – Free online archaeology and Egyptology Uni courses (create an account to log on)

Museums from around the world – Virtual, online tours

How to explore London’s top museums at home

Geography

Interactive Map Quiz – Mapzone – more at Ordinance Survey

Geography Games – Geography gaming

Virtual Tours  /  Aquarium – Virtual online tours – including zoos, landmarks in foreign countries, etc.

Home learning and Live video at Georgia Aquarium

Tutorful – Top Geography websites, YouTube videos, and resources

Online film festival – Resistance in the Rainforest

Reach out reporter – news and information about nature

National Geographic – Information and games for children

Seterra – Free world geography, online quizzes

 

Arts and Culture

The Artful Parent – Good, free art activities

Art for Kids Hub – YouTube videos

Expressive Arts resources – Riverside school

Drama resources – KS2 resources  /  KS3 resources  /  KS4 resources

Marquee TV – streaming arts and culture

J P Brewer – View classic paintings online

Red Ted Art  /  Crafts for Kids  /  Art Bar – Craft activities for children and young people

Google Arts and culture – Learn something new every day!

20 Genius Junk Modelling Ideas For Kids To Try

 

Computing/I.T

ICompute – I.T. Learn Programming and Computational Thinking resources

Codecademy – learn to code – free trial

Code Monkey – coding for kids: making learning to code as fun as playing a game!

Tynkler – Coding for children – Free premium access

Purple Mash & Serial Mash – Free for all schools & also Free resources

Blocky games – Games to help beginners learn computer programming skills

Scratch – Beginners computer programming games/projects

For families – ideas for activities, advice and learning tools

A list of free, online, boredom-busting resources for adults isolated at home

Sensory Stuck at home – A support group run by therapists/professionals on Facebook

Ideas for sensory fun at home – ChatterPack blog

Home learning resources – Skills builder

A-Z of sensory learning activities – InclusiveTeach

Ways to learn through play at home – SEN resources blog

Lots of ideas for activities at home – Scouts association 

Learning with Lego – Lesson plans – YouTube video

The world’s largest learning community – Pen Pal Schools

Ideas for offline learning – Try this teaching

Non-screen activities to do at home – Pobble

Activities for home – Paw Print Badges

Learning games online – PBS Kids

Creative play and learning for children at home – The Imagination Tree

Home learning ideas 

Online learning games – Sheppard software

Play board games online – Board Game arena

Virtual farm trips in America

Virtual field trips – 30 locations

Fun science and art ideas using things you have lying about the home – Videos on Facebook – McKinleys 4-H STEAM Project Club

You may also want to read this:

Horrible Histories Board Game Review

Review: Gibsons Games Rebel Girls Jigsaw Puzzle

Children’s Toy Review: Schleich Horse Club Rider Cafe and Mia & Spotty

Review of Ready to Decorate Teepee by Hobbycraft 

Resources: Thank you to family and friends who have sent me their go-to list, I have also compiled this with the help of Chatterpack