It’s the end of the school holidays and we are now back into the school term. It’s time to begin learning again. We have the tools set up for us by the teachers and now it’s up to us as parents to make it happen!
For many of parents this is a tough challenge because school generally does the teaching but right now in lockdown, the tables have turned. We have to work together to make the best of a tough situation. We may have to work from home ourselves so we need a good plan and stick to it.
CREATING A ROUTINE
We don’t want to compromise on a lot of stuff but if we set up a routine for the school week and treat it as a school week, this will help us get the best out of it. Plus, we won’t feel like we are crap parents 😊 if we give it a go!
When creating your routine, just remember, this is your child, you know them best and you know where their strength sit best. Your child’s teacher will have some ideas on how to engage your kids in their school work which should make it easier for you 😊 probably some cool ideas for distance learning.
I actually set my alarm each day. Nuts eh?! Really, there is going to come a time when I will have to go back to school so at least this part won’t be too hard. Don’t get me wrong, I still sit around in my pj’s a lot longer than usual but I am up and out of bed. I think we can become complacent, forget what time it is and at times I even forgot what day it is. Setting up a good routine to mimic what you would normally be doing if you were on a regular day out of lock down certainly takes the edge of it a little.
Ideally to get started, you can email or message your child’s teacher for tips and the best way to move forward. They will have an idea of how much time realistically we can spend on ‘school time’ with our kids. The biggest thing is that there wont be anything new, the kids will most likely be practicing skills they have developed already. There may be new challenges like an inquiry but your teacher is there on the end an email or phone call. We like to keep it easy, as teachers know how hard it is for you in this transitional period. It’s about keeping up with what they already know.
I can give you a few tips that may work as a guide to creating a good routine for you at home through the lock down. The best way for me to do this is to share with you what we are doing at home to make it fun. I try to get in different tasks for the kids based on what they have in their learning cache from school. We keep the real formal stuff like math and literacy to the morning and then have the fun stuff in the afternoons.
I began by setting up their rooms to accommodate easy learning goals. They can go there to work on their tasks and are away from each other for small breaks. This helps prevent the fighting and arguments that can occur at times 😱🙄.
Miss HD teachers have set up her learning through online forums so she is completing much of her work through the computer.
The Karate Kid has a learning grid that he is working through which has paper based and online tasks to complete.
What I then did was set up a time table for them. It’s pretty basic but it seems to work. I will change it up each week to give them a chance to try different things but we are quite flexible. I just put it on our fridge calendar 📅 and they check it each day.
Setting it up this way gives them the chance to work though the core subject tasks but also being able to change it up so they can have fun stuff!! Their fitness could be shooting hoops, practicing karate or dancing or even just bouncing on the trampoline. We do regular food breaks. They can focus on their tasks but also have some fun. I also throw in baking or cooking for math/literacy. I get them to google science projects. They complete art work or play a game together. They are actually enjoying it!!
SOME APPS OR WEBSITES TO HELP
I can recommend a few learning sites or apps to help break the cycle as well. Download some games to their iPads that stimulate math skills or spelling. Most apps are great for kids because they LOVE 💔 devices and it promotes hand eye coordination. They are still being challenged but through play. We do WORDSCAPES and SUDOKU. They love the challenge.
Another great tool for promoting reading is EPIC which is currently free for parents to join over the Covid 19 period. They have all sorts of books for different stages and levels of reading!! Audio books are great!! Let them explore!!
PRODIGY is another fabulous web link you can join for your kids. It’s math based and online. Easy as!!
For littlies there are heaps of apps that help them with their spelling or site words. I also started a bit of a journal with my two but for younger kids you could have them draw a picture of something they enjoyed today and then write about it! keeping those skills going so they don’t ‘forget’.
I also made it even more fun by sitting with them at 3.30 and asking what they did today 😱🤣 they almost everyday say ‘nothing’.
Well I think I may have given away some of my secrets today but I hope it can help you shape it up so you get the best out of this time. Enjoy it, have fun with your kids and watch out for my scavenger hunt ideas!!
Keep safe peeps
Rosie 🌹
Life’s Rosie 