With schools and nurseries being closed, and lockdown now in effect, parents are faced with the daunting prospect of keeping their kids entertained for hours on end, while simultaneously keeping them fit, healthy and educated. Not to mention that many will still need to fit in working from home in-between.
Thankfully, there is a growing list of daily activities, products and initiatives being launched by experts to help make everything a little more manageable. Here’s how to deal with self-isolation with kids like a pro.
This article by Peepal Tree Learning aims to provide parents and carers with some tips on how to aid children in learning whilst being at home. Be sure to check out our website for information about us and the educational services we provide.
Set Up A Learning Space
Create an area in the house for your child to be able to focus on learning. There are no clear guidelines on what a learning area should look like. In fact schools have found creating learning areas or spaces to be a challenge. This is because every child has individual ways of learning, so what works for one may not work for another.
Home learning has an advantage in that it can cater to the individual child. As long as the student can focus and be safe, there are no limits to where the learning can take place. Feel free to allow children different places to learn, whether lying on the ground or sitting at a table – whatever works best for them.
But try to limit distractions. Turning the TV off and switching off app notifications will help.
Form A Structure
Make sure your children do not just see this as an extended holiday but as normal school, from home. It’s important to create a structure. Mainstream schools have a timetabled structure throughout the week, so rather than disrupting your child’s routine, you might wish to follow your child’s school routine.
There is no specific time students should spend studying however, given different students of different ages will complete tasks and grasp concepts at different rates. The advice is to aim for the time frames provided by the schools, and then be flexible depending on how your child is progressing. Communication is key. Keep checking in with your children as to how they are progressing, offering help as they feel they need it.This is how teachers work continually throughout the day with the 20 to 30 children in their classroom.
Be There To Aid, Not Interrupt
If your child is finding a particular task difficult, be available to make suggestions and answer questions, but try to let them do things themselves as much as possible. If you don’t know the answer, work with your child to discover a solution. Let your child, where possible, self regulate – that is to take control of their own learning and not rely on you.
You may need to take your child back a step to reinforce a concept before they move onto a new one. An example might be in long division, where reinforcing decimal points, or even subtraction, needs to be revised first.
Overall, this is a tricky time for many parents and carers around the world and it’s difficulties are completely understandable. For further information or for more articles just like this, check out Peepal Tree Learning.