Stuck with home-schooling? Here are some useful tips to get your charges learning

 The ongoing pandemic situation has thrust the world in a state of crippling and challenging uncertainty.

Many schools remain closed while others have opened, some more tentatively than others.  A variety of learning modes including home learning are on offer.

While I think this post may be several months late 😉,  I'd be willing to bet there are parents out there who will be looking for tips

 and ideas to help make the best of  home schooling.

For parents , suddenly finding they are in charge of their children's education, this can be a difficult  situation to handle.

We all want the very best outcomes for our children while also ensuring that they are safe.

One way to best help children learning from home, is to establish and create as good a learning environment (or better) as what they are offered in school. 

There can be some flexibility with this, but ideally try set them up where they can do things such as; complete writing tasks or work on a computer, on a solid and practical surface such as a desk or table.

Creating the right home learning environment sets the stage for disciplined and structured activities.

 Home schooling however does not have to be a draining and arduous task. With a bit of organisation, you will be on your way to

 becoming a fantastic parent teacher!

Here are some tips to get you started.

• Create a learning environment
• Organize information by topic
• Work out a timetable
• Research topics
• Use questioning to develop ideas
• Give small writing tasks
• Work breaks into timetable
• Avoid close question tasks
• Keep checking on progress and give feedback
• Broaden learning with a new language

 ok, so let’s get down to business.

 The hardest part of teaching is managing a class of different abilities and diverse characters in addition to dealing with all the management bureaucracy.

 Luckily, at home you don't have either of those scenarios. Different abilities and characters perhaps but definitely not bunched into groups of thirty!

 Let’s take a look at how to get the most out of home schooling.

 

Create a learning environment 

 Why is having the right environment ideal for a great learning experience?

In order to maximize the home learning experience, it is important to create an atmosphere that is conducive to learning.

Firstly, try to identify or set up a designated area for learning. This space should be light and airy and free of any clutter or anything that may cause distractions such as mobile phones.

You may also want to personalize the space for your learner, and it will be necessary to focus on facilitating any identified learning needs. If in doubt, have a quick chat with your child’s teacher who will be more than willing to help!

 Here are other practical suggestions that can be quite useful.

 

 Get in some structure

 Have a clear plan 

Unless you are following a prescribed timetable provided by your

 child’s school, you need to think of working out a structured plan.

 Routine is very important and is heavily relied upon in schools.

 

Your child will already be used to this.

Introduce structure by setting up a timetable and planning activities in advance.

 It not only sets out a logical plan of action, it also helps to organize the home learning experience. 

Remember to structure breaks in.

 Children usually get one comfort break plus a lunch during the

 school day but remember school structure and timetabling allows

 for other little breaks such as changing between class/lesson or 

engagement in active learning subjects such PE or drama .

Try to also work in some physical activities into their daily plan.

 

 Research topics

  It is a good idea to read around the topics that your child is covering in school.

 Even if you already are knowledgeable in the

 different subject areas, it will still be useful to add to that

 knowledge by broadening your understanding.

 

Remember knowledge is constantly evolving, and many things will have changed since your own education.

The more information you have the better you will be able to offer sound help and advice.

 

 Foster knowledge and understanding

 You want to help your child to get the best out of the home learning experience. 

This may mean developing some new skills!

Use of questioning has become an invaluable tool in teaching and learning.

Questioning has been identified as  a useful resource because;

•      It helps to find out what students know so you can address gaps
•       It engages the learner with the topic
•       Provides opportunities for them to ask their own questions
•       Helps to develop problem solving skills

 

 Stay away from closed questions i.e. those that give a ‘yes’ ‘no’ or other single word response. These are the worst type of questions as they leave no leeway for any kind of deep thinking and so, does not foster learning.

 Here is an example:

Closed question :  Did you have a good time at your friend’s house ? The answer will most likely be (yes/no). 

 Open ended question : 'Tell me about your time spent at your friend’s house?' or

'What did you do at your friend's house?' or 'How did you spend the time at your friend's house?'

The open ended questions give a greater opportunity for the child to answer in a sentence, give descriptions and develop overall use of communicating feelings, emotions etc .

These are especially great for helping children who may not be so good at expressing themselves verbally or otherwise.

 

Give small writing tasks

  Encourage great writing and comprehension skills.

As a follow up to using questioning to develop great thinking skills,

 you can also give your children small writing tasks.

The emphasis here on short unless you have tons of free time and don’t mind reading longer ones.

A page and a half at maximum is encouraged.

 

Your aim is also to keep the child interested and motivated in the home learning experience so keeping tasks short and focussed will be your best bet.

Choose topics that they will be interested in and will want to write about. Remember the main goal is in developing skills rather than focusing on content.

 

Check for spelling, grammar and general sentence structure. This resource may help.

 

You may further help by encouraging them to read aloud what they have written.

 

 Keep checking on progress and give feedback

 Feedback is a mandatory part of the learning process. 

It helps the child to understand where they went wrong and allows 

them to be able to make necessary adjustments.

 

Giving feedback is not the same as giving the answer. It should allow the child the opportunity to assess their strengths and weaknesses and understand how to move their learning forward.

 

So, a simplified version of using feedback would be to try and explain what they did incorrectly and providing them with an opportunity to correct it using questioning etc.

Try to keep an eye out to ensure things are going as they should 😉

 

 Why not learn a new language?

 It is important to have additional language skills these days. 

International travel and work opportunities are so much more

 available nowadays and with the ever widening scope of the internet,

 the world is looking like a much smaller place. 

The ability to communicate with people from different regions is not

 only liberating but can open up a world of opportunities.

It’s a great time to broaden language learning skills by getting your child enrolled in an online language learning class.

 

Here are a few suggestions.

Duolingo offers fun language learning for free that is easy and accessible to use. Upgrades may be chargeable. These are optional.

Below I have put together a list of language learning sites that may

 be good to check out. I am sure there are others out there as well.

 Be mindful though that they will usually have some cost attached.

This is not a recommendation of these sites by any means, rather just

 ones I'm familiar with. 

1. Babbel

2. Mondly

3.Rosetta Stone

4.Hello Talk

5.Lingualift

6.Memrise

 

  It's a good idea to check each and see which may be more suited to

 your learner and also more affordable for you.

 So, get organise and get those learners up and motivated with these great tips!

 

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