Home Learning Ideas and Packs

How can schools and parents support pupils learning from home?

During the COVID19 crisis, there has been an unprecedented rise in the number of schools, parents and organisations seeking home-school opportunities…

How to get started with homeschooling?

Trying to navigate between all these complex issues, I have created a resource to help parents educate their children at home. It is designed as an intermediate-resource to help parents construct an initial curriculum, timetable of activities, as well as planning time to play, revise and complete homework. This resource won’t suit everybody, but for those who want it, it offers a starting point for parents who find themselves homeschooling whilst also trying to make a living.

Creating a home-curriculum

1. It will be important to provide a degree of structure and routine to your child’s day to help improve mental health, behaviour, diet, play and performance.
2. Create a timetable with your child, factoring in time, resources and what you can help them with. Consider the environment you will use to teach and what support you may need as a parent…
3. Where possible, plan in social experiences to help develop social, emotional and physical learning.

Download your home-learning pack

This resource is designed to help parents get off to a good start with homeschooling. Inside the resource, you will find statutory guidance, headline facts, things to consider when creating a home school curriculum for teaching and learning, revision and homework. The resources also signposts information explaining how parents can help their child remember more information, as well as example activities and templates to adapt.

Education is a partnership between the school and home, and all those involved in education, including parents, benefit from understanding how students learn.

The challenges for schools, teachers and parents

Given the challenges for critical workers and vulnerable pupils, being at school physically will still be modus operandi for some pupils and teachers. In some cases, online solutions will not be viable for vulnerable pupils who will require physical support.

For teachers now working increasingly in difficult circumstances, preparing resources for online use rather than traditional classroom teaching face-to-face will now be their immediate focus.

However, given that examinations have been postponed, there may be an apparent lack of demand from pupils and parents to revise/learn/retain knowledge – at least in the interim stages of coronavirus lockdown. As a result, the need to prepare endless ‘new activities’ for pupils to do at home in some environments will be hit and miss despite all schools and pupils doing everything they can to support their communities.

The challenge for all schools and colleges will be to ensure that opportunities are provided so that no child is left behind. How this shapes out in reality, will be an interesting challenge…