Teachers share the most effective ways to help our children learn from home once more

With the outbreak of coronavirus COVID-19 continuing to change the way that we live our lives at the moment, it’s understandable that everyone is feeling unsure of their next move. And with the news that Scottish schools are now closed until mid-February, it falls on parents and teachers to work together to educate children of all ages from home.

Until last year, most of us had never been in a position where we needed to home-school our children, and if you’re one of the thousands of parents wondering how to proceed for another stint, we’re here to help you. Below you’ll find tips and advice from teachers in Scottish schools to guide you in the best ways to educate your child from home and make sure they’re getting everything you need, in the easiest ways possible.

We’ve separated the guide into tips for children in primary school and older children in secondary school, with advice from teachers who work with those age groups to guide you along the way.

It’s a worrying time for all of us, and the main message we have to share is that nobody is in this alone. We hope that our guide to home-schooling your children will help make the next few weeks easier for all of you.

Primary

Primary age children will be used to a day crammed with different activities and plenty of playtime, but there’s no need to stress about how to make it all come together. Here’s some teacher-approved top tips to help you get younger children through the day.

Structure the day

The main advice from many teachers to bewildered parents is to create a plan for the day, to help create a sense of structure and routine.

Kim Stewart, a primary teacher from Perth, explains: “Try and make a timetable for each day, with a combination of academic work, physical activity and play. What you choose to do depends on the child, but it can really reduce anxiety in a child when they know what’s coming next, and it will also help parents maintain their sanity rather than being asked what’s happening every five minutes!”

Kim recommends a timetable along the lines of the following for primary-age children:

9am-10am: Academic time
10am-11am: Break and physical activity
11am-12pm: Creative time e.g. turning a book they’re enjoying into a comic, role-playing (perhaps setting up a pretend cafe with items from the kitchen), listening to music and creating some art about how it makes them feel, or what it makes them think of.
12pm-1pm: Lunchtime
1pm-2pm: Academic time
2pm-3pm: Outdoor time
3pm-4pm: Quiet time e.g. playing board games, completing some puzzles, watching an educational show on TV, making a costume out of newspaper and hosting a fashion show, even helping with the chores - the possibilities are endless!

Communicate with the teacher

Every school will have a different setup in place, which may now be different from the first lockdown, but the likelihood will be that you’ll have access to your child’s teacher, either through an educational platform like Glow or Seesaw, or even their direct contact details, so that you can communicate with them as much as you need to. Many teachers will be setting work daily through platforms like this, and will be active on them throughout the day, so you can ask away, and even send photos of your child’s work for feedback.

“Don’t be afraid to message the teacher and ask for help,” says Kim. “If you need some ideas or you need some help, no teacher will begrudge you that! You can also ask for recommendations on resources and websites to help you keep going.”

Don’t underestimate the power of play

“Kids learn so much from play, and this shouldn’t be underestimated,” explains Kim. “Whether it’s activities like hosting a talent competition, using construction materials like Lego or K’Nex, or making an obstacle course, they all work well to teach valuable skills and keep minds occupied. You can also use role-play, like playing schools, or playing teacher and reading to their teddies.”

Use the resources available

There are so many resources available to help you keep your children alert, active and engaged in their learning - it’s just about knowing where to find them. Kim recommends the following resources to help keep all of you feeling positive about your homeschooling adventure:

Twinkl

A teacher favourite, Twinkl has powerpoints, worksheets, games and even escape room puzzles for all areas of the curriculum. Resources are all organised by age and stage, and can be used by children up to the age of starting secondary school. It’s usually a subscription-only service, but the makers have announced that parents can sign up for a month, for free, during this tricky time.

Topmarks

A great website packed with a variety of maths games, again organised by age to help you find compelling tasks and puzzles to keep their minds engaged and active.

Nrich

Another website packed with maths puzzles and challenges, ideally suited to older primary children or even children already at secondary school. A great one for the whole family!

BBC Bitesize

A classic, this is a brilliant resource filled with tasks, projects, information and activities across the school curriculum.

Glasgow Science Centre

Keep an eye on their website and social channels, as the museum is posting daily science videos to inspire science at home.

Coloring Squared

A website packed with worksheets that teachers swear will keep children busy and engaged for ages. These mosaic colouring sheets look simple, but in order to colour them in, children need to solve maths problems, designed for a wide range of age groups and learning levels.

Include plenty of physical activity

“Being physically active is so important,” urges Kim. “Children are so active at school and it’s really important for them to maintain this, for both their physical and mental wellbeing. Whether it’s playing in the garden, going for a walk, doing some yoga, even doing a Joe Wicks workout video from YouTube, kids need to keep moving throughout the day, and not being around other children or not being in school doesn’t need to be a barrier to this.”

Teach kids the skills they can’t learn in school

Use this time with your children to teach them some life skills that wouldn’t be covered during the usual school curriculum - it will help them (and you!) in the long run, and helps to mix things up for your daily timetable too.

“Things like sewing on a button, learning to tie shoelaces, tending to the garden or even helping with the cooking are all great life skills that we can’t always cover in the classrooms,” Kim suggests.

Secondary

Secondary age kids come with a whole host of other requirements compared to the little ones. At this age, school work will be harder and require longer periods of study, more focus and less distraction. There’s no real playtime required, but remember to schedule in time for them to be physically active, time for them to take a break, and find ways to keep them off social media whilst they should be studying. You don’t need to be as hands-on with older children, but the key here is to make sure that they have plenty to do and to help them do it when they need you to.

Make a plan

The key advice for any parent attempting to home-school their child is to make a daily plan of activity, allowing for breaks and incentives to help keep your pupil alert and engaged.

Joanne Pirie, a secondary science teacher from East Kilbride, advises, “Start in the morning and work out when your breaks are going to be, and when you’ll finish up for the day. Plan in a treat or an activity for when you finish to keep them motivated - like watching a TV show, or playing a computer game - but make sure you save this for when the school day is over!”

Joanne recommends making a plan that has small chunks of work time, with lots of breaks. “For each particular subject, try scheduling in 45 minutes to an hour maximum, then have a 10-15 minute break, and repeat this pattern throughout the day.”

Get organised

As with any tricky task, it becomes easier if you plan ahead and get organised before you begin.

Joanne advises organising yourself by subject, to keep things as straightforward as possible: “Know which subjects your child will need to be working on, and prepare each one separately. Get all of your books, notes, worksheets and resources together for each subject to help keep things as smooth as possible - you can even create folders in your online favourites, and save separate resources and websites in each folder to help you stay on track.”

To help you stick to the plan, Joanne also recommends preparing snacks and drinks, and having them on hand so that your child stays hydrated and can’t complain about hunger - no wandering off to the fridge here! She also recommends creating a designated work area, to help your child maintain focus whilst they’re meant to be learning. This also means that when they take breaks, they can leave that space, and when they start the day, they’ll find it easier to focus and knuckle down if it feels like a specific learning area.

Schedule physical activity

All children, of any age, require plenty of physical activity, so don’t forget to pencil in time for this alongside their academic work. Outdoor activity and fresh air is ideal, so try a game of football in the garden or a run around the park. But if you’re in self-isolation and trying to stay indoors, you can try YouTube workout videos, where they can have a go at anything from HIIT to yoga.

Mix up the workload

Older minds can get bored just as quickly as younger ones, so make sure you’re mixing up your child’s workload to keep their brains active and engaged.

“Try a few different combinations of tasks,” advises Joanne. “So, try reading about a topic, then do a spider diagram, or a quiz on the subject. Practice writing an essay, or download some past paper exam questions for them to answer. You can even make flash cards of key facts of vocabulary for subjects, which will come in handy in future.”

Take advantage of the resources

As with primary school children, it’s likely that your secondary-age child will have been sent home with an education pack and a list of websites and resources to help them maintain their studies. But with the situation expected to continue for a considerable length of time, you can always make the most of having additional resources up your sleeve, just in case.

“There are so many online resources available, and with the situation as it is, many of them have been made free-to-use for parents during this time, so it’s well worth making the most of them,” explains Joanne. “But if anyone gets a little overwhelmed with how many are there, and if they’re unsure which are the best to use, one that I always find really useful for exam-age students is BBC Bitesize.”

Relax!

Whilst this is a truly unprecedented situation, and has the potential to be stressful for many of us who just want to do the best for our children, we can all only do our best. It’s important to remember no one is expecting you to run a professional home school—most of us aren’t teachers, and we can only do so much.

Joanne agrees: “It’s really not the end of the world if it all goes a bit Pete Tong some days - try to relax and not stress too much. There’s plenty that your children can be doing that will help them learn, that isn’t always academic. Spend time together with family in the house, play board games, cook together, learn DIY skills, paint, read for pleasure, play an instrument - and stay off social media! There’s a saying I always remember in tricky situations - we can’t calm the storm, but we can calm ourselves and wait for the storm to pass… In other words, it will all work out.”

We couldn’t agree more. Huge thanks to the teachers who contributed their advice to this article, and remember that you’re not alone, and nobody’s judging you. Wishing you the best of luck!