5 Top Tips For Home Schooling Amid the Corona Virus

Teaching your child on a full-time basis was probably not in the plans of many of us but the Corona virus pandemic has changed all our lives for the foreseeable future. It's not all doom and gloom - this is an opportunity to really engage with your children and make education fun. Here are our top 5 tips for home schooling:

1. Planning

Now that we are all aware of what is upon us our forward planning will be the key to a nice and smooth transition to the home schooling routine. Create dedicated spaces in the home that will become your class room. Ideally these spaces should be free of distractions like the TV or other people e.g. toddlers. In addition to the school work that your children will be given to take home on the last day of school, source additional reading material to limit screen time. When sourcing additional children's books for the home library variety is the key. Involve your children in deciding which books they would like to read. Not all children are destined to be experts on the works on Shakespeare.

2. Manage Expectations

Once your children are discharged from school for the last time in a while, many of them will get that 'summer holiday feeling' and throw themselves into the sofa as soon as they get home, pop open a bag of Doritos and start rehearsing their latest Tik Tok routine. It's important to emphasise that a school routine will still be followed but just in a different setting.

3. Prioritise Learning

The majority of you will not be qualified teachers so be realistic about  your own abilities. The best thing is to focus on the core subjects which are mathematics and English. For primary school children the wipe clean books by Roger Priddy are a great way to get them practising their handwriting. Use picture books to encourage younger children to read independently by taking turns to read pages. For maths, lots of number bond practice and times table revision will really help them to develop sound fundamentals.

 4. Include the Children in Planning

Your children probably have a better idea than you do on how a modern school functions. Let them enlighten you on what a typical day at school is like and take on their ideas in planning a daily timetable, lunchtime and even giving your home school a name.

5. Rules

Have you ever been to parents evening and listened to a teacher describing how well behaved and quiet your child is and thought that there must be some sort of mix up (your child is a nightmare at home)? Rules are crucial in ensuring that your children behave in a way that is most conducive to learning. This is how a school manages to get the majority of children to behave, so home schooling will require the same thing. No phones or iPads whilst trying to learn your timetables or read a book!

We hope that was helpful and wish you luck in your new career as a teacher. Let's get children reading books again.

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Children’s Book Outlet Team

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