PARENT FACTSHEET
How to support home learning
Follow this guidance to create a positive learning environment at home:
– Be realistic about what you can do.
– You’re not expected to become teachers and your children aren’t expected to learn as they do in school.
– Simply providing your children with some structure at home will help them to adapt. Use the tips below to help you make this work for your household.
– Experiment in the first week, then take stock. What’s working and what isn’t? Ask your children, involve them too.
– Share the load if there are 2 parents at home. Split the day into 2-3 hour slots and take turns so you can do your own work.
– Take care of your own health and wellbeing. This will be new for your entire household, so give it time to settle. Take a look at the links at the end of this factsheet for some advice on mental health and wellbeing.
Keep to a timetable wherever possible:
– Create and stick to a routine if you can. This is what children are used to. For example, eat breakfast at the same time and make sure they’re dressed before starting the ‘school’ day – avoid staying in pyjamas!
– Involve your children in setting the timetable where possible. It’s a great opportunity for them to manage their own time better and it’ll give them ownership
– Check in with your children and try to keep to the timetable, but be flexible. If a task/activity is going well or they want more time, let it extend where possible
– If you have more than 1 child at home, consider combining their timetables. For example, they might exercise and do maths together – see what works for your household
– Designate a working space if possible, and at the end of the day have a clear cut-off to signal school time is over
– Stick the timetable up on the wall so everyone knows what they should be doing when, and tick activities off throughout the day
= Distinguish between weekdays and weekends, to separate school life and home life
Make time for exercise and breaks throughout the day:
– Start each morning with a PE lesson at 9am with Joe Wicks.
– If you have a garden, use it regularly. If you don’t, try to get out once a day as permitted by the government (households can be together outdoors but 2 metres apart from others).
– Get your children to write in a diary what they did each day – this can be a clear sign that the ‘school’ day has ended.
– Other activities to keep children engaged throughout the day.
– Where you have more freedom in the timetable, make time for other activities. Add some creative time or watch a dance video from Go Noodle to get the heart-rate going.
– Get your children to write postcards to their grandparents or to pen pals.
– Ask grandparents to listen to your children read on FaceTime (or ask grandparents to read to younger children).
– Give them chores to do so they feel more responsible about the daily routine at home.
– Ask them to help you cook and bake.
– Accept that they’ll probably watch more TV/spend time on their phone – that’s ok but you might want to set/agree some screen time limits.