TIPS have been offered to help parents with home schooling during the coronavirus crisis.
They come from Oxford Home Schooling.
Greg Smith, the company’s head of operations, said: “If you had a hundred home educators in a room, each of them would likely have a different approach, but there are a number of things you can do to get the most out of homeschooling.”
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Get rid of distractions – no-one can focus when the TV’s blaring, the radio on or when there is a lot going on.
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The place where the child is working should be quiet and comfortable.
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Regular breaks should be taken and parents can experiment to see what works best – they may find 30-minute blasts followed by ten-minute breaks help keep concentration levels up. Or they can work for longer periods and then enjoy a longer break.
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Work should be divided up as it can be difficult when faced with a big task – work should be broken down into smaller pieces with targets of what needs to be completed in each section – this will make clearer what needs doing and provide a good sense of progress being made.
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Lots of sleep – Children need plenty of shut-eye – most five to 11-year-olds need ten to 12 hours per night while 11 to 18-year-olds require eight to ten hours.
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Multi-tasking should be avoided – Resist the urge to multi-task and get lots of jobs done at once. This effectively divides the amount of brainpower available to each individual task or subject.
Schools have put a range of measures in place – from preparing learning packs and sending work home to online portals.
And there are online resources for children of all ages and parents on several websites, including BBC Bitesize and BBC Teach.
Children will also need to burn off energy and get some fresh air as well with a run around the garden or 0ther green area (observing the Government’s social distancing of 2metres).
To keep children active The Body Coach Joe Wicks has produced a series of workouts for children to do at home on his YouTube Channel.
Click here for more information on Oxford Home Schooling.
