Ways I’ve Helped My Kids Learn From Home

Last week I shared one way we’ve stayed organised during the lockdown together, so this week I thought I would share some of the ways I have helped my kids learn from home. They aren’t all in the traditional form of school learning though! 

Keeping To A Rough Daily Routine 

I am trying to start the days off well, getting up, having breakfast and getting washed and dressed before any of us turns on the computers, checks school e-mails and looking at what the plan is for the day. Once we’re done then we can look at schoolwork that has been set by the school on Google Classroom. We make sure we have lunch and dinner at ‘normal times’, and bedtime is a little later than normal for the girls, but we’re not using as much energy up each day! The weekends we’re free to do what we want, when we want, with lay’ins! 

Maths Games and Print Outs 

My girls love to learn by using Maths games, it keeps them interested and learning when they don’t even realise they are. As soon as I thought the schools we’re going to close I purchased a big box of A4 paper and made sure I had enough printer ink! I thought I was going to need it! 

Twinkl online has opened up its website to allow us to have free access to the print outs, as soon as I printed one out, the girls recognised the symbol and their school uses these for their work within the school. It’s a really good website and has so many fantastic worksheets. I do make sure the other side of the paper is reused for scrap paper, or when their practising their drawing skills too. 

There are so many sites where you can play Maths games as well, keeping the learning interesting for them. Have a look at some Maths ideas I had a while back, and ways you can learn through play.

Colouring 

My girls love to draw and colour, they have some beautiful pen sets and can often be found practising their drawing and then colouring them in. I have even started to sit down with them and colour too, at the start of lockdown I had quite bad anxiety, and I found this so relaxing and a way to switch off. 

You can print out free colouring pages online, and put them together using slide blinders to make up your own colour books. You can find some fantastic adult colouring pages online as well as kids ones now, it’s something I will carry on doing after lockdown myself! I do make sure the other side of the paper is reused for scrap paper, or when they’re practicing their drawing skills too. Don’t forget to stock up on cheap printer ink from here, as you’ll be surprised how much you go through!

Gardening 

This is something I have really enjoyed over the last few years, seeing the plants growing in the garden and how pretty the flowers make the garden look. However, I’ve never grown flowers from seeds before, so thought this would be a perfect opportunity to start with the kids too. We don’t have all the correct equipment, so we’re just doing it with recycled items from the rubbish!

However the seeds are growing, and the kids are so happy to see a new shoot coming up! We picked up our seeds from Suttons and checked which ones could be sown now. Get the kids to have a go themselves, it’s great to teach them how things grow and a very peaceful little task to do together. 

HayMax 

*Gifted 

If your kid’s struggle with Hayfever consider HayMax, it’s a very simple way of helping reduce the symptoms of hayfever without any medication. They looked into the children’s performance for studies and how the hayfever really did affect them during studies and exams. HayMax comes in different scents and a small pot which can be placed in a pocket easily for when you need it. My son loves the Lavender scent, whereas my twins prefer the aloe vera one which isn’t as strong.

You apply the HayMax balm around the nostrils and around the eyes. It catches the allergen particles before they manage to get into the body and then causing the irritation. It’s also made from all-natural organic ingredients too, so it’s something I don’t mind the children using. 

Lockdown Family Facebook Groups 

As soon as lockdown happened some fantastic groups we’re made on Facebook where people could share the wonderful things they’ve been doing with the children, giving us all ideas for all ranges of children. I was blown away by how many wonderful ideas there were, it wasn’t all full on and hard things to do either. It’s also been lovely seeing what some of of the older children have been achieving during their lockdown too, some amazing talent out there. 

In addition to hands-on activities, sometimes a little screen time can be both fun and educational. This list of the best kids channels on YouTube is full of entertaining, age-appropriate content to keep children engaged while at home.

TLC  Live Online Lessons 

*Gifted

I will hand this part over to Tyler my son who is currently in year 11 of school and was due to start his GCSE’s. However, they’ve been cancelled which is gutting for him. We have been gifted some online Maths lessons for him to work harder on his Maths GCSE as this was the most important one for him to get for college, but the lessons we’re still useful for us during the lockdown as it has kept his mind active and keep it fresh for college starting in September. 

When it came to my GCSE Maths I knew that it was one of the subjects that I needed to get a high grade in to be able to take the courses that I wanted to at college. Knowing this I knew that I needed to put in some extra work to get the grade 7 that I needed. But it was too difficult to get a tutor to come to our house or go to theirs, and now with the coronavirus situation in the world, there is no way at all to get one. TLC Live offers online lessons from the ages of 6-16 years. When you join you’re given a dashboard where you find all the lesson programme and timings. TLC Live we’re very flexible on timings, so I could fit it in with any commitments I already had.

My tutor was very welcoming and kind. They didn’t ever make me feel like I wasn’t doing good enough or doing something wrong, and when I did, they were there to guide me in the right direction with parts of the method or telling me where I went wrong, rather than giving the answer. This is great because it not only makes me have to think about what I did wrong, it gives me time to reflect on the issue and find where I went wrong.

TLC live uses a system where all subjects are broken down in 10 question quizzes. For example, there was solving equation 1 which starts you off with easy questions so the tutor can teach you how to do it. Then it could go all the way up to solving equations 7 where the questions were much harder and took longer to do. This is great because it guides me into the questions and doesn’t make it difficult at the start so I never get overwhelmed by the question.

The tutor was always there on time, and ready to start as soon as I was there. On your first session, they give you a 30-minute test where you just try and do as much as you can and it gives the tutor an idea of what you need to work on. The only problem I found with this is sometimes you get questions that are not on your school’s exam board so you never / don’t need to learn how to do them but it gets flagged up as something you don’t know anyway. But my tutor was great at listening to me and that problem was sorted out and we took it off our list of things to do in the sessions that we had. The only other problem I found with the system is that at the end of the hour it immediately kicks you out of the question you are doing which doesn’t allow you to finish it off with your tutor which can lead to a bit of an abrupt ending to the session. Overall I think that having this tutoring has improved my maths skills greatly and would have for sure helped me get the GCSE grades I needed. 

TLC Online Tutoring experts 

Outside Play 

We’re so lucky to have a good-sized garden for the children to play in during lockdown, we’ve worked hard to create a welcoming space for everyone outside. The outside play has been something I’ve been keen on encouraging with them, making sure they have time outside each day, and also taking a book to sit outside and read, rather than inside. 

Water play is a great one for children, they did a science experiment to see what objects floated and sunk, it didn’t just end there, they had a water fight and the laughter was wonderful to hear! They have water pistols, swingball, basketball net and a wonderful climbing frame to keep them busy outside. 

Relaxation For Teens

*Gifted 

We knew Tyler was going to find it stressful going through his GCSE exams, so Ailsa Frank sent us through some downloads of Relaxation for Teens. It’s a hypnotherapy download which helps pupils get the best out of themselves by letting go of worries and negative thinking which may be holding them back. Tyler hasn’t tried anything like this before, but gave it a go. Listening to it before bedtime is recommended. However, as his exams have been cancelled he wondered if it would be useful for him anymore, however, he said he used it to relax during the lockdown, when he has been feeling a bit down with it all. I think it will be good for him to have for the future when he is going to have a particularly stressful day coming up with college. 

For younger children I have found Amazon Audible has been good for the girls, being able to pop on an audiobook to listen to allows them to switch off into the story, and great for going to bed with and winding down. 

Baking and Cooking 

I have loved seeing the children cooking so much, Lily has always loved baking, but now she has time to do it. Picking out recipes she is keen to try out, (as long as we can get the ingredients) you can leave her to it and she manages so well. She loves seeing our faces when she creates something yummy and we love it! 

Check out Emily Leary at A Mummy Too for live cook along videos every weekday at 11am, it’s a great way to teach kids cooking and have some tasty things to eat each day too! 

Tyler has been enjoying cooking for the family, cooking the dinners for us all. Normally he doesn’t do anything like this, so it’s wonderful to see. I love that lockdown has given us the time to do more things and stop. 

Facebook Live Videos 

I have really enjoyed myself as well as the children, seeing all the different Facebook live videos coming up, but we’ve really loved seeing our local farm introducing the new animals that have been born whilst in lockdown. Manor Farm has been showing how they tag them, and what happens when the lambs are born. 

Places like Chessington Zoo have been chatting to the children about animals they have and showing the live feeding sessions, which gives the children opportunities to ask questions and learn more about these animals. 

We have also been joining in with live drawing sessions from Harptoons Live drawing sessions to draw cartoon characters, and if you’re looking for more details art, we have tried out Art by Lyndell to help the girls learn how to draw eyes. 

Lily has really loved the Animal Love Pet First Aid by Sophie who did a fantastic live video all about Hamsters and Guinea Pigs. Lily learnt so much about them, and it was done in such a fun and child-friendly way. 

Chores!

Yep the one that the kids really love!!! I have been getting the children to help me with the chores, with everyone at home the house gets messier and dirty quicker, but having 5 pairs of hands free, it can get done much quicker too! 

We have also been getting them to help us with DIY jobs that need to be done around the house as well, its a great way to teach them DIY and with a Mum and Dad who are always tackling a DIY job, then we have plenty to try!! 

Learning A New Skill 

I got my old keyboard out of the loft! I used to play this 25years ago, and I kept it through every house move we’ve had and now the girls have shown a real interest in it. I’ve set it up in the main family room and they keep going over to it and tapping away at the keys. We’ve started off easy with hot cross buns and twinkle twinkle little star, but I was very proud of them learning Happy Birthday too! Hopefully, it’s something they carry on learning after lockdown too. 

We’ve also been teaching the kids card games, but they’ve found online Solitaire to do in their own time as well! I used to love playing this as a child, so great to see it online for the kids too! 

I would love to hear about any other ways you help your kids learn whilst at home during lockdown.