With so much uncertainty surrounding us now with COVID-19, it is a great time to just concentrate on what is important, so…

Pick your battles!

Families have been thrown into chaos with having their children & young adults doing online learning at home and suddenly, parents have become teachers!

It has created a great deal of anxiety for families particularly parents/carers who now have to:
– set up extra routines around schooling
– teach as well as parent!
– understand and instruct how to do something, ie, maths, science etc
– schedule in break times
– keep their kids inside or at least in their back yard
– provide enough stimulation to accommodate their sensory needs
– separate and teach each of their children on various topics and skills levels!

Wow! I am overloaded just typing this list!

Take the pressure of yourselves and decide what is most important! If you are overloaded, I can bet your kids are going to find it tricky to learn with you anyway!

Make it fun!

The advice I have been giving my families is to take the time to enjoy natural teaching of skills – if you are finding it extremely difficult to get your kids engaged in their school learning, focus on the things that are important!

• develop positive happy relationships with your kids.
• play games and teach about taking turns, winning and losing, maths, speaking and listening etc…
• go for walks and have them write down things they notice beginning with every letter of the alphabet
• set up a sensory space with them
• find bugs in the garden and research to find out what they are
• take them shopping and have them read out the list and mark off as they go.

The activities are endless, all you need is to be CREATIVE!

Take advantage of accidental learning…

A lot of learning happens when you don’t even expect it so make the most of these opportunities when you can!

For example, packing the dishwasher helps kids to work out how to fit everything neatly and leaving no space for anything else!

Have them make decisions and choices around what they would like to learn about – google is a great place to start!

Make a PowerPoint slideshow about something they are passionate about or are wanting to learn.

It is only limited to your imagination!!

Have a flexible time frame

Everyone learns at their own pace – be sure to work to the pace that best suits you & your kids!