Are You Home-schooling?

The Quick Start Home-schooling Guide

One of the main things about home-schooling is to not get stressed. Children do not learn in a stressed environment. They learn in a happy calm environment. If you have never home-schooled before, think of this experience as a time to make the most incredible memories with your children. Explain to them you are all learning together, and that they are in a safe environment to share ideas and try new things. Explain they have imagination and they are being encouraged to use it.

You may want to start family meeting to explain the old way of learning and the new way of learning, and that things may change on a daily basis at the moment. There are two reasons for this.

Firstly, you are involving them in a formal way about things that are changing. Keep things as calm and happy as possible. Explain that if they have any questions, they can ask them, and you will answer them the best you can.

Secondly, you are setting an expectation that learning will happen. You could create a very simple Code of Conduct, you can decide together what is right for all of you. Get them to come up with ideas of what should be included. Make it fair to everyone.

This is a time to treasure with your children!!!

There are many gaps in the current education system, the current focus is on passing exams, so just fill any gaps until normal returns. If you didn't already know, there are three ways to learn. Seeing, hearing and doing. Whatever you do, try and incorporate all three ways. There are so many ways to teach your kids that can be different from the education system. Many homeschoolers choose to home-school as they recognise this.

Make it fun, research together and praise lots!!!

Remember to incorporate play and life skills. This is very important, as is laughter, it’s the best way to combat stress.

Here are some ideas of things you could teach your children. If they don’t know what they would like to learn, give them a choice of two of these ideas

·     How to build an indoor campsite

·     Have a music session with your household objects

·     Create a play together and act it out

·     Read a book to your kids

·     Create art together

·     Learn about learning styles and see which one each family member is

·     Learn about travel

·     Search a world map and decide where you would go on an imaginary holiday. You can pretend your lounge is that place and set it up with all the things you need

·     Learn about culture, including online museums

·     Talk about survival skills

·     Write a story together

·     Research and talk about feelings and emotions

·     Teach your children empathy, research together what that is and how to practice it

·     Encourage talking time, where they can ask questions and explain things in simple terms

·     Have a set quiet time, where the kid’s self-learn by reading a book, drawing or something else

·     Teach them coding

·     Create a Pinterest account together and look for activities to do together

·     Watch a film and talk about any themes

·     Do a pay it forward project of things you will do when not in isolation

·     Tell them about the Butterfly Effect

·     Teach them about morals and values

·     Teach them to cook recipes

·     Ask them what they would like to learn

·     Let them pick a subject and do a project on it

·     Teach them about self-actualisation

·     Teach them about animal care

·     Show them how to save money and budget

·     Teach them to sew

·     Show them how to make a You Tube channel

·     Ask them about their hopes and aspirations

·     Create an ongoing memory box for while you are in isolation, this could act as a momento later

·     Ask them to think of as many things they like to do and why

·     Get them to imagine there is no wifi, what would they do with their time

·     Ask them the one thing they would teach the world

·     Look at ways to save the planet

·     Learn how to grow vegetables, fruit and flowers

·     Ask if they would like a new online buddy that they can get to know, who is the same age as them and from a different country

·     Show them how to set up a business

·     Create Christmas for the week and explain that the gift is spending time together

·     Ask your kids, what is the one thing I can do to be a better parent

·     Create a memory book about their family

·     Look into being frugal

·     Learn how to forage

·     Teach them how to be happy and realistic

·     Name all the animals they know and draw them

·     Learn about the military and police, and how they help us

·     Learn about hospitals and how they support us

·     Learn about the Government and Royal family

·     Teach them about sharing

·     Learn about love languages

·     Imagine going for a walk and explain what they can hear, feel, smell, touch and taste

·     Learn how to blog

·     Teach them about active listening

·     Make a bucket list

·     Get them to make a vision board of all the things they would spend their money on if they were millionaires

·     Learn a new language

·     Learn about self-care

·     Teach them about continual improvement

·     Journal your experiences

·     Learn about healthy options

·     Learn about your favourite sports team or personality

·     Write a song and perform it

·     Explain about intuition

·     Find a project you would like to volunteer with and discuss as a family what you would do

·     Find a charity you would like to support as a family and think of ways to help support them financially

·     Create an app idea the world needs

·     Disability and how to help people better

·     Learn sign language

Informal learning is the best way to learn!!! In these times cherish all that time you have together, focus on happy. Try documenting everything on video, so you can remember what you’ve learnt together. I suggest picking one activity per day. You can even just keep repeating these activities and some may take longer than a day. The world is literally your oyster right now. It is also very important to go with the flow and never force the learning. I would also suggest limiting online time to a couple of hours per day. I found this helped to keep my kids calmer and more imaginative.

At the end of the day, bedtime is a good time, recap what you have learnt that day and give lots more praise. It is also good to self-reflect and see what you could do better next time. Unschooling is the approach I used

Share your videos in the Mum Academy group, we are here to support you. ?? Who knows what wonderful things you will learn together, this is just the start!