Schools closed. Practical coping strategies?

[Curioushorse]

Hullo! I’m really interested in practical coping strategies people used that worked for home educating.

I have three kids. Both me and my husband have fulltime jobs, though can work flexibly (so I do most of mine in the evening). Our real problem is the toddler, who means we can’t sit down with our other two.

Full disclosure: I have a masters in Education. The main use this has been for me is to make me really chilled about the fact that I can’t hone educate my kids. I know they don’t need much more than a couple of hours of intensive work at the moment.

Last time I used various maths websites so the kids could play computer game type things for their times tables. (If anybody can recommend any, that would be great)

I also paid for a book subscription. I used this company (Bookwagon.co.uk) and they just sent a book each month that I knew was right for the kids and that they enjoyed. It was worth every penny and i will be doing the same again. I imagine any independent bookshop would also offer the service of you email them. This was important to me because my MEd basically showed me that if you get them reading for pleasure, everything else will follow.

Please can people share other tips? We can do this, people!

We used BBC bite size quite a bit. Mine was very resistant though, so I asked his teacher's advice; she said just read to him. If you can't do anything else, just read. ❤️

Oak Academy will be your friend. Online full lessons for all key stages

It will depend how old your toddler is, but in the first lockdown my 4 year old would Skype my parents/mil/sister for an hour while I worked with our older child.
It was a massive ask of the family but it made such a huge difference. They would read stories, play games, scavenger hunts etc. I was never far away if they needed me.

Also play dough

it really depends on the ages of the dc.

but generally we try to keep to a good routine, fixed mealtimes, breaktimes (outside/playground)

My two learned to read with Reading Eggs last lockdown.
The older one is now on Night Zookeeper which is to do with SPAG and creative writing.
We also like Outschool for Zoom lessons. Mr Powell is very good for history.
This might be a bit niche... but there's a website called Timemaps.com which is the political map of the world year by year through history. I used to draw the land masses and have my history obsessed DS draw the borders for eg: The Ottoman Empire then label the important towns and so on.
He was a bit behind with his writing so it was a nice way to build his confidence by writing one word at a time. He

Do you by any chance own for work for this company that you are recommending?

@KatyN Play dough is an excellent tip. He will probably eat it- but I guess it is edible, isn’t it?

@redcandlelight And I think I’d forgotten about the importance of making everything regular and fixed routines- so thanks! That’s a good tip. I think it’s probably going to be particularly important to separate the weekend from the weekday when they can’t go out.

Thanks @SuperSange and @GuyFawkesDay I’ll bear those in mind. Found finding the relevant resources on those sites almost as much of a faff last time as searching through the stuff sent by the teachers. But Oak Academy was only setting up so it might be easier now.

Podcasts and lego. History story time is annoying but apparently addictive but there were lots of others

I could do with strategies to support my exam year child who is stressed and has to be at home on his own trying to work without moral support while I am out at work for up to 12 hours a day on long shifts.

@Thatwentbadly

Do you by any chance own for work for this company that you are recommending?

Valid point! No, I don’t (and I suspect I haven’t even put the link in properly, so probably haven’t even done a good job of advertising them). I do think local bookshops would do the same thing- but I think it is worth mentioning them because they were an absolute life saver for me. It was honestly just really easy- and I think they only do children’s books, so know their stuff. It enabled me to get on with my work, know the kids were having fun and doing something with educational value.

I mentioned them more to indicate that I’m prepared to pay for things that make my life, and my kids’ easier.

@custardlemontree oh that’s just horrible. I really feel so, so sorry for them.

@unlimiteddilutingjuice thanks so much. I’ll check all those out.

@Attictroll

Podcasts and lego. History story time is annoying but apparently addictive but there were lots of others

Thanks! I’ll check out the annoying podcast. If I could combine the Lego with that then they’re learning while they’re having fun- the dream!

Epic! Is an app with a range of free ebooks. It’s American and some of the offerings are a bit ropey, but there are some good ones and some will read aloud for less confident readers- or to give parents a bit of breathing space.
Theatre of Science on YouTube has great sessions with an interactive part- generally it tells you what is needed in order to join in.

[quote Curioushorse]@custardlemontree oh that’s just horrible. I really feel so, so sorry for them.

@unlimiteddilutingjuice thanks so much. I’ll check all those out.[/quote]
It's ducking awful.

I'd recommend heavy daytime drinking and Roblox. Interspersed with your own full time zoom meeting schedule of course. Throw a packet of super noodles at them for home ec every lunchtime.

@Igglepigglesgrubbyblanket

I'd recommend heavy daytime drinking and Roblox. Interspersed with your own full time zoom meeting schedule of course. Throw a packet of super noodles at them for home ec every lunchtime.

Do you think that the patients will mind ?!

Thanks @QueenofLouisiana I’ll have a look.

@Igglepigglesgrubbyblanket I’m not even joking that alcohol is how I’m going to get through it. The only way I can make myself start my work in the evenings after we’ve put the kids to bed and tidied up, is if I have a few glasses if wine. Quality work.

Some friends of ours swapped out weekends when schools closed last time, so took the pressure off doing the schoolwork Mon to Fri while they needed to work, and had two days a week where they could concentrate on it with the children (KS1 & 2).

I work In a secondary school (support, not teaching), so no idea what I am going to do. Boys will be home with Dad but he has to work, so need to figure out how I can support him and them.

May ask to go part time until Primary School reopen here.

What ages are your DC OP?

DD was 5 in last school closures, 6 now, we found having a rough schedule really helped, she thrives on routine, it was very basic though, something like:

9-10 - literacy (using Twinkl worksheets or some activity books we bought)
Break
10:30 -12 - activities from wall board
Lunch
1- 2 - Numeracy
Break
2.30 -4 - websites

We had an A3 sheet up on the wall that me, DH and DD had brainstormed a whole load of activities on, things like:

• build the tallest Lego tower
• make a Lego car that can carry a barbie
• set up a teddy bear picnic
• make a fruit salad that looks like a face
• draw a picture of a unicorn in a spaceship meeting an alien on the moon
• sort through your toy box and find one bag of toys for charity
• use stuff from the recycling box to build a bridge/castle/furniture for dolls
• use balloons, scrap fabric and odd socks bag to make barbie clothes
• design a treasure map and think of some clues for a scavenger hunt

We had a load of websites bookmarked/whitelisted that DD was allowed to use independently - bbc bite size, iPlayer, Nickelodeon, oak academy...

DH and I both work from home and were able to agree with bosses that we would each take time out during the day which we would make up in the evening, so days were long, often not finishing work till 11/12pm but it got done.

We found routine was very important.
Work in the morning, some exercise and something creative on the afternoon.
Work was daily maths and English and oak academy.
I did get a lot of craft ideas and found YouTube tutorials for many things and just got the dc to follow them.
We found some fun baking ideas too and watched documentaries.
Exercise was either Joe wicks, garden, walk or bike ride.

I was happy to manage them but didn’t always want to be involved or teaching. Obviously, sometimes I had to but it’s important to find activities that they can get on with independently too just for our own sanity.
Get them helping out with some chores too as otherwise it can get a bit much for us and it’s good for the dc.