Share your homeschooling tips and learning resource recommendations please

[TinaMumsnet]

Hello,

It's been announced that schools in Wales and Scotland are closing by the end of the week, and it's looking likely that schools in England will follow soon.

We thought it might be helpful to start a thread where Mumsnetters who've been there before could share tips and resources.

If you're a teacher or already homeschoolingdo you have any advice for those of us who are new to this?

What schedules do you follow?
Are there any online resources you would recommend?
How can parents who are working from home also make sure their children keep learning when schools close?
How do you stay sane?

TIA

Sort of depends on what age group, but the ones that seem to be popular for most ages are Bitesize, CGP, Seneca and Quizlet. I know Seneca have recently started a fb group where they are sharing links to all their resources and advice for parents..
www.facebook.com/groups/DistanceLearningForParents/

Quite a few mums have been asking me how to work with their children on maths while schools are out. I would like to recommend our book, 'Making Numbers' to you. There is at least one child friendly practical activity on every page and each suggestion is based on research evidence that we have gathered with support from the Nuffield Foundation. You can find details as well as some free to use animations and video clips here: access.oup.com/eac/basicLogin.htm. I am sorry to say that you will need to login but access is free and there are other quality resources too.
We hope you and your children enjoy what you do and have a lot of fun together.

I’m a secondary school teacher and senior leader.
To support parents during the Covid 19 crisis I’m uploading a week’s worth of completely free lessons for all/most subjects. They’re applicable for all secondary school age groups.

If you’d like to access them click on tiny.cc/homelearning

For info on the activities or if you need help you can email me at [email protected]

Take care everyone

Hi everyone. Lots of love in these strange, discombobulating days.

Can I recommend scribeasy.com for creative writing? My kids & friends' children have used this platform for years. It has been helping them write much better stories for homework without any pain. Sometimes mine even use it for fun, writing about whatever they want, and have made really special story gifts for family (to save pocket money). It has a library of thousands of real-life images (or you can upload your own) to make scenes that inspires a story, it has an in-built thesaurus, it can read the story out loud, it's dyslexia friendly. It's got a lot of clever tech - embedded thesaurus, image bank, parent deck etc. It even has a new function that captures emotion using artificial intelligence, there's a story sharing function... It's a proper home ed platform that you can adapt to the curriculum with spellings. The founder Amanda, who I have met, is LOVELY, super-dedicated, has struggled so hard and given everything to build this. She brought in teachers to help develop it to ensure it's inline with the curriculum. It's got project art packs or you can make your own.. just loads of stuff. Museums are beginning to use it to encourage kids to write about their visits, a London LEA (maybe more by now) has recently bought into it and I think teachers can use it in class. This app really is fantastic - anyway there's a free trial. Her twitter is #scribeasy_stories

My friend shared this google drive folder where you can put any topic into a spreadsheet and it brings up links to resources from loads of different sites - super useful for giving kids a choice over how to learn and making them feel more in control :) drive.google.com/drive/folders/1ou1BobdHkEvXYRaqEG8Xeo0HzYr4a5wl

Can anyone point me in the direction of the free twinkl stuff please? Thank you.

Hi my 10 year old loves scribeasy.com which is a creative writing platform. Very easy to use, you choose a background, a selection of images to drop in to it then start writing. The programme guides you with a thesaurus to improve vocabulary. Unlike some of the apps she has to do at school she actually asks to go on this one! Great at unleashing the imagination. You can sign up for a 7 day trial without having to put your card details in. Well worth a try.

I've found some resources on the WaterAid website, which are good for teaching about handwashing: www.wateraid.org/uk/get-involved/teaching/hygiene-activities-for-kids

F

Hey mums

A few have asked for good online resources Twinkl is really good and been a lifesaver but so has this company called The Online School.

I used them during the first lockdown as they was free and offered actual live lesson through zoom which my child enjoyed.

Also National Oak academy has some good content as well. I have listed the website below should anyone want to view them.

www.theonlineschool.uk

I have been a teacher for a very long time in both primary and secondary schools. I have recently (last week) stopped working in school to keep myself as safe as I can from Corona virus. However I am not ready to give up helping people to learn. Ihave been reading homeschooling forums and I am reading that homeschoolers are searching loads sites and passing them on, which is great. However what suits one child may not suit another.
I am interested in what it is that homeschoolers feel they need to make their homeschooling sucessful.
For example do you need to know how to bring about progression in your child's learning, or how to assess where they are at what their next steps could be? Do you have a child that prefers to have active learning and you are not sure how to plan that so learning can take place? Does your child love sitting working through books but you need for them to be a bit more active? Does your child have learning barriers such as Maths anxiety which is putiing a barrier to their learning and you need to find ways around that so they enjoy their learning?
Please let me know what you feel your biggest struggles are as I am looking into ways I can help homeschoolers ensure they and their children meet their aims.
I look forward to hearing your thoughts.

Hi, I’ve got a blog that might interest you as well as Instagram and Facebook. Check out www.hogwartsandallhomeschool.com 😊

Hi
I have found your blog and read the first page.
I am with you about the pressure.
In my school I insisted that the children had no or minimal homework unless the pupils themselves wanted to carry out an investigation out of curiosity.
Also reading a book at bedtime was recommended.
However I will read more of your blog. Are there any concerns you have about homeschooling?

Hi! No I don’t have any concerns really about homeschooling. I’m enjoying having my time back with my children and seeing them grow in a way I couldn’t before. I felt that time was slipping away from me but now we’ve taken that aspect of time away and I’m seeing them grow before my very eyes. I can’t knock school, it’s given them a start I might not have been able to achieve. But I definitely don’t miss the pressure our kids school in particular put on us x

I was lucky enough to take 7years out to look after my 2 when they were small and I certainly do not regret a moment. It was the best 7 years.
So enjoy it and if you do later on need anything let me know

Thank you xx

Amazing resources and they have been helpful to me and my littles ones :)

Another great resource is theonlineschool.uk I used them in the first lockdown and they offered my child free online live education which was different so my child had some sense of normality.

I would implore all parents to check them out if they are still looking for places. Also the other sites such as bbc bitesize and twinkl are good as well :)