Home-schooling kids – Best tips and free resources

neyhakhurana
Jun 21, 2020
2 min read

Home-schooling is tough. It requires tremendous effort and discipline to successfully implement it. Thanks to COVID, parents have turned into trainers and teachers overnight.

I have been struggling with settling kids down to a routine with respect to learning. And I have to admit that I did have panic attacks and nightmares.

While struggling with it, I found some success on the way. Sharing some quick tips that may be helpful

Make optimal use of screen time: Kids’ screen times have considerably increased. But the current situation demands that we allow children a little more than their usual screen times. Why not use this screen time mindfully by making children watch some informative programmes. There are resources to learn coding, yoga and everything under the sun. Some really good ones are Scratch (https://scratch.mit.edu/), DIY.org, The cat in the hat etc
Use free Learning resources: I faced an information overload as I was trying to decide which website to use for teaching my children. I focussed on Maths and reading. The learning resources like Khan Academy (https://keeplearning.khanacademy.org/) made the experience fun for my kids and more productive for me.
Make children teach you: I liked a suggestion by British psychotherapist Philippa Perry for home-schooling kids. She recommends letting your children teach you first. This unique way of teaching helps younger children. They model adult behaviour and it’s the best to show them how to listen and focus. Another added advantage is that one tends to learn better when teaching someone.
Ask the older sibling/ child to help: Some days I did ask my older child to help the younger one with study. I was wary of this initially but later realised it was a fun way to engage both the children. Both the kids were super enthusiastic. The older one also learnt more about responsible behaviour and felt a sense of pride. The younger one got a breather from learning from me😊. The entire day’s work was finished in an hour with so much fun happening.
Go on virtual trips: Most outdoor places like amusement parks, museums and zoo still remain closed. Take them to walk, cycling and nearby parks and ask them questions. Also visit the museums virtually. https://www.louvre.fr/en/visites-en-ligne#tabs