Home schooling gone out of the window yet? I know we’re supposed to be doing it every day but it’s just so hard to sit down and do it isn’t it?
And that’s okay. We’re in the middle of a global pandemic, something that none of us were emotionally prepared for. It’s okay to feel demotivated and struggle with the home schooling!
There are ways we can embed learning into the daily tasks with kids. There’s a range of topics that the kids study in schools that we can practice around the house (and even use to help us out with cleaning and DIY jobs!)
Tasks you can use will all depend in your child’s age and ability, but here’s a few little ideas we’ve come up with to help your child learn in lockdown:
Hosting a quiz
Have you thought about hosting a quiz? This is a great way to get your kids learning from home without very much nagging (comparatively) and a fun reward at the end! Arrange a remote quiz group (we suggest on Zoom or HouseParty) between your household and others you know with kids of a similar age and get the children to be the quiz masters! This way you can get your children to research different topics (history, geography, music, pop culture, literature) to make quiz questions and present the quiz online! You can all participate and make it a good laugh. Winner gets to host the next week’s quiz.
DIY and decorating
Using the lockdown to do a bit of DIY? Small children can practice maths in tasks as simple as by helping you to count out screws before you start. Slightly older children can help you by using the tape measure to measure objects and space. Thinking of buying a new rug, skirting board or carpet? Older children can practice calculating area by working out how much material you’ll need (always check their work!) The kids can also practice their English language and speaking and listening skills by reading instructions and clearly reciting them to you (depending on how patient you are!)
Baking and cooking
Baking? As long as there’s safe practice and adult guidance, there’s so many skills that are used in baking and cooking that can form part of a functional lockdown curriculum! If your child has covered ratio at school, baking bread is a great way for this skill to develop (if bread is a big ask, even mixing icing sugar in equal parts practices this!) You can quiz them on science by asking them to find out the melting point of chocolate (and you get a good treat out of that one) Your child can practice persuasive and informative writing by creating their own menu and recipe book. The most delicious sounding one gets to choose what’s for dinner!
If you’re super organised, you can look at the curriculum for your child’s year group and work from there. You can ask their teacher what they should be studying and try and find functional ways that they can practice these skills in their daily routines! If you can’t find time to go that in depth that’s okay too. Embedding study can start as simply as looking out for natural opportunities for learning throughout the day and fitting a bit of practice in when you can.
Good luck and we’d love to hear any tasks you use to embed learning!
Keep smiling you gorgeous people!