AD | Partnership
We are in strange times right now due to Covid 19 and parents have found themselves in new and unfamiliar territory. Not only are we working from home (which prior to this year sounded like the dream) we are home educating our children and sharing the space with the whole family. Life has changed beyond all recognition and this pretty much happened overnight with little opportunity to plan and prepare for such a momentous change.
Parents, workplaces and our children have all adapted to this new normal (well we didn’t have a choice did we?) at ground-breaking speed and I do wonder that the future will bring because many of these changes will question old practises and the old way of doing things.
Parents have become teachers
Parents have become teachers and we are doing this in the ways that suit our families, for some homes it will look quite structured and for others, it could be much more child-led. One of the challenges has been working out how best our children learn. At first, it was tempting to print off worksheets and get the children sitting at a table with pen and paper and expecting them to write reams. Some of us felt that learning meant writing and recording and whilst this is one method, there are plenty more and thankfully I came across ClickView which has opened up our home learning journey.
Understanding learning styles
Understanding learning styles is really important if you want your children to enjoy learning and reach their potential. We learn by seeing, by listening, by doing and by writing and therefore we need to incorporate this into our daily home learning. Consider how you pick up new skills, or what you do when faced with a problem. Many of us turn to Youtube to watch a demo because we are visual learners. Some will pick up more when listening to instructions or facts and our children are the same.
Finding suitable resources
Another challenge for me was finding suitable resources that are actually educational and not just time fillers. When you don’t come from an educational background that is really hard as we don’t know what our children should be learning. The internet has suddenly become awash with colouring sheets and educational resources but unless they have been designed by someone with a teaching or educational background, they may not have any educational value. No wonder many parents have felt overwhelmed with home learning.
Also having children in different key stages at school means double the planning which again takes up time. Also, if you have older children much of their curriculum is very different now and the teaching methods have changed. I know many parents have especially been struggling with Maths, bus stop method and partitioning is not what I learnt at school!
Therefore, I have made sure that the resources I rely on have come from teachers and other educational specialists including ClickView who have made their world-class educational resources available for free, supporting families at this time of crisis. We like that accessing the content is easy because there are no logins or subscriptions required. The older children can find videos that help them whilst I can search for resources suitable for the younger ones.
Created by educators for educators
All ClickView-produced content is created by educators for educators which gives me confidence that what they are learning is relevant. All the subject areas are covered including English, Science, Maths, History, Geography and Technologies. Roo has found the history section really useful and it has helped her to do her school work on Elizabethan England. Rather than just reading textbooks she has been able to watch videos on what they wore and what life was like in this period of history.
Tigger has found the Maths easy to understand, like I said the methods have changed since I was at school but the videos explain concepts using the correct terminology which makes it accessible for him to learn new things.
Catering for primary and secondary school
ClickView caters for primary and secondary school-aged children which has saved me time searching for age-related resources and been a lifesaver for me so that I can get on with my work too. This situation is not one we would have chosen but we have to make do and manage best we can.
Using ClickView in conjunction with workbooks ensures that the children are exposed to different learning styles and hopefully lots of what we are covering will stick and then when they finally get back to school they can impress their teachers with some of the things that they have learnt during this phase of home learning.
Time for children to craft and play
Remember to also plan in time for children to craft and play, it is really important for their emotional health that they get some downtime and one of the silver linings of Covid 19 is that children are spending more time on hobbies and learning new skills at home like baking and making. If you need some craft ideas check out 20 DIY Crafts for Teen Girls.
No Comments