Tag: coronavirus homeschooling

Coronavirus implications for school and college students.

Posted on by Rachel Law

Many students will be affected by the Coronavirus school shutdowns. Looking at the latest information from the government, there will be a small number of year groups (Reception, year 1 and year 6) potentially returning to school after half term in early June. And only the following on secondary students and A level students: “Our ambition is that secondary pupils facing exams next year will get at least some time with their teachers before the holidays.”

Biggest Impacts – Year 10 and year 12

At Tutor My Kids, we’re looking at where we see the biggest impacts on students.

First and foremost, we foresee that the current year 10 and year 12s will be the hardest affected.

For year 10s and year 12s, at the moment they’ve missed almost a third of this academic year (getting close to 1 whole term). When you look at the entire GCSE or A level course of 5 terms, this makes 1/5th or 20% of their entire GCSE or A level courses missed.

Given the amount that has to be covered, it’s hard to ensure that all the topics are covered in a normal school year. We think this will be doubly hard with such a lot of time lost and leave massive gaps in the learning of many year 10s and year 12s.

Many schools are providing some good input for these students, but it’s not quite the same as being in school and not all students are taking advantage of the lessons and resources that are being provided. I think that there is a lack of understanding of this problem with many parents and students.

Year 5s impacted

In the same way the year 5s will be the next largest year group to be affected.

The primary school curriculum is so full that it is also tough to get children to the right level in time for year 6 SATs, especially those who have learning difficulties such as dyslexia.

I was surprised that the government had proposed returning year 6s to school (unless to help ‘babysit’ the reception and year 1 students). The gaps that they have, will (in most cases) be made up in year 7 as they transition into their secondary schools.

It is the year 5s have a greater need, I believe to be back in school, to prepare them for the SATs and prevent gaps in their learning becoming problematic – see Why-maths gaps occur-and-the-problems-they-cause/

I appreciate that students in year 5 have many years to catch up, but in reality, many primary school gaps in spelling, punctuation and basic maths remain uncorrected at secondary school as the curriculum moves rapidly onto secondary topics, with the assumption that these basic topics are secure.

What can you do to help?

First and foremost, regardless of their year group, take advantage of the resources that their schools are offering – be it remote lessons, links to learning, work set. One of our tutors has been putting together some amazing resources. See Mission-to-the-moon/ This is a great multi-subject topic block for primary aged children.

I know this is incredibly difficult for parents who are juggling work, caring for younger children, so do what you can. No one is expecting you to replace 5 hours of teaching each day! However, IF you’re schedule enables it, an hour a day is a massive help. See How-much-difference-can-an-hour-of-one-to-one-tuition-make/

Can you either remotely now, or face to face later, team up with other parents who can help with the maths, whilst you help out their kids with the English?

Get a tutor – either now or after lockdown. We’re quite busy at the moment, helping out students remotely, and anticipate that we’ll be called upon to help out during the summer (hopefully face to face by then) to help fill gaps ahead of the next academic year in September. Take a look at our ‘For Parents’ page for more details – For Parents.

For an informal chat about possible options for tuition – email hello@tutormykids.co.uk to arrange a time to talk.

Have you thought about getting a Tutor for your child whilst schools are closed?

Posted on by Rachel Law

It’s back to school after the Easter holidays this week, home school of course. It’s not ideal for many, especially as parents are also trying to work from home, help other vulnerable members of the family and generally cope with this whole strange situation we find ourselves in. It does however look to be continuing for some time yet.

Here at Tutor My Kids the Coronovirus lockdown has meant changing the way our Tutors teach. Our professional and qualified teachers are used to holding sessions in clients’ homes but now, with social distancing in place, they are carrying out all their tutoring online, usually via Skype or Zoom. This has been working really very well and we are so pleased we are able to continue to help children learn and help keep up some form of routine for them during this time.

If you are interested in getting some support for your child whilst schools are closed, then please do get in touch with us to see how we can help. It might be that you need to supplement the home schooling you are doing with them, or that you are still working and unable to give much time to teaching them yourself. Our excellent tutors can help to keep the children on track with the national curriculum and ensure their learning at home is effective. 

We can provide

  • 1-2-1 online tutoring in various subjects.
  • small group online sessions, perhaps for your child and 2 or 3 class friends who would like to work together.
  • work setting and marking as part of our tutoring sessions, so the children have work to be getting on with during each week.

Did you know that families who home educate are often advised that home schooled children require 1 hour of tuition a day, or the equivalent of 10 minutes for every hour they are in school, due to the one to one attention they receive? This advice varies slightly between local authorities but one hour seems a common guide. This figure is also in keeping with the tuition provided by local authorities to sick children who are unable to attend school, where they tend to provide around 5 to 8 hours tuition a week.

Even one hour tutoring a week with one of our experienced teachers whilst schools are closed could make a huge difference to your child. It can help to ensure they don’t get out of the learning habit, that they are working effectively and that they progress during this time.

If you’d like an informal chat about getting a tutor for your child, take a look at our For Parents page or call 01223 858421 or email Rachel Law to schedule a chat

All our tutors are fully qualified teachers and have been DBS checked.

Coronavirus survival guide: homeschooling the under 11s

Posted on by Claire Hewson

The coronavirus has turned all our lives upside down and homeschooling is going to have a major impact on families. We now have to juggle work, housekeeping, and being a parent with being a teacher. At the moment links to resource websites are circulating on social media, but there are so many of them that it’s overwhelming. We’ve created this guide to cut through the noise. Our aim is to point you towards the resources that we think will be most valuable to you.

It’s likely that your child’s school will send work home either this week or next week if they haven’t already. The ideas and links here are intended to supplement the resources you will already have so that you have enough to keep your child busy, motivated and learning…and to keep you sane!

What does my child need to learn?

To find out what is covered in each year group have a look online at the National Curriculum for each subject. For example, you might type into a search engine ‘National curriculum design and technology year 6’.

The BBC Bitesize website is a great second port of call. On this site you will be able to see what is covered in every subject, across every year group. The best thing about this website is that it also gives activities and supplies interactive materials.

How can I structure the day?

The Five Minute Mum gives some brilliant tips about how to structure your day as well as lots of quick activities. Try to replicate the school day as far as possible, scheduling short break and longer breaks. You will know how long your child is able to concentrate for and this will probably vary day-to-day.

During breaks encourage your child to play with their toys outside. Play with them too so that they build on PE skills such as throwing and catching, dribbling a ball and more. If you want more information about how to help your child with PE see the National Curriculum and BBC Bitesize websites (as above).

Make a plan

At the end of each day sketch out a quick plan with just enough information to tell you what you’re doing the following day. Always try to build on what your child has learnt the day before so you revisit anything they find tricky.

Here’s an example of a plan:

Writing: write the beginning of their own version of The Big Pancake

Maths: revise 2 x table; learn addition pairs to 10

Reading: reading book

Spellings: revise ‘about’ and ‘down’; learn ‘saw’, ‘children’

Art: practise mixing colours from primary colours and paint trees in blossom

Science: materials – go around house/garden listing 5 things made from metal, plastic, glass and wood. Ask child why they think different things are made from different materials.

How do I juggle multiple children’s needs?

Always have tasks on hand that children can do by themselves, so that you can focus your attention on one child at a time when you need to do so.

Children could practise handwriting, do a dot-to-dot or colouring, write a letter to a friend, engage in a craft activity, or simply play with their favourite toy. See The Five Minute Mum website (above) for other activity ideas.

Where can I find resources and teaching ideas?

Some educational resource companies are offering free resources for parents. It’s useful to visit these sites once you’ve established what you want your child to learn. Google Images is also a useful resource to find specific worksheets (for example, if you want your child to label the parts of a plant for science you might type in ‘plant label worksheet’).

The following websites are a great starting point for ideas and activities across every curriculum subject including art and design & technology: Teaching Ideas, The School Run

Activity ideas from TutorMyKids

In Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2 English, Maths and Science are core curriculum subjects. Here are some ideas to help you.

English

  • Read books every day. Find free e-books on the Oxford Reading Tree website.
  • Read and write poetry.
  • Read familiar stories such as The Giant Pancake and write your own versions over a few days. For example, write the beginning on Monday, the middle on Tuesday and the end on Wednesday. The child could replace characters with their own ideas and change the ending or other events in the story if they want to.
  • Write book reviews of favourite stories.
  • Do some baking or make magic potions in the garden and then write instructions for somebody else to follow.
  • Practice spellings. Learn a few new spellings every week, but make sure learning is secure before moving on.
  • Play phonics games online.
  • Play phonics board games.
  • Play board games such as Scrabble and Pictionary that help children to practise spellings, extend their vocabulary and encourage conversational skills.
  • Play online English games from Ictgames and Topmarks.

For more ideas see our blog post, Support your child’s literacy every day: quick tips

Maths

  • Learn maths through songs. For example, search ITunes and YouTube for times tables songs.
  • Play maths board games you have at home (eg. Monopoly and Snakes & Ladders) or make your own.
  • Do some baking and use the opportunity to teach children cookery maths skills such as weighing, measuring and comparing.
  • Take maths outside!
  • Play online maths games. On this link we particularly recommend Oxford Owl, Ictgames and Topmarks.
  • Complete maths worksheets.

Science

Start with the BBC Bitesize website as this shows you exactly what your child is learning at school. For further activities see:

TutorMyKids’ blog post, Pop, Bang! Six super-simple science experiments

NurtureSchool, How to homeschool science

The Woodland Trust’s outdoor science activities

Top survival tips

Use rewards to motivate your child during this strange and confusing time. This might be a star chart in which they earn a reward at the end of the week or month (depending upon their patience levels!), or they might want you to replicate the system they have in school.

Our children are likely to miss their friends very much, especially as time goes on. Help them to keep in touch with their friends via Skype or FaceTime if you can to help see them through.

Remember yourself in this too. Some days will be good and some will be difficult. Have that glass of wine at the end of the day – you will have earnt it!