Maintaining Support For Your Child At Home

This article was written during the 2020 pandemic but some of the advice within can help your child with learning from home.

Help! How can I maintain support for my child at home as the COVID crisis continues?

Across the UK schools and families are in flux. With no firm plans for all children to return to school the amount of learning they have missed has become an even higher priority for lots of families.

All children and families are different, and learning has come in a variety of ways during this time. Where some children have been happy to sit down and work through lessons set by school, others cannot work in this way.  Some families have had to thread together activities in between work conference calls, whilst other families have embraced outdoor learning. Whatever your circumstances we’ve put together our top ideas to support you with the ongoing situation:

1) Ignite their interests (again).

The endless unknown is a challenge for everyone to deal with. You may have found that your child was motivated at first, but as the weeks have gone on they have become more apathetic. Try something new to reignite their interest. Here are some ideas:

• Arrange a video call with a classmate whilst they work on the same activity or do it outside together where suitable.

• Take up a musical instrument, this will help with entertainment, commitment, maths and creativity. It’s a great skill to have and there is evidence that children who play instruments do better academically. There are lots of apps and YouTube videos available if online tutoring is not right for your family.

• Or try a martial art, these work very well online and are great for concentration and discipline. Some bodies are also doing exams online so children can say they have achieved something during this time. Try Tiska for online karate.

• Ask your friends for website recommendations or take a look at our age-related guides (4-7, 7-11, 11-14). We were bombarded with recommendations at the start of lockdown and you may have got stuck in a rut with a few favourites. So now is the time to find something new.

• Think of a project they can do that will sustain their attention and help with learning too. Find something they are interested in that can also be educational. Do they love Spiderman movies? Allow them to watch one, but then they need to write their own scene, design a set, research the cost of making a movie, create a scene on a stop motion app, make a comic book etc.

2) Talk to your parent friends.

It’s okay to say you are struggling or to share things that have worked really well with your child without feeling like you are trying to out parent another family! Your network of friends is more important now than ever so use them. Don’t hunker down in your household and not reach out to others, ‘it takes a village to raise a child’ and if this needs to be a virtual village at the moment then so be it.

3) Distance exercise.

If you are happy for your child to meet others in a socially distanced way, then joining a social distance sports bubble could do them the world of good. It will allow them to socialise and to see a teacher figure if they are not going back to school.

My nephew has returned to his football club with a small group of his friends and it has done wonders for his wellbeing. He returned home from his first football session to complete an hour of tuition with Explore Learning and answered far more questions than in any other week!

4) Ask the expert.

Tutors have been a wonderful source of support for children during this time so utilise this resource. They will help your child academically, allowing them to cover any areas they have missed from school and even advancing them further by having dedicated learning time just for them. They also give you time free to get on with anything you need to do at home!

Parents who have used Explore Learning during this time, talk about their children being ‘engaged and focused’. One parent said that “It reassures me that they are at least being taught once a week by a professional and they are still following school curriculum“.

We can not be certain of what the future will bring, however, we can use this time to help children engage in learning and feel confident they have achieved something during these uncertain times. For additional support and to speak to one of our expert tutors about your child’s learning, why not try our free no-obligation online taster session?