Home Schooling as a Non-Home Schooling Parent*

It’s a strange time we’re living in. Never has any event in the world shut down schools like what is happening right now. I don’t want to go into it all on my blog as lets face it, it’s consuming our every waking moment. But instead I’ve been wanting to put together a post about something a lot of us have never even considered doing but now we’re going to have to attempt with our children off for the “foreseeable future.” Yes, I’m talking about home schooling, or more accurately, distance learning.

I have to admit there have been times i’ve considered home schooling my daughter, but with only one income and the fact I need to work from home it just didn’t end up being worthwhile. But here we are. I just completed our first home schooling day today and I’m still finding time to write. Who would have known? However, this could be purely to do with the wide range of resources available to parents during this trying time.

Firstly, I want to say, not every child will want to be home schooled, and for everyone’s mental health, don’t force it. Some of you out there just won’t be able to home school. So many people are also working from home but still doing their usual work hours and just can’t fit it in. Luckily there are resources such as Tutor House that offers remote tutoring so you can continue to social distance your family.

Anyway, here are some of the resources i’m going to be using to continue a form of educational structure to my 8 year old’s life.

Twinkl

I’ll start with the biggy, Twinkl. Twinkl is a learning resource that’s also used by teachers. They’re currently offering a month’s free subscription if you sign up using this code; UKTWINKLHELPS. I’ve already used it to print out some work sheets for my daughter. Not only that but there are downloadable packs for this specific time.

Read Aloud Stories & Activities

If your children are more visual learners but you’re not one to stand at the front of the room and teach (hi, this is me), here is a great resource of children’s authors pulling together and sharing online stories and activities. Great if you have a smart TV or access to a tablet.

Reading Eggs

Speaking of tablets, I worked with a fantastic app, Reading Eggs last year and LM learned so much over the summer. It was fun but also kept her toe in the educational pool. If you sign up using my link you can have 4 free weeks to use the app. I honestly cannot recommend it enough and we’ll be using it daily over the coming weeks.

Finally, if all else fails, Pinterest is the home of all good ideas. It has everything from lesson plans, daily timetables, work sheets, great apps for kids, useful youtube channels and of course, craft ideas to keep your little darlings entertained. Lets face it, our kids are only going to be happy to learn at home for a few hours a day, and if this goes on as long as they’re projecting we’ll all be climbing the walls in a couple of weeks. Pinterest is an inexhaustible resource!

I’m going to be updating my Instagram daily with ideas and offers I find to help parents so make sure you’re following. And my fellow mamas and papas… good luck!