​How to navigate home learning and keep your sanity

Ffion Robinson, Head of Churcher’s College Junior School and Nursery, offers her top tips on how to successfully manage home schooling during lockdown.

Did you rejoice at hearing Boris’ announcement that schools would close? More time with your little one after the Christmas break; after all, winter is such a lovely season to hunker down and this is an opportunity to spend even more time with your primary-aged child. Lovely art activities, a family book group and plenty of cooking projects together provides more one-to-one time and helps you to feel gratitude for your family.

Or did your heart sink and you immediately disappeared to sit alone in the car to scream at the prospect of another school closure? Christmas was a trial as it was what with track and trace notifications meaning self-isolation, cabin fever having set in early with nowhere to take the children plus no support network with grandparents far away. The horrors of the last lockdown still give you nightmares and you would prefer to do anything but home school.

Whatever your thoughts on lockdown, I hope, as Headteacher of Churcher’s Junior School and Nursery and as a parent to a son in Year 2, I can offer some advice.

1. Create a dedicated home learning space for your child

Give your child(ren) a separate space, if you can! Older children may already have their workstations but younger children won’t do well in a bedroom- there are simply too many distractions and you will be up and down the stairs (if you have them). It’s best to set up younger children within close call to you so you can supervise them. My school is hot on safeguarding and we aren’t keen on seeing children in bedrooms whilst in live lessons; however, you can always ask your child’s school what’s appropriate. If you’re feeling house shame (!) where things can get messy around the house because we are spending so much more time in it, change your child’s online background to hide it.

Get all the stuff your child might need and organise it appropriately; a choice of reading books, login details, pencil case with everything good to go, tablet/laptop/device and charger nearby. No matter what age the child, everyone loves creating a space – it makes it theirs and it makes them feel grown up. Call it an office so it gives it special priority. If it can be away from the kitchen table even better but it all depends on your space, of course. You just end up spending your time demanding that things are packed away and then set up again! Make your life as easy as possible…

2. Timetable

At Churcher’s College Junior School and Nursery, we create timetables for our home learning classes and we encourage parents to print them out to help with organisation. Really try to stick to it once it’s established; use the wrath of the teacher if there’s resistance. Talk with your child at the end of the day to prepare for the next day and get them to sort some of the resources and prepare them in advance, if they can. Tick off things on the timetable/chalkboard as this gives children a sense of accomplishment and control. Agree in advance what happens if they don’t keep up; don’t make it a battle (see point 4 below) and get in touch with the class teacher if it’s not going well. My school supports children in lots of different ways and we appreciate that everyone’s story is different; let the school know and they can help.

Build in breaks, outdoor time and golden time (choosing time) if they achieve what’s on the list.

3. Independence

See this period as an opportunity to grow independence. My philosophy is that independence is the greatest gift we can give children. This will save you work too; it may be a graft to begin with as you establish what you will and won’t do but children respond to clear boundaries. At the start of an activity, talk through what it’s about and how they will get started. Ask them what help they might need to get started. Set a timer to allow your child an understanding of time and completing to time. Discuss what happens if they don’t finish – will they need to finish it when they could be having golden time? Agree these in advance.

Then leave them alone to get on with it. Yes, even for Reception children, they can be independent for 10 minutes.

The temptation to helicopter in might be sky high as you have a fly on the wall view of their strengths and weaknesses but remember, you want your child to learn. Learning doesn’t happen if you spoon feed ideas and pull them up on every little mistake. They also need to develop resilience and this comes by being independent.

If your child has any specific learning needs, the above terms may need to be tweaked; your child’s teacher should have shared an individual learning plan with you and there will be some dos and don’ts on there regarding what things need to be in place to scaffold their learning – it might be a resource like a word mat, word book or being able to word process or it might be specific strategies like locations, taking breaks or using other resources.

If you have the time, check in on your child half-way through to make sure they are on task. At the end, depending on the age of the child, talk about what they have achieved – warning, this is the bit that can lead to a battle so go gently. Some children will want to do this on their own without your input and may even have uploaded it onto the portal before you get a chance to see it. If this is your child, help them come up with a checklist (3-5 things, depending on their age and learning) of things to check through for different subjects e.g. full stops, number formation, becoming more complex for older children.

4. Communication (and pick your battles!)

It’s the bedrock of everything; communicate with your child about what’s going on today and tomorrow. Check in with them with a mood meter; talk about what’s worrying them. We’ve encouraged children to make a jar of positive memories from lockdown and a jar to add in activities they can’t wait to resume once this is all over. Keep things positive but answer their questions with simplicity and honesty.

Communicate with the school too – check in with your child’s teacher to let them know the context of anything that’s tricky at home; this will really help the teacher understand and support you with home learning. Let the teacher know if things are going well – teachers adapt to learning needs so knowing it’s working will help them with their online lesson plans.

5. Downtime

Everyone in the family needs it and it can be a useful carrot to keep children motivated. There will be times and days that there is more downtime than learning and we have to accept that, especially if you are a working-from-home-home-schooling parent! Flexibility is key and don’t worry that your child is missing out; focus on the key areas of reading, English and maths – in any order and even a bit of each will be fine. Just let your child’s teacher know it’s that’s kind of day – they will understand the pressures.

Plan for variety as much as you can with the national restrictions in place and I speak from experience here with no shame, the TV can be educational too – there are programmes scheduled on CBBC between 9am-12pm.

It is possible that your older child will be wanting to spend even more time online what with virtual sleepovers and online gaming the only ways to keep in touch with their friends. In lockdown, we have to shift our normal standards for the wellbeing of all. A friend of mine who has teenagers has accepted that her son is gaming more than she would like; positive acceptance goes a long way in these troubled times and, for now, we need to come to terms that this is just simply how some of the older children function and interact with their peers.

It may not be our preferred way of communicating but whilst we are in lockdown, you may have to ‘just go with’ the extra screen time to enable them to keep up their friendships and for you to get some of your own precious down time. Remember that each generation won’t like the ‘different’ ways of the next; in reality, as adults we will also be probably doing the same as we connect with friends and family online or on social media so don’t be too harsh on the expectations around screen time. It’s good parenting again to just check in on your child’s online movements and remind them of online safety dos and don’ts regularly – in all discussions, try to stay calm and keep the communication open.

Remember, we are all in the same storm, it’s just that we are in different boats trying to paddle the best we can as parents. Good luck!