Struggling to home-school your child?

With the recent school-closures in the UK helping to prevent the spread of Covid-19, many parents have been faced with the prospect of home-schooling.

The majority of schools are setting work and delivering remote learning lessons but as we all know, this approach doesn't always work with all children. If you factor in a temperamental internet connection, sunny weather and the temptation to have the TV on in the background, home-schooling can be far from ideal. However, there are some things you can do. Here at Artemis Tutoring, we've listed some of our top tips for parents struggling with home-schooling...

1. Get help

We have a saying in the teaching profession: 'Do not reinvent the wheel'... i.e. you don't have to take everything upon yourself and teach the whole curriculum. There are lots of free resources out there. BBC Teach offers lots of resources for all levels and TedEd is superb for videos.

2. Build in breaks

Don't forget to build in some down time for both you and your child. At school, they'd have some down town in between lessons, at break and at lunchtime. Go outside, watch TV, have a nap!

3. Keep a routine

Children need normality and structure. Try to ensure that your child gets up at a normal time and is washed, dressed and ready to start the day by 9am.

4. Limit tablets, phones and social media (during 'lesson time')

Your child wouldn't be allowed to use these at school during lessons and so the same rule should apply at home. However, if they want to use screens during their break times then often it can provide them with some much-needed 'social' time.

5. Life skills

Don't forget that learning can happen 'outside of the classroom', so to speak. Plenty of children do not know how to tie their own shoelaces, give a speech or plant seeds. Absolutely everyone can teach their child something, even if it's not quadratic equations.