Hi and thanks for stopping by.
If you had asked me what I would be doing now a month ago I would not have guessed that I would be preparing to home school my children! These are interesting times, and in the spirit of helping out eachother I thought I would share the links and information I have collected over the last few days in preparation of my impending home schooling experience.
I have cobbled this list of resources together from recommendations from people who home school their children across the world, as well as from teachers and parents in The United Kingdom. The idea of this list is to give children a place they can go to to find fun, entertaining and educational resources that will not only aid them in their learning, but will also keep their minds active and keep boredom at bay.
I am certain there are plenty of resources that have not made it on to the list yet, so if you have any suggestions please drop me a line kidsduringcovid19@gmail.com.
Before you and your children explore the rest of the site, I would ask you to read this excerpt of a letter from the Head of my daughter's Pre-Prep:
"In 42 years as a teacher, I have never experienced a situation like this before and it is going to test us all in many different ways. The most important aspect is that we all stay as fit and healthy as we can and that includes our mental health and that of our children, spouses and wider families.
It is worth bearing in mind that children are not used to working for extended periods at home and, generally speaking, children usually work better for their teachers than their parents!
We have spoken with the children about how they might work at home, making up their own little timetable and area for work, helping younger siblings and enjoying a coffee break with mum and dad. Provided the children keep mentally and physically stimulated they will fly on their return to school. We are not expecting you to teach them new things at home.
They will be picking up on our anxieties without fully understanding why and it is vital that we give them, and each other, lots of hugs, cuddles and reassurance.
Maybe this is a time to do all the things that we always feel we never have any time for – playing board games, reading a book in the afternoon, gardening, cooking, making a den and having an adventure.
We appreciate your support in continuing the children’s education whilst at home.
Children love to keep scrap books or diaries and this would be something for everyone to do sticking in pictures, stories and photographs. Gardening and planting seeds is another lovely activity which will capture the children’s interest. Let’s see who could bring in the best tomato or marrow or something more exotic on our return!
Don’t forget your children are very resilient, probably more so than we are, and their memories of how they felt during these coming weeks will stay with them long after they have forgotten exactly what they did!"
Linda Renfrew
Head Pre-Prep
Hoe Bridge School
March 2020
So please enjoy the links on this site, but above all, have fun and stay safe.
Hugh