Five ways we continue education at home

 

It’s now been over a year since my eldest daughter entered the world of full time education. As a summer baby in Year 1, I was a little nervous about her starting school. Would she be ready for the longer hours? How would she cope with things like cutting up her own food and going to the toilet on her own? Would she make friends? In fact, every one of my concerns was around the logistical side of school rather than the actual education bit.

Year 1 had a bit of a shaky start. Frog was thrown by a change in classroom and teacher, panicking every morning when I left the classroom. But we got over those bumpy initial two weeks and now, over half a term in, she’s flying.

Getting the balance between being an encouraging mum who’s supporting her learning and being a pushy mum who’s at risk of making her hate school is sometimes a tricky one. Like many kids, Frog has a natural appetite for education, soaking up new information and skills like a sponge. But come 3.15pm all she really wants to do is slob out in front of the TV or play on her tablet. It’s only natural I guess – that’s all I want to do after a long day too!

So how do we continue to support her wider education at home? I follow my own parents (both retired teachers) lead and try to remember that home life plays just as much – if not more – of a role in a child’s education as school.

Here’s what they did, and what we’re doing too:

Don’t rule out extra help

My parents arranged for me to have a weekly private tuition session with a maths tutor when I was 15. This was at my request, just as much to boost my confidence in the subject as to help me through my GCSE. I’ve never felt comfortable with numbers, and these one to one sessions gave me the opportunity to make it all “click”, in a way I wasn’t always able to in a class full of other kids where I was often too embarrassed to ask for extra help. This is something I would like to do for both my girls when they get to the same age, if they too struggle with a subject that I might not naturally be able to help them with. Companies like Fleet Tutors are a great way to find a tutor in your area, making the first step of sourcing a good tutor that bit easier.

Encourage creativity, imagination and an appetite for learning at home

As I child I loved to draw pictures and write stories. I was never short of paper or writing books, crayons or colouring pens, and these things were always to hand. We do the same for Frog – she has her own desk full of her own stationery in her bedroom, but she also has plenty of paper, pens, crafty bits and colouring pencils downstairs too. It means things often get messy, but it also means there’s no limit or boundary to her creativity. If the mood takes her to write a story or draw a picture I don’t have to set up a load of stuff for her, by which time she’d inevitably lose interest.

Go on adventures

One of the biggest gifts my parents gave me was an appetite for adventure and new experiences. Holidays were spent having fun, making new friends, visiting new places. I learned just as much on these trips as I ever did in the classroom. This is something I want to give both my girls, too. Learning isn’t just about the academic stuff, it’s about life experiences and the world beyond the pages of a book. That’s why I think holidays and family days out are so important.

Read bedtime stories

It’s perhaps a controversial idea, but I’m against having a TV in the bedroom. We don’t have one in our room and Frog doesn’t have one in hers. That’s not to say we don’t watch TV. We watch lots of telly – just not at bedtime. For us, bedtime is about snuggling in and reading a story. Choosing the story itself is just as much a part of the bedtime ritual as reading the story.

Talk

We’re lucky in that we get to have our evening meal together as a family during the week because my husband’s a teacher too, so is back from work by 5pm most days. This is our main chance to catch up with each other and chat about anything that might be going on. Frog will often ask lots of random questions during tea time, and I think that’s because it’s a time of day when we have a no phone / no iPad / no TV rule, meaning we have each other’s undivided attention.

 

Tell me, how do you carry on the learning at home?

 

**

Thanks to Fleet Tutors for working with me on this post. For more information about how I work with brands check out my Work With Me page.

Follow