Schoolwork Help
Hello to all you parents who have suddenly found yourselves home-schooling, and any students who are now home-learning! We’re all new to this, teachers included, but here’s three thoughts which might be helpful from what I’ve learned so far.
There’s no right way of doing it. A clear routine works well for you? Great! Your child hates a rigid structure and likes to choose what they do when? Also great! There’s no magic answer here… you need to work out what fits your child and family the best. Whatever work you or your child gets done is good – so celebrate that rather than getting frustrated about what hasn’t been done.
Slow down. From my (4 day long) experience, so far I’m seeing lots of students rush through their work and send it back to me really quickly. Encourage your children to take their time over what they’re doing. If they’re being set one piece of English work in the week, but they’d usually have 4 hours of English – the teacher is probably expecting the work to take 4 hours. Slow down – we’d rather they’ve done less work well than loads of work badly.
Feedback is important. It motivates us and helps us understand how to improve. But you or your child might not be getting much (or any!). So, if you’re able to, try to give some feedback yourself. Offer lots of encouragement and praise. Siblings can encourage each other too. At the end of a task, re-read the instructions and celebrate what went well, or identify the key vocab they’ve used and encourage them to use more. You might not know exactly what makes each piece of work good – but we’re all more motivated if someone tells us we’re doing well.
And, of course – if you need help – ask! Your child’s teacher will most likely be really happy to hear from you. (I would also be delighted to help you with any geography related questions!!)