The best resources and lessons to help homeschool kids until schools reopen
As health secretary Matt Hancock announced on 30 December that three quarters of the UK would move in to tier 4 restrictions, it was also decided that schools in hot spot areas in England will keep their doors closed for at least an extra week after the Christmas break.
As reported by The Independent, secondary schools in England will not open to most pupils until the middle of January at the earliest. Ministers have not decided upon a date for when pupils will return to their classrooms.
If you’re child is continuing to study from home, we’ve found all the best resources to help.
There’s a number of resources available for parents and caregivers to help keep your kids' education on track. Many are free, easy to use and are being continuously updated. If you want another helping hand, read our IndyBest roundup on the best homeschooling books for some inspiration, or the best educational toys.
For younger children in nursery or those who had just started primary school, you can still structure their day. Baby sleep brand, Hatch, has an easy to follow Covid-19 daily schedule on its Instagram page. It's a timetable that will offer ideas when you’re struggling, from the minute they wake up to bedtime.
Here is a guide of the live lessons available that will see you through that first week back.
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White Rose Maths
Made up of a group of teachers and mathematicians, here you'll find five free maths lessons for children (Years 1-8) and each lesson comes with a video that you can watch on your own to understand the lesson first, or with your child.
Each lesson lasts 20-30 minutes and the team behind White Rose Maths is recommending you do one session a day.
We’d suggest making it the second lesson of the day, as members of the White Rose Maths team will be online Monday to Friday between 10am and 11am for a "maths party" on its social media channels, so children can put whatever maths-related questions they may have to the experts and still feel included in lesson time.
Rob Biddulph
Children's book author and illustrator, Rob Biddulph, runs draw-along videos every Saturday at 10am. You can leave your kids to follow along with Rob, armed with a pencil and paper while you get some of your own work done, or join in too.
The videos are free to watch and subjects include some characters from his books, like sausage dogs along with dinosaurs, aliens, Sonic the hedgehog and even self-portraits. Biddulph also encourages sharing the finished piece on social media using the hashtag #DrawWithRob, a fun way to feel part of an online community.
Twinkl
The online learning hub, Twinkl, has created an extensive website with lesson ideas, activities and live videos for Key Stage 1 to Key Stage 4, which is particularly helpful if you have kids across different learning abilities, aged from three to 16.
It is updated daily and incorporates every facet of schooling from the free PE lessons offered by Joe Wicks to multiplication tables.
There’s a free taster pack to download too, with PowerPoints, activity cards, quizzes and games.
Dr Chips
For the first half of 2020, Dr Chips offered doses of science, engineering and computing three times a week where he taught children how to code, make musical instruments out of household objects and how cybersecurity works. All of the video lessons and quizzes are available on the Dr Chips website under “Past Doses.”
There’s clear information on the tools you’ll need, some lessons require a laptop and internet connection, while others only pen and paper, so you can pick and choose which one to do with your child depending on your personal resources.
Collins Dictionary
For an extra helping hand, Collins Dictionary is also running a word of the day series, which can help you explain what a pandemic is, what furlough means, why we’re in lockdown and more so you can help keep them calm and understand why they can’t go to school or see their friends as usual.
Collins also has a wide selection of activity books, especially for younger children such as Cursive Writing Ages 4-5, £2.99 and Easy Learning French Complete Grammar, Verbs and Vocabulary, £12.05.
Joe Wicks
Kick off every morning with a PE lesson from fitness coach Joe Wicks. Wicks streamed his final virtual HIIT class in July to coincide with gyms reopening, and then staged a brief return with a 24 hour fitness challenge raising more than 1.5 million for Children in Need. All of his videos are still available on his Youtube channel. You don’t need any equipment, just some clothes you don’t mind your children getting sweaty in and a bit of space for exercises such as jumping jacks.
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