It’s very important to have an organised routine and this is possibly the most significant single thing that you can do to help get through this. It is also crucial that your plan is not too restrictive and includes creative and/or sports activities as well as time off during the day. This way, the kids can see what they need to do at any given time and it helps to replicate to a certain degree what used to be a normal school day. It also facilitates a sense of achievement and self-satisfaction at the end of the day.

Some parents have taken the opportunity to introduce some learning that the kids are not doing at school. It may be a subject that they are interested in, something you as a parent feel they should be learning or, perhaps, a different aspect of a subject they are studying at school – a different period in History to those covered in the school curriculum, for example. Whether it be finance, life-skills or the environment now is a good time to think about introducing something that you all can enjoy together.

One of the biggest challenges of ‘lockdown’ is preventing things becoming a bit repetitive and a lot of parents have found it very helpful to call upon the services of a personal tutor during these extraordinary times. They have found their kids have responded well to the focused attention of one-to-one sessions and have been motivated by the more structured approach of a high calibre professional who has a passion for their subject. At Tutor Help we offer expert tuition in all subjects, and to all age groups and a lot of parents have found that, while trying to work from home and home-schooling the kids, taking their ‘teacher’s hat’ off for an hour or two has been a great help. Please take a moment to browse our website and get in touch if you would like to discuss how we can facilitate at least a little educational normality, without contravening any social distancing rules and/or advice.

For the older chilldren, parents have found that encouraging them to plan and undertake their own study independently has worked well. For those studying towards GCSE and/or ‘A’ Levels, rather than try and replace the teacher they had prior to school closures, perhaps think about guiding them as to how to plan the day or week ahead themselves, suggesting where learning resources may be found and then allowing them to get on with it. This encouragement of independent action not only helps to develop a key competency that will serve our kids well as adults, it also frees up a little more time for Mum or Dad to spend with younger children in the family, or, perhaps, have a little time to themselves.

Even when when our children were at school, (remember those good days !!) I’m sure we’ve all had to have the “Have you done your homework ?” conversation at some time. Although there are exceptions, kids will generally try to get out of doing school work in favour of something – sometimes anything – else. Some parents have found this problem to be even greater now that their children are at home full time and getting them to undertake home study is very difficult. However, keep at it and encourage them that doing some study now will make the return to school much easier as they can ‘hit the ground running’ .

Sometimes the youngsters just won’t have it and, occasionally, you will wish you’d stayed in bed !!. Just let it go – these things happen and tomorrow will be better. Ultimately, if you come through this with family life intact and everyone in good health – job done !!

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