A Beginner’s Guide to your ‘Being Together’ Journey

So, this is it. Schools are closed, anyone who can is being told to stay at home. The Key Worker list is much longer than expected, which, in my opinion, defeats the object of closing schools and social distancing, but there you go.

Many of us are now, as a family, being at home together…for the foreseeable future. It’s been great to see the community spirit soar in the last few days, and not just individuals and local groups, but celebrities doing remote duets (the Gary Barlow / Ronan Keating one is brilliant) , school publishers such as White Rose, Espresso and Pearson producing online learning videos and packs, Authors reading stories online, Joe Wicks aiming to be the nation’s new PE teacher…the list is endless.

But, as with all these things, there’s now so much information, links, ideas available, it can be quite daunting, especially for those not actually in education. And, let’s be realistic, it’s not a ‘one size fits all’ thing. There are families and children who crave structure and routine, who are frustrated without it, while others who know that trying to stick to a structured day would end in tears and tantrums, and that’s just the grown-ups! There are single parents trying to make a living and juggle childcare, work and home-life whilst keeping everyone safe,  those who aren’t classed as key workers but are still trying to work full-time from home or they wont get paid and juggle older children, or indeed, several children under 5 (I really, really feel for you.) But no matter what your personal and family circumstances, we are all going to face challenges, feelings of guilt for not ‘doing it right’, meltdowns, and tricky situations.

I fear this is what wfh may look like with a toddler!

So, with that in mind, this first post hopes to be a way to get started, with key ideas and ‘structures’ (a term I use loosely) for what might or might not work for you and your families.

1. Don’t put pressure on yourself to be the ‘teacher’. Remember, you’re a parent first and foremost. And that means reassuring your children, hugging them, caring for them and letting them learn in their own way at their own speed. Use it as an opportunity to spend quality time together.
2. You don’t have to stick to a schedule, but I would highly recommend treating your weeks as ‘school days’ and keeping to similar bedtimes, lunch times etc. so there is some sort of consistency.
3. Some of you may prefer a more rigid timetable – if so, choose what works for you. I’d suggest an active ‘learning’ morning to keep things like the maths and English ticking over, with a more creative afternoon – research projects, arts and craft, outdoor time, etc.
4. Others may gain more from a more ‘themed’ approach. For example, have a baking day, ‘Space’ day, or board games day – you’ll soon find there are lots of Reading, Writing and Maths activities involved in nearly everything you do, so keep talking with your child.
5. Don’t be afraid to mix it up (if you’d like to!) Again, this might not work for people with children who prefer to know exactly what is happening when – but if it’s a gorgeous day and there are lovely outside activities you could be doing, then change your schedule to go and do them. Make the most of good weather.
6. Talking of getting outside, do. Go out. Play, in mud, grass, open spaces. Take the dog out, run around the fields, make fairy soup in the garden, plant seeds. Being outside is so vital for everyone’s mental health…so follow advice, keep your distance, but get out into the fresh air – you included, not just the children.
7. If you have a child who thrives on routine, then make it visible. Use visual timetables, pictures prompts, order them with your child the night before so they know what’s coming up. Use chalk paints to write it on the windows (this is also a fun way to practise spellings!)
8. If you have children of ages who can’t perhaps access the same learning, try to have a similar theme and change the outcomes slightly, (for example, if story writing, one might order the pictures from the story and match a word to each whilst the other would write their own version)  or give one something you don’t need to be there to help with while you spend time with the other – even if it’s watching You Tube videos of CocoMelon for half an hour, or ‘playing’ with building blocks.

I’ll be posting some of our daily schedules as we go along but we’re very open to changing them as the mood sees fit, so I’l try and write a little about what we actually got up to as well! As a teacher, I’m also going into school on various days to look after other key worker children too.

Now for resources. Most children, if school age, will have either been sent home with a pack of sheets and activities to do, or be learning remotely from home. I’m very aware that these packs may not last particularity long – it seems that what it takes 45 minutes to teach and do with a class of 30+ can be easily completed in 10 minutes with one child at home! – especially if we’re here for more than a few weeks. I’m also aware that toddlers and pre-schoolers may not have been sent home with any ‘learning’. So with that in mind, I’m going to list a few ‘key’ resources and ideas. There are huge long lists published with every link and idea going, but for the moment, I’ll keep it succinct and useful, with one or two ideas for each part of learning, to get you started. Over the next few weeks I’ll post more themed ideas you can dip into, such as ‘animals’ or ‘science’ so hopefully there’ll be something to interest everyone.

• Reading – read anything! Magazines, newspapers, books, leaflets. Share stories together, talk about them, ask about the characters, ask children to predict what might happen next, discuss why characters might have behaved in certain ways, get the dictionary out and look up words together, list synonyms for those words…the list is endless. With younger ones, investigate letters and sounds – use sand trays, play dough, felt tips to draw and sound out letters. Use phonics videos and games to help get started. Teachmonster is a great starter app for phonics, as are the Jolly Phonics videos. The site has some simple videos showing how to have a go at letter formation etc. Oliver Jeffers, a great author and artist, is doing ‘virtual’ video storytimes which you can find here, and children can even listen to stories read from the International Space Station!
• Writing – For really young ones, focus on letter formation, putting sounds together to create cvc (consonant, vowel, consonant words – c-a-t) words, finding rhyming words, looking at cvc words and seeing which parts look the same then saying and hearing the rhyme. Having a go at writing a word, phrase or short sentence to match a picture, for example, 3 pictures that tell the story of Goldilocks and the children write a word or words, or a short sentence to tell the story. You could make it into a little book. With older children, give the writing a purpose: a letter to a friend, an information leaflet on outdoor activities, a newspaper report on the day we can come out of isolation (!). Sit with your child to look at similar writing: what features does it have? How is it organised? What sort of language does it use? Then work with your child to create their own trying to emulate styles, vocabulary, etc. Make sure sentences have capital letters, full stops or other punctuation and make sense! Edit and alter, improve vocabulary, identify spelling patterns and how to correct them (children will often make the same mistake again and again, e.g. only adding ‘d’ to make words such as ‘happen’ or ‘open’ past tense).
• In terms of learning to read and write and develop skills further, Oxford Owl is a brilliant site – have a look around it.
• Maths – Keep up with the Times Tables, now is a perfect opportunity to get them learnt by heart and with super recall speed! Play matching games with sums to answers, quick fire question each other, time them completing a multiplication grid to see if they can beat yesterday’s time. Google has lots of ideas for learning these! But don’t forget to also learn the related division facts, for example, if you’re looking at 3×6=18, don’t forget to also learn that 18 / 6 = 3 and 18 / 3 = 6. Use equipment to help demonstrate these ideas – sort pasta (haha!) into groups, draw arrays, write and record. For anything else, I’d suggest looking at White Rose who have put together ‘teaching’ videos alongside activities and sheets. They have 5 days of ‘lessons’ and are adding them a week at a time so there is one maths activity a day.
• Science – This could include anything from growing plants, to learning about space, to finding out about the Human Body. Yes Bebe have a lovely selection of books to support this. I often see little fun experiments on the Mel Science  Facebook page too, and Mr Shaha’s Recipes for Wonder comes highly recommended.
• Excercise – Really, this can be anything! From the children putting together their own ‘work out’ and teaching it to you,  an outdoor assault course made up from  stuff you have outside (you could time them each day and see if they get faster if they’d like more of a challenge!) to joining Joe Wicks every morning at 9am as the nation’s newest PE teacher! Or why not try some children’s online Yoga from Cosmic Yoga? You and your children can be Pokemon, Anna and Elsa or even go on a 3 Little Pigs adventure – there’s something for everyone!
• Calm Time – This is soooooo necessary. I have no idea how I’m going to ‘teach’ my just 4 year old that it’s important we all spend some calm time by ourselves – being together but apart and doing our own thing. But I will. I think if we’re consistent with the time of day this happens and the types of activities involved, she will soon ‘get’ it but it may well take a few days! Things such as building towers, reading, colouring – anything calm and quiet.
• Outdoor Time – Another necessary one I feel. Do try to get outdoors at least once a day, even if it’s just to go and post a letter. Why not ask friends to draw rainbows and put in their windows for others to ‘spot’, or go on a ‘bug hunt’? Go to the local country parks or woods, whilst distancing yourself from others of course – and let them run off some steam. Or do a family run or bike ride. Make fairy soup in the garden with leaves, petals cones, etc. Collect flowers (from the places you are allowed) then come home and identify, draw and write about them. There are some specific resources for Outdoor Learning here or here. Little Bees also have some lovely wooden outdoor toys.
• Rainbow Hunting – In our local area, children are painting rainbows and putting them in their window for others to spot. We’re hoping to change the theme weekly. Find out more on my Facebook page.
• Creative Time – this could be baking, drawing, building, making, exploring — basically, anything really! Children could make a stick theatre with a shoe box and retell a story, or use play-dough to make bowls of porridge for Goldilocks. Older children may like to make crafts based on their History or Geography theme at school – Roman shields, gas masks from yogurt pots and binbags, volcanoes etc. There’s some great online drawing tutorials popping up with not so much emphasis on skills buts an achievable result. There are some videos showing how to make simple toys that all ages will like. Or why not have a go at completing Blue Peter Badge challenges to earn one? Little ones may find some of these activities fun!
• If you need craft resources delivered, then have a look at the extensive range at Yes Bebe. They have some traditional and some more unusual ideas, such as weaving kits, needle-felting, etc.
• BBC Teach – Loads of Live Lessons which are brilliant, and other resources. Search via the top bar for primary or secondary.

Ok, I’m stopping there. Really, just keep the reading, writing and maths ticking over and really enjoy the other things, no matter what you choose to do. As said, I’ll try to group and theme resources over the next few week so you can tap into other things.

Stay safe, and remember, we’re #inittogether