How can you and your children make the best use of this time at home?

Resource suggestions, thoughts and tips from our 11+ Consultant, Rhiannon Drake

Yes, school’s out. But all clouds have a silver lining…

Exams are cancelled. The kids are at home. But this could be a golden opportunity to work alongside each other and learn together!

So, how can you ensure that your children make the most of this time at home?

Allocate them a designated working space where they have access to:

• Pens / pencils / rulers / creative tools
• Paper
• Their school books
• Folders
• The Internet
• Their timetable

Schedule ‘school’ time, during which they are sat at their designated workspace. Make sure to start the day properly i.e. have a shower, get dressed into clothes, don’t stay in pyjamas.

Give them regular, short breaks, just like they would have between lessons at school, and build ‘snack-time’ into their schedule.

Have a daily breakfast meeting during which you agree the plan for the day and explain to your children what you need from them. Be honest; explain what work you need to do and give them responsibilities. Put them in charge where you can.

Keep things varied. Using different forms of media is an excellent way to do this (see suggestions lower down the page).

Exercise together, even if for just 5 minutes a day.

Design a project together, that they’re able to lead on. Choose something fun, that you can overlook, but that they ultimately have responsibility for.

Today, why don’t you try one of these activities?

Historical Puppet Show

Using historical characters from your child’s syllabus, have them create puppets from paper / cardboard / felt, and act out an important moment or turning point from a period they have studied

Write a Joint Story

Get everyone to sit around the table and say out loud one word after the other, creating a story together. Make sure that all punctuation is also identified.

Points are scored for excellent vocabulary, and original ideas, or lost for missed punctuation or careless word choices.

Themes and goals can be set for each story, e.g. “This story must be about a castle and must include five vivid verbs.” Bonus points if you hit a language goal.

Name that Place/Person/Concept

Using your TV or computer, create a quick slideshow of images (Google Image search) that represent things they have been studying that day. This could be a painting of a historical character, a photograph of a Geography case study, or a description of a concept they’ve been studying. Have an equal number of images for each child and get them to shout out when they recognise something. Tally up the score at the end!

Tune in again soon for more home learning resources, advice and suggestions from our 11+ Education Consultant, Rhiannon Drake.