COVID-19 Homeschooling Year 1 - Useful Resources

I’m sure I’m not alone in absolutely feeling a little overwhelmed with the thought of having to home school! I’ve been sent several resources and fun ideas and though I’ve not yet used them, I thought I’d share them all with you here. We intend on making Arjun’s home-schooling experience an immersive one but I know there’s going to be a very fine line between making it fun/hands on and reminding him that it’s still school! We will be incorporating some cooking, baking, some D&T and general life skills as well as – feel free to share your ideas with me please! I’ll continue to update this! Educational Resources: Twinkl BrainPop Oxford Owl The Imagination Tree Outschool Kids Learning Tube Facts & Learning: DK Find Out The Kid Should See This The Brain Scoop Fun & Learning: Toy Theatre BBC Radio Crafts/Creative: Redtedart Tinkercad Creative Bug Coding: Tynker Physical Activity: Go Noodle Cosmic Kids Yoga Science: SciShow Science Channel SciShow Kids Crash Course Kids Geography: Geography Focus National Geopgraphic Kids Nat Geo Kids For my own sanity, I’ve put together a timetable and while I appreciate that we probably won’t stick to it as strictly as I’ve put down, it’s good for us to have something to come back to. I involved Arjun in compiling it to ensure I incorporated his favourite parts of his school day (show and tell haha!). Day one went pretty well – it helped having a timetable to fall back on. We started with football in the morning and then followed the timetable loosely. As I’d scheduled in a whole hour for each subject, there was some “fat” embedded in to the time and it meant he got a break between each session. He did two worksheets per topic and I used the whiteboard to explain the basics so he was able to understand.

I’m totally aware that emotions are going to be heightened soon enough with frustrations mounting of being stuck at home so I’ve implemented a few things to try and help manage any outbursts while also praising positive behaviour. I’ve printed off a reward chart that Arjun’s school teacher in reception used which he was really motivated by – you start at green grass, progress to blue skies, sunshine, rainbow and then to pot of gold. I’ve printed out Arjun and Saajan’s names and will move them up to reward positive behaviour. Arjun was extremely motivated by his reward chart and it really kept his efforts focused on positive behaviours.

At school, they have a thinking tree in Arjun’s class if any child needs a time out – I’ve decided to use a thinking plant at home. And if we have any major outbursts, Arjun can escape to the den he has made in his bedroom for a timeout. I’ve also utilised an educational pack that the lovely Chan from Sparkle Stars sent us for Christmas for our “How are you feeling” board which I’ll ask them each morning.