Recently, parents have become far more aware of the importance of home learning. School closures have led to parents being more responsible for their children’s education. But even now that many children are back at school, the need for help at home remains.
Many children learn at least as much outside of school as they do in the classroom, especially with the right guidance. Even playing with other kids helps them to develop social skills and dexterity. You can play your part to teach your children as well, no matter how old they are.
Unfortunately, it’s easy for kids to retreat to sitting behind a screen and being passively entertained. This is especially true in winter months when it’s too cold or wet to play outside. However, you can help your children to continue to learn at home and to have fun doing it. You can also create an environment to foster continued learning, especially for older children. Here are some tips and ideas to help you out.
Teach Them Practical Skills
While school education is vitally important, your child will need more than what they learn in the classroom to grow into a successful adult. Start young and teach your children practical skills so that they can stand on their own two feet when they need to.
For example, you can start cooking or baking with your children from a young age. Even if they don’t turn out to be particularly interested in cooking, it’s an activity that you can do together. Children will be more interested in making treats or their favorite meals, so focus on things that they’ll like eating.
Ideally, they’ll learn at least the basics of cooking before they leave home. Cooking is far cheaper and healthier than ordering food or eating out all the time. If young adults can fix themselves a quick meal at home, they’d be better off than the alternative.
While you’re cooking with your children, take the opportunity to teach them practical uses of things they learn in the classroom. For example, cooking requires measurements, so your child can add the weights of your ingredients as they add them to the scales. You can also demonstrate fractions, as they may need to add ⅓ of a cup of an ingredient.
As well as cooking, make other practical activities like cleaning part of their schedule. No child enjoys cleaning, but it’s a useful skill to have. Also, if little hands help the adults out now and then, it gives you all more time for fun things. Create a rota or assign set jobs for your children. Make sure that things are fair according to their ages and abilities. Some families have a set day for a big weekly clean. If you have older children, you can assign rooms to each family member.
Finally, don’t forget other practical skills such as budgeting and managing money. While it sounds boring, there are ways to help your children to take care of their cash. For example, if they really want something and they have a small income, such as an allowance or Saturday job, you can teach them how to save up for it. You can even sweeten the deal by offering to pay a portion of the costs if they show that they can be responsible with their money.
These practical skills might not be taught at school, but they’re vital for adult life. As your child grows older, your lessons and teaching methods can change, but they’re never too young to start learning. However, it’s important to make these lessons fun and engaging, so that they’re more likely to take the information in.
DIY and Crafts
As well as more obvious lessons like those mentioned above, many children enjoy more crafty activities. Craft projects are a great way to bond with your children and to help them to develop fine motor skills and creativity. You can also use them to teach your children things like physics, chemistry, and mechanics, especially if they like to see how things work.
For example, you can teach your children a very simple scientific experiment designed as a fun way to make a mess. All you need is a lot of baking soda and white vinegar, along with some food colouring to make it more fun. Here’s a quick guide that you can try at home:
- Put a small ramekin or cup in a container. Fill them almost to the top with vinegar and the food colouring. Feel free to add glitter for more sparkle.
- Take a healthy spoonful of baking soda and dump it into the cup of vinegar.
- Watch the volcano bubble and spill over into the container, which should catch all the mess.
If you set up a few of these glasses of vinegar, your kids can get involved. This experiment is fun, but it’s also a great way to explain how acid and alkaline react with each other. There are all kinds of different craft projects out there that appeal to kids of all ages and interests.
As well as little craft projects for fun, older children might appreciate more obviously practical DIY projects. As kids get older, they like to put their own stamp on their rooms. This is a great opportunity for you to teach them how to decorate their rooms.
If your child wants to change their room around, encourage them. Offer to set aside a weekend to help them out, especially if they want to paint the walls and do other decorations. Even if it’s not to your liking, this is an important step in their development and a great way to teach them basic skills like painting or wallpapering. Be ready to help, but try not to take over, especially if they’re older.
If you have any specific skills or crafts, you could also take some time to teach them to your children. They might not be interested in them, but it could become a bonding experience for both of you. Gardening, knitting, and other skills and hobbies are perfect for this. If you have a more dangerous hobby, like woodworking, then you might have to wait for them to be a little older, but encourage these interests. Practical skills will always be useful.
Academic Learning
While your children might be back at school or nursery, you can always supplement their classroom lessons with academic lessons at home. This is especially true when your children are younger and have a lower workload, as older children might become overwhelmed.
If your child hasn’t started school yet, this is especially important. Even before school starts, you can help your child to learn how to talk, read, write, and do some basic maths. Talking is especially important. It helps your child to develop social skills and to communicate properly from a young age.
Typically, toddlers say their first words at around a year old and will be able to say simple, two-word sentences by the age of 2. As they get older, you can help them to develop their speaking skills by teaching them how to use complex sentences. Here’s a guide about how to help your child practice sentences.
Once your children start school and start getting homework, resist the temptation to do it for them. Instead, be ready to help them and explain anything they don’t yet understand. As for older children, encourage them to do their homework and other revision activities and give them the space they need to do so.
