Homeschooling whilst coping with heart conditions - tips?

[Sunnie2day]

My two are grown and flown but for 27 months back in the 1990s my late husband was seconded to Guatemala and I homeschooled my youngest (his sister was at uni by then) during the Guatemalan Civil War - six months of those 27 months were 'lockdown' months, we didn't leave our property for 190 days and I was also coping with heart wobbles. It. Wasn't. Easy.

So I have great empathy for parents today. I'm soliciting tips for getting the little darlings to buckle down, rein in the restlessness, and manage all that whilst in different stages of heart troubles.

I am wondering on behalf of some friends with heart troubles AND school-aged children being homeschooled again during a lockdown

[Smudgebuttonjessie]

Hi. I’ve got 11 year old twins that are now home schooling, the issue is me!!!!I’m a technophobe and get stressed out just looking at the computer so yesterday i declared the first day as ‘teacher training’

Not sure how it will go fir this term so wish me luck x

[Sunnie2day in reply to Smudgebuttonjessie]

I'm still giggling about the teacher training day

[DD13]

Hi Sunnie, I am home schooling 3 Grandchildren. The eldest starts on 11th Jan with schooling, as secondary school age. The younger 2 are primary age. So in the last lockdown I brought the 2 youngest a laptop each, for their birthday and part Christmas present. This has helped, but not so tech savvy as I thought, couldn't get the elder of the two youngest onto a virtual meeting with teacher. So will look at that tomorrow. Hope you are doing ok.

[Sunnie2day in reply to DD13]

I'm doing reasonably well, looks as though this latest acute flare is finally being beaten back so that's a plus. Thank-you for asking, I hope you're doing well and blimey, brave you homeschooling the grands, wow!

[Stuart2441]

Homeschooling a 9 year old. As I am on early retirement I find I have the time. My difficulty of course is catching up on all the writing with fronted adverbials, verbs and nouns and similes etc etc. 😂😂 My line is....no Nintendo switch or PS gaming until at least 3.15 pm which would be end of school time. No knuckling down then an extra half hour gets added to his start of gaming. I do have the luxury of him having a good school and setting his daily work online then it all gets uploaded for teacher comment on class dojo. Good luck and I wish you well. (I am relearning now at the age of 63) 😂😂😇

[Sunnie2day in reply to Stuart2441]

My oldest grandson asked me (a few years back) to help him with his pre-algebra...I had to do a refresher so I could!

[Janma123]

Hi Sunnie, there are a number of new things being announced to help with home schooling this time. The BBC are doing stuff on CBeebies and BBC2 everyday.

bbc.com/mediacentre/2020/bb...

Orchard Toys are doing printable worksheets (if they are anything like their toys they will be great!)

bit.ly/3n7KArX

It has been announced that PlayStations and X-Box can be used to access Glow in Scotland and for zoom and Microsoft Teams sessions.

Joe Wickes is doing PE sessions 3 times a week.

"Help for Dyscalculia and Maths Difficulties" on Facebook has some great ideas for fun, homemade games to support Maths and numeracy for all children.

I will add to this when I come across more. All schools will have their own content set up too.

Remember to make it enjoyable and that there are more skills to learn in life than purely academic ones!

Jane

[Sunnie2day in reply to Janma123]

Super links for my friends, thank-you!

[Cruger]

Lockdown advice from a father:

If you have a lot of tension, and you get a headache,

do what it says on the bottle: "Take two paracetamol"

And "Keep away from children".

[Sunnie2day]

Are you who are homeschooling setting schooling hours to keep the children in a routine?

[Ianc2]

Try and find out what text books they are using and get hold of them .Limit the time you spend on one topic to about 30 minutes and then do a bit of exercise, dancing, walking before you start again.

Have regular tests to assess progress and don't forget playtime.

[Sunnie2day in reply to Ianc2]

That suggestion to limit topic time to a half-hour is very good! I did something similar with my lad when I was homeschooling him and I did note doing that kept the restlessness somewhat tamped down.

[080311]

Qualipop that’s a simply great post, you must have been a fur-nominal teacher, bet you’re pupils loved you your lessons must have been great.

Pauline

[Qualipop in reply to 080311]

Thank you very much. I Loved it- decided aged 4 that's what I was going to do thanks to an incredible reception teacher. But it's not rocket science. Everything is a learning experience and children are like sponges if it's interesting to them but there's the thing; it often isn't interesting or relevant. Just sitting doing pages of sums is a real chore; actually USING that math with pretend shopping, baking, pretending to run a company and work out wages and tax is fun. Learning historical facts is boring; dressing up like a Victorian or a Tudor is brilliant along with play acting and they remember so much more. I still remember being 12 at school where we were "doing" Tudors. A friend and I sewed an incredible Tudor dress with a ruff and held out at the sides by a swimming ring LOL and were asked to model it to the class. I remember more about the Tudors than any other period. Make it practical.