For those of us who are now home educators because of school closures due to coronovirus.
I will update this page as I go, but please feel free to tell me about any resources you’ve found useful so we can share the knowledge.
General Resources
Learning materials created by teachers from Early Years to KS4
There’s usually a charge but the lovely folks at Twinkl are offering a free month to help us home educators out. There’s so much good stuff on there, it’s a great place to start. There are tons of downloads but there are also some online maths games and things too.
Our first lesson was glitter science, showing how easy it is for germs to spread and how soap and water is the only way to get rid of them (hence the post pic).
Use the code PARENTSTWINKLHELP to get your free month
Literacy
Free reading and writing resources, audiobooks, videos, competitions and reading challenges.
The Book People are having a closing down sale and I’ve bagged loads of fun-but-educational books for around £2 each. Titles such as “Why Do I… Poop” etc 🙂
While schools are closed Audible are providing streaming of an incredible collection of stories, including titles across six different languages for free.
PE
PE with Joe, daily live workouts for kids every weekday morning at 9am (GMT).
Home Economics
I’m a bit biased as this is also one of my websites but not only does it teach kids to cook it also adds in something educational along the way. Some of it is kitchen science and other times it’s things like ‘how bees make honey’ and then an easy recipe using honey.
Get kids to use this and go round the kitchen scanning snacks, then they can find healthier alternatives.
Maths
It’s likely your child’s school will use Mathletics or Sumdog that your child can access online from home. But we also love Maths Factor, by Carol Vorderman where kids can earn actual medals and it does actually make maths fun, which is something I never thought I would say 😀
Maths Factor – Use the code WF-26402-FR to get your first month for £1
Science
Fun science using things you have around the home.
Art
Check out Noel Fielding on Twitter who’s holding art club usually at 3pm and I think it will be most days. He gives a theme and then a couple of hours to submit entries. Noel is great for dyspraxic kids because his art is very creative and non-traditional, he’s truly encouraging.
Programs to Watch
- Horrible Histories
- Deadly 60
- Newsround
These are all BBC so available on iPlayer, and Horrible Histories are also on Netflix.
Books We’ve Found Useful So Far
Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls – It’s International Women’s month and this is filled with inspirational women. There’s a page with an illustration and a page of writing for each woman, so it’s nothing too daunting for the kids to read. I asked mine to read four and pick her favourite. She then went off and did some more research to produce an information poster on her chosen woman.
Lego Chain Reactions and Lego Gadgets – these books are really fun and great for fine motor skills. You get the Lego bricks you need included with the books too. A bit of sneaky STEM learning too.
Doodle a Day – Fun art. Each page is a day of the year with a background or border printed on there and a fun thing to draw. So far we’ve had ‘what hamsters dream about’ and ‘make portraits from printed finger prints’. It’s all very fun and nonsense and creative, and it’s to them how detailed they go so it doesn’t have to be a pressured ‘draw this’ scenario.
Write Your Own Story – Really fun and well presented Usborne book (their stuff is always visually appealing), giving lots of ideas and space to write stories. It’s a bit structured and a lot creative so should suit the dyspraxic mind.
The Kids Book of Handlettering – this is more for older kids and definitely for first thing in the morning when they aren’t cranky. It’s great though because it very much focusing on ‘drawing’ the letters rather than writing, and again it’s all about creativity and not being exact. Good excuse for using stationery too, which is always nice.
Random Ideas to Try
- Building a den
- Make a marble run
- Gardening
- Photo challenge
- Start a blog/diary
- Household chores – recycling, shredding, sorting laundry
- Design a new box of cereal
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