Home schooling is something the vast majority of us are not trained to deal with. It has presented new challenges to parents, regardless of how old your little ones are. However, we are fortunate that in these uncertain times there are many organisations and individuals out there to help. Ease some of the added stress by utilising those who want to lend a hand, and share their knowledge and resources with us all.

If you are working at home with your kids around, it can sometimes be tough to give them the learning, and development they would normally get. I would suggest that it is almost impossible for the most part. Instead of us worrying about this, instead we can embrace the technology, and links we have with a huge society of people via the internet.

A few ground rules …

  • It’s ok not to be ok – No one in the world expected, or prepared for the situation we are all in now. It’s OK to need help, and it’s OK to have no idea what you are doing at times.
  • It’s ok not to know how to work from home – For many of us this is new. Workflows will change, priorities will change, working hours may change. This comes hand in hand with support from employers, but as an employee (parent or not) it’s OK for the situation to feel new to you.
  • It’s ok to be different than others – There is no harm in double tapping on a friends instagram post about their morning workout, or home learning sessions, or colourful school timetable. NEVER feel guilty if you are taking a different route than others. You are the parent to your children, not others you know, and not social media influencers.
  • It’s ok to give your kids screen time – When your mum told you that watching too much TV gave you ‘square eyes’, she was lying! Not in a bad way of course, but letting your child enjoy the genuinely amazing, and affordable technology in their hands is not negative. Kids love interacting with tech, and as long as they are safe online, then there is a world of education, and tools available to them. However, NEVER feel guilty for letting them sit watching cartoons for more time than you normally would allow – I still watch cartoons all day and I turned out ok!
  • Embrace resources from your school – They know what topics, and concepts are being taught, and what they had planned for the rest of this year. Some schools are providing more home schooling resources than others, and if you don’t have time to go through it all or understand it yourself, try not to worry.

Resource lists

We will attempt to add to these lists regularly, and remove anything which is no longer available. Some resources may be time sensitive, so apologies if any links no longer work, or are no longer free.

These links were last updated on Tues 31th March 2020

Literacy, Phonics, and English

Different schools will use different schemes for their english, and literacy education. At younger ages there are various phonics schemes which are pushing out content daily, and for older kids, there are a huge amount of free ebooks/audio books available.

For kids and parents there are also book readings from a huge range of people, and authors being posted online. You are never too old for storytime!

home schooling resources open textbook

Early literacy links

Twinkl  – They offer a huge range of worksheets, and activities. This is where many schools get their resources from. To help parents with home schooling they are even offering it all for free at the moment. When signing up use offer code CVDTWINKLHELPS

Teach your monster to read – The iOS app is currently free, and the Android one is 99p at the time of writing.

Biff and Chip free ebooks – Great books, especially for those who follow the Oxford Reading Tree scheme at your school.

Ruth Miskin Training (Read Write Inc) – Daily live streams for children following the Read Write Inc phonics schemes.

Oxford Owl Free eBooks – Sign up for free eBooks from the Oxford University Press

Older eReader links

Apple Books and Kindle / Audible – Both Apple and Amazon are offering free various titles as free eBooks and Audio books to give people content to enjoy while they are isolating at home.

TES – Resources – Great resource recommended by teachers. Lots of paid for content, but worth digging through to get ideas, or find any free content.

TED-Ed Lessons parent zone – Lessons put together by academics, and teachers all around the world

Storytime Links

David Walliams daily audio story – Funny stories for kids of all ages

Oliver Jeffers stay at home storytime – Much loved children author reading his books while in self isolation

 

Maths, Numeracy and S.T.E.M

Your school may guide you on the numeracy and maths systems it uses, as well as giving you and indication on what topics are being taught. Maths for some is fun, when to others it can be a drag, however there are fun activities to keep the numbers flowing, without attention spans drifting off.

When it comes to S.T.E.M (Science, Technology, Engineering, Maths) it can be more of a home schooling challenge to teach without having equipment and doing demonstrations, and having the expertise as well. However, there are ways your kids can have fun, while getting to grips with computer code, making games and animations, while learning.

Help! I’m a Parent: Useful home schooling resources

Maths and Numeracy Links

Twinkl  – They offer a huge range of worksheets, and activities. This is where many schools get their resources from. To help parents with home schooling they are even offering it all for free at the moment. When signing up use offer code CVDTWINKLHELPS

Maths Factor with Carol Vorderman – This is usually a subscription service, which is being offered for free. Great maths learning, and activities for a wide range of ages.

White Rose Maths – Free home learning resources for a wide range of ages from White Rose Maths

TES – Resources – Great resource recommended by teachers. Lots of paid for content, but worth digging through to get ideas, or find any free content.

Science and Technology

Fuse School Videos – Loads of great free videos on youtube for a range of ages

Maddie Moate – From CBeebies ‘Do you know?’ fame, her YouTube channel has a constant stream of technology videos to teach and entertain.

Discovery Education – Free resources from a curriculum driven school partner. Not limited to STEM, but has some great free worksheets for this area.

TED-Ed Lessons parent zone – Lessons put together by academics, and teachers all around the world

Scratch Jr – This is the entry level Scratch environment which is a drag and drop computer coding environment. Your kids can make animations and games, by putting blocks together like Lego. Available for iPad, and Android tablets, with a Mac and Windows desktop version found here.

Scratch 3 – This is the next step for kids learning code. There are some fantastic step by step activities for parents to do with their kids to create games and interactive animations. This will teach a huge array of computer programming concepts in a friendly block building environment, to make it less daunting.

Small Basic  – If you have older kids, or even if younger ones want to move onto real code there are some great options. My personal favourite is Microsoft Small Basic. This is a easy learning language which can lead into learning common software, and app languages, such as Java and C#.

Free Science Lessons –  Some great science videos for those in KS4, or those younger who are interested.

Being Arty and Active

It’s important for you and your kids to stay active while restricted to home schooling. It’s also important for us to look at the more creative side of life, whether that is through crafts, or activities as a family.

There are several people pushing content daily to encourage constant indoor exercise, and activities around the home.

Help! I’m a Parent: Useful home schooling resources

Staying Active Links

Joe Wicks PE Teacher – The household name of the body coach, is now becoming an everyday routine for many families during this period of home schooling. A great 30 mins to start each weekday, being young or old.

Cosmic Kids Yoga – Fantastic themed bite sized yoga sessions. A personal favourite in our house to help kids with mindfulness, as well as fitness.

Go Noodle – Quick, fun, active videos for your kids. A hats-off also has to be given to the Blazer Fresh team, which have some fantastic videos as part of the Go Noodle channel.

Nintendo Ring Fit Adventure – Not a free product, but they have just released a new free update, which includes a dancing, and jogging modes. This is a fantastic product worth taking a look out if you are a Nintendo Switch user. Turning fitness into an actual adventure game, gives you and your kids the reason to keep working out each day.

Crafts and Arts

Orchard Toys Craft Sheets – One of our most loved board and puzzle game creators have releases lots of activities sheets free on their website.

Usborne Books Play and Learn – Lots of free worksheets from the fantastic Usborne books.

Girl Guides Adventures at Home – The Girl Guides have made their own great list of activities, and crafts to enjoy at home.

Having Fun!

Consider using this period of home schooling as a time for your kids to enjoy what they love doing best, and only they can tell you what that is. It may be time for them to expand an existing hobby, or take up a new one. You can always take this opportunity to introduce your own hobbies as well, teaching your little ones what you love.

I personally am taking this time to teach my two about gardening, playing video games, and even the world of Dungeons & Dragons!

Help! I’m a Parent: Useful home schooling resources

Chester Zoo Live Feeds – Chester Zoo, and others around the globe are making great videos, and talks about their beautiful animals, and conservation efforts.

Amazon Prime Kids – Unlimited access to Amazon’s library of books, video, and music content aimed at kids. Amazon are offering a family package for 3 months for only 99p!

CBeebies Games – Play some great games, with your favourite characters. Many of the other kids TV channels will have similar setups, but the quality of games on the CBeebies website always shines.

Dungeons & Dragons Free Rules – The basic rules for the current version of DnD are free to download. Great for all ages to try and make up your own stories and adventures. Easy to use free dice rolling apps are on iOS and Android, or buy a set of DnD gaming dice online for a few pounds.

Nintendo eShop, Playstation Store, and Xbox Store – All three of the console makers have constant deals, and money saving offers on digital download games. Even if you’re not into gaming, it’s worth checking to see if there is something for you and your family to enjoy together. In my house there are regular racing tournaments, helping each other puzzle solving, and dancing around the living room.