Homeschooling with Monica – Guest Blog

Monica Cru-Hall, 42, is a mum of four, business owner, teacher and therapist.

Monica has worked on various community and educational projects.

Therapy North Staffordshire is Monica’s own business which is working with H.O.P.E. (Helping Our Pupils Emotions) – who run parent online support sessions and workshops for schools associated with the HOPE project.

Here Monica shares her tips on homeschooling and looking ahead…

“Ok, so we as parents have been here before… Is that a good thing? Are we going to taint or view this ‘home-school’  with anything we experienced before?

Have we learnt this time that it is impossible to run a school day at home? Six hour school days are just not going to work ..when there is a bedroom they can escape to… or a duvet den can be easily built… and the knowledge of snacks in the cupboard that set reminders off in our children’s head on a minute by minute basis.  Are we going to be kinder to ourselves?

I offer a little helping hand… 

As a mum of four children and business owner I have carved out, scratched and slipped and scampered my way through life and along the way have picked up lots of ways NOT to do things and also little tips on how to do things easier for my family of fun.

You may find some of my suggestions useful, however anything said here remains and cannot and should not be used as therapeutic advise – this is personally speaking.

So here are five firefighting points to ponder on…

Give yourself and your child/ren some time.

Now, I do not necessarily recommend time in the sense of waking up at 2 o’clock in the afternoon for a marvellous maths lesson – NOPE! I mean give yourself some adjustment time, give your child some adjustment time and give the school some adjustment time.

I invite you to give yourself time and set realistic targets around time.

Aim for anything from a few minutes to a few hours of work in the morning which are dedicated to core subjects. Consider your commitments and availability as to whether or not you will be able to support the task. Can it be completely independently why you work or are you needed by their side? Maybe leave the afternoon for  creative topic and thematic topics.

Get support…

Support by using online educational games sites,  online  forums set up by parents on the different social media platforms – also Therapy North Staffordshire is working with H.O.P.E. (Helping Our Pupils Emotions) who run parent online support sessions and workshops for schools associated with the HOPE project however during COVID-19 lockdowns and school closures. All parents in the North of Staffordshire  can attend for free by requesting a place via mo****@****************fs.uk

Establish routine.. create your own school day..

So  we touched on ‘time’ – create a timetable so everyone knows what to expect and when. This fosters a sense of comfort in knowing what is coming up.

I am not suggesting that you tie yourself to a schedule – this is completely the opposite of what I am suggesting.  A routine lets you and your child/ren know what is ‘kinda happening’… so instead of scheduling… You know that routinely you will do a bit of English there which could take the form of phonics, writing, spellings, a poem .. or anything else English related.

Be objective

Look at the bigger picture – Schools will re-open and children will return to their formal learning. Everyone is going to have experienced some form of disruption to their learning and this is what educational professionals are trained to do. So while at home with you think about nurturing a love of learning, of creating an inquisitive mind, of developing resilience, role modelling ways of practising mindfulness where we accept the gift of the present moment in the face of some much uncertainty.

Have fun…

Yeah seriously – have fun. It is so much easier for your child to learn when they are having fun and for you if I am totally honest… Play games, do colouring, allow for hands on stuff, have a cuddle read a story or even better dedicate time to writing a new family story outlining your family experiences in homeschooling, or the dreams that they hope to fulfil…”

Thank you for reading my guest Blog on BabaBaboon – I’ll be back soon…Monica

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