HOME SCHOOLING DOESN'T HAVE TO BE A CHORE!

How can we schedule and plan our children's learning from home whilst still remaining somewhat sane and keeping the kids happy for the foreseeable future?

Here are some helpful tips from us!

• Follow your children's interests. Learning doesn't necessarily mean sitting at a desk with books, writing materials and copious amounts of reading and writing. Take the learning outside to the garden, discover wildlife, plants, start a veggie patch, make bird seeds, exercise, count, draw and read!

• Put a plan in place. How are you going to balance homeschooling, with working from home, and chores, cooking, family time. How are you going to balance being teacher and parent? Every family dynamic is different so this is really personal to you. Creating a schedule and a plan will help keep you motivated, keep a structure for you and your kids and hopefully stop distractions. Use a whiteboard or if you don't have one, utilize with paper.

• Don't do it alone! There are dozens of online learning materials, downloads and others offering free services right now! We are in this together lets remember to support our communities through these tough times and stay in high spirits

• Here are some great resources and ideas for mindfulness too

  Childrens yoga and mindfulness activities https://www.cosmickids.com/

  Online resources and learning for all ages https://www.twinkl.com.au/

• Begin daily mindful family time activities - this can include baking, creating together - making slime, playdough, having a silent disco in your lounge room, stretching, organising your bedroom, reading a story…

• Try to limit screen time, being at home gives more opportunity for screens but this can deter the children from the real world and learning opportunities, become more irritable and have a smaller attention span.

• Stay positive, its scary out there, watching too much of the news or scrolling through your news feeds can make things worse. Try to keep the positive vibes going because your children will see it and feel it too! Create positive affirmation cards, begin mini meditations, remind each other what you are grateful for and show kindness to others always.

• Take breaks for meal times, stop what you are doing and return back to your ‘work' afterwards. Breaks are great!

  And Remember your community - we may be isolated but we are in this together!

  We are here for you!

  Going it alone, lacking support or just genuinely feeling low! Contact us, we are always happy to offer friendly advice to give you ideas and help. With over 12 years experience working with children in school settings, outdoor settings, as parents and as teachers!

  ♡ Timmy and Tammy