Back to school! Are you ready?!

Photo credit: Deleece Cook on Unsplash

Sometimes it can feel as though, not only do we have little or no clue how to teach our children in this fast-paced world, but also that we can’t think how we could do something differently.

Let’s take primary school homework, for instance, don’t we always just let the kids get on with the sheet they’ve been sent home with, supporting them if they get stuck (and giving them the answers, right?!). Parents aren’t teachers and the curriculum can be a minefield, can’t it?

To be fair, teachers don’t expect parents to be teachers which is why they usually send homework that the child can try to do alone. Unfortunately, and because it’s an add-on, teachers often take the easy route and photocopy a sheet for the masses – I’ve done it myself!

Children, in my opinion, don’t learn from these methods of homework. If the child is capable in the topic of the homework, they do it in two mins and stuff it back in their bag without any real thought; if they’re not capable or don’t understand it, you could potentially have a fight on your hands! Is it worth it? Well, perhaps that’s for another day…

Today, let’s talk about creativity and looking at things differently. It will take a movement to change the way homework is perceived at Primary level. Secondary level homework is a very different beast and in my parental experience, fits the needs of learning well, despite its lack of creativity (by that, I mean in the National Curriculum, not the teaching, before I get loads of teachers emailing me!). All children can learn differently and enjoy learning creatively, so why not let them explore at home in different ways?

We talked before about different ways to tackle spelling and Maths, and I’ve talked about my Narnia journey which developed the children’s creative writing skills. Let’s talk some more about writing today.

If you have a child who doesn’t really like “writing”, try different ways to show them that it isn’t always sit down and move a pen/pencil. Writing comes from experience and imagination. How many times as a toddler would your child pick up a toy and begin to recreate a story, or even make one up?