Like many of you, the majority of the RED Box Vape team is working from home…some of us with the added challenge of having our school age children at home too!
Although we’re no teachers (our respect of those who work in education has 100% increased!) we’ve all been sharing our tips on what is working for us, works for our children and allows us to work our day job too! Its only right that we share this with you too!
This is NOT school!
Things have changed very quickly and with very little time to move or adjust. If you went on a panic online spending spree for all things educational, you’re not alone – so did we!
So, you have the gear, but no idea! Something that has been floating around the net lately is the imposed need to have a strict schedule in place…although great in theory, they’re fairly tricky to put in to play when you have a full-time job as well! Routine is key here and has worked really well over the past couple of weeks with Team RED Box. Working out a routine and staying fairly close to it allows you to be a bit flexible; there’s no school bell but encouraging your children to be up and ready for their schoolwork by, say 9am, is a great start!
Remember, this is a result of an emergency situation which is impacting us all. Some people home-school for their own personal reasons, but the vast majority of parents and carers send their children to school, it’s totally new to us and there is no right or wrong way – make it fluid and allow it to fit into your working day too.
Online resources
Many schools encourage children to learn through online tools, although many of us are concerned at the amount of screen time our kids are having – you can still limit this but make it educational when they do!
There are some great tools available online, many which are already set up through your child’s school – so check out your school homepage for more information!
Older children may be learning virtually through their school and submitting their projects and classwork online – for these, we’ve found ensuring their screen time is broken up during the day is important as this isn’t a familiar way of working for them.
Learning through play
Play is so important for children’s healthy development, it also helps children to relieve any anxieties that they will also be picking up from you whilst following the government guidelines to stay at home, daily updates on Coronavirus, possible self-isolation and working from home!
If the weather is nice and you have a back garden, let the kids out to play, organise or don’t some fun playtime activities – children have brilliant imaginations and lockdown is a great time to put it in to practice!
Some useful tips from the team include, the 30 Lego challenge (can easily be found with a quick search online!) gets children thinking of something new to build every day, a scavenger hunt for younger children – write or draw items for them to find in the home, garden or on a walk.
Movie and story time
If you know you have a particularly busy day coming up, why not introduce a movie and story day. Choose a movie that your children will/do enjoy and afterwards ask them to write or draw pictures about the movie in a sequence.
Yes, its screen time (and not something we’d recommend for everyday!) but it’s fun and educational at the same time. You could even choose a docufilm for your child to watch.
Embrace family time
Remember, you are your child’s first and main teacher. You know your child and you know them better than anyone else, so do what you feel is right for them and for you.
This is a once in a lifetime opportunity to spend quality time and to really connect with your children – reading together, listen to music, dance, have meals as a family, play board games usually reserved for Christmas time, learning a new card game, cooking together and exercising together.