Sound advice for those home schooling
Home tutor, Margaret Lagoyianni ays children a better than adults thing as adapting to new regimes.
As parents continue to struggle with home schooling, Margaret, from Ellesmere has put together a set of tips and advice on how to cope.
The home tutor says most of her "pupils" are local although she helps some in London, Switzerland and more recently, China.
"From what I hear schools are sending large amounts of work to be completed by students in both primary and secondary education," she said.
She said the suggested time for study was three hours for children up to the age of eight and four and a half for older students.
"Short bursts of study are best, 20 minutes for primary and 30 mins for secondary followed by a five minute break is a good guide," she said.
"Give your child something to do during longer breaks maybe cooking or baking or having a go at that new Lego they received for Christmas."
She said displaying the daily timetable clearly worked well, ticking off work as it was completed.
"Give frequent praise but be firm at the same time - children are better than you think at adapting to new regimes but they will try andmanipulate parents.
"Most important of all I would suggest is that you don’t get stressed. Children will pick up on this and will exploit the situation to their advantage. Stay calm. I know this is easier said than done but losing your temper won’t get you anywhere."
She said comments from children such as "only teachers know things" were hurtful.
"You are not a professional teacher but you have been teaching your child since the day he was born. You taught him to walk, to use the toilet, tie his shoe laces and hold his knife and fork. A quick reminder of this will often do the trick and help your child to realise that mum and dad are pretty good teachers."
Margaret says she has been teaching English and Maths on online platforms since the last lockdown.
"Students submit work before the lesson and I am able to edit it during the lesson with the student sharing instant feedback. Lessons are fun and we always recap at the end and reflect on what learning is taking place."
