Kids on forced holiday, what next?

Encourage your children to keep up their education (Photo: Shutterstock)

The forced ‘holiday’ that is as a result of precaution against COVID-19 comes with different challenges, chief among them, how to ensure that our little ones keep up with their studies. If you have a kindergartener or a child in Grade One or Two, you know how easy it is for these young ones to forget everything they’ve learned in school. As parents, it’s paramount that we continue their education so that come the reopening of schools, teachers and their charges don’t have to start from scratch.

Below are some tips to help you ensure there’s continued learning during this time.

1. Check your child’s education level

Find out what your child has learned so far so that you can tailor their home-schooling to their level. This is pretty simple to do. Just check their school books or get in touch with their teachers for guidance. Simply getting them to practice writing, reading and counting and revise what they have already covered in school could be enough to ensure they don’t forget anything.

2. Make a timetable

Create a structure so that no day passes without essential activities like learning, playing and napping. Create a timetable with all these activities in it to help your child have a structured day. Be sure to include mealtimes in the timetable.

3. Have fun activities

School is more than just reading and writing. There are other activities that must be included in your child’s development. Fun activities include singing and dancing, story time, outside playtime, colouring and painting, etc. Put these in their daily timetable so that their time is filled with something constructive that they also enjoy.

Have fun activities that will educate them and keep them busy (Photo: Shutterstock)

4. Use online learning tools

There are various tools available online that you can utilise in your child’s at-home education. Ask teachers for recommendations of websites where you can get relevant learning material for your children. Some of these sites provide free learning material which your child will enjoy. There are classes that you can print out for them to do during “class time”. You can also let your child do the work online. Simple things like piano lessons, word, number and naming games will keep your child entertained for at least an hour.

5. Teach them simple chores

Take advantage of this time to bond with your children and also teach them simple chores. They can help prepare simple meals like their sandwich at snack time or help you prepare a fruit juice or smoothie, clean the dishes or tidy the living room. When kids are included in household chores they become more responsible and feel like you trust them enough to handle simple tasks.

As we take precautions to keep ourselves safe, remember to keep updated on the situation as well and inform your children of what is happening, as per their level of understanding. Talking to your children about Coronavirus (COVID-19) and the different measures put in place to help counter it will prevent them from getting too anxious as life changes around them.