5 Top Tips for Home Schooling

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Covid has brought around a number of changing circumstances for the Irish economy and educational system.

Below are some suggestions on what might help.

  1. Structure is vital.  Creating a daily and often weekly plan for the child or student is essential to their learning. Where possible, carrying out school work at the same time each day and maintain balance with outside activities and sleeping routine with help with their learning.
  2. Environment, it is important to have a dedicated space to learning, where possible for that to be a separate place to where the student sleeps. Having a set desk or location within the house allows the student to set up their books/ laptop and when they are finished each day, they can leave their items there and engage in other activities.
  3. Online learning can be challenging to maintain concentration. I would recommend regular movement breaks, involving stretching, every 45 minutes.
  4. Some students have not availed of assistive technology prior to Covid. However, through online learning from home, the student can access a wide range of often online free resources to help with their subjects. I would suggest looking at our assistive technology top picks article for more specific suggestions.
  5. Time management is often a concept that students with learning difficulties struggle with. The school day usually has set hours, however, with online learning, often hours and hours can pass and the student might still be looking at the same project or the same piece of homework. It is important to set a timeline for when the student needs to get the work completed by and work backwards with making daily moves towards that goal.

Remember to celebrate the small wins and some days will work out better than others so keep trying, your doing great!