Coronavirus home schooling? Get Practical Home Schooling Ideas

With schools closing, parents have been dropped in at the deep end, forced to learn how to educate themselves from home while struggling with the uncertainty of when children will go back to school.

I for one am a mother to an 8 and 6 year old and luckily work from home and my husband is a teacher. However, we are still forced to quickly rethink our lives as we know it, put our children first and provide them with an education. I have been quite quick of the mark with this so am sharing some of my practical ideas (I have no teaching qualifications so these are simply what I have been thinking of over the last few days based on my experience of being a mother, I hope they help).

Setting up a home schooling classroom

Although not possible for most people, if you can set up a dedicated area for home schooling which offers children a place to work and then outside of that is there place of play it will benefit you all hugely. Creating a home / work divide is key to being able to have vital downtime / playtime.

Luckily we have a huge shed we have converted into a living space which will do perfectly. I am going to have one room as music / technology / snack room, the other as the sitting down classroom. They will use the garden as much as possible for outdoor learning and exercise too.  If it’s not possible to create a dedicated home learning space then stock your cup boards with learning resources that can easily be stored away.

Create an outside place for learning too. Buy a gazebo and / or shed. Set up a mud kitchen, whatever it is, getting outside is key to staying healthy and productive in your new home school environment.

Plant a tree and watch it grow, tie in maths by measuring it and arts and crafts by drawing it. Green Tree Doors offers a tree delivered straight to your door. It will forever mark what is becoming a Biblical event…

Hopefully the sun will arrive soon, but before it does Gazebos are a great way of getting outside and sheltering for from the rain. Check out these gazebo voucher codes from YouGarden 10% voucher code on all orders over £60.

Organising your home schooling resources

Home school learning resources for maths and English are mainly pens and paper orientated so not all that exciting but crucial. I have bought the essentials such as pens, paper, paint and have also, bought some desk organisers which I loved putting my pencils in as a child. I I have printed off all of the resources that the kids school provided and put them in a folder, one for each child. I have also bought a couple of in-trays so each of them know what they have to do each day. And they each have a calculator which they don’t currently have so that will hopefully provide some interest.

Setting up a classroom environment for your child will put them into the learning mindset and hopefully make your job way easier. Plus kids love new stuff so this should excite them about their new routine.

Baker Ross voucher codes and offers are available on everything from paint sets to brushes, colouring pens and sketch books, stickers to glitter and sewing needles to wool and jewellery making kits. Check out the latest Baker Ross Offers here.

ToucanBox offers and voucher codes can be viewed here. Offer your kids subscription boxes to give them something to look forward to each month then build into your educational activities.

We will be looking for other ways to keep the kids entertained as well as continuing their learning so I will follow up on this blog with updates, photos and ideas to let you know how it is going. Wish me luck!

Miranda Coombes, mother of 2, passionate about the environment,

keen horse rider, marathon runner and a business owner

More blogs from Miranda:

Why wait for Easter? Chocolate is a great mood booster!

Spring Cleaning Hacks to Get Your Home Sparkling

Save Money on Mattresses in March, National Bed Month

Make Time for Self Care and Exercise This January

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