Due to Covid-19 pandemic, all schools are due to close on Friday,
which means homeschooling will be firmly underway come Monday!
There’s no need to fear, Picniq’s top tips are here,
It won’t be forever, we are all in this together…
💻 1. Communicate with teachers 💻
If you haven’t got round to it already, make it your first priority to sign up to email communication from your child’s school as this will be hugely beneficial over the upcoming weeks! Not only will it keep you informed with the school’s future plans in such unprecedented times but also many teachers will be on hand happy to try and answer any questions you may have! Whether that’s providing you with assistance in understanding something that has been assigned to your child or pointing you in the direction of more learning resources.
📝2. Set a routine and stick to it 📝
Start with the basics, what will your day at home look like? Take a few minutes now to write out a rough schedule! It is important for both your child (and yourself!!) that a routine is formed early. This by no means has to be perfect, start slow – there is no need to launch right in with a full-fledged 8-hour curriculum just a simple schedule will do the trick! Your daily routine could look something like this:
Download and print yours here 👉 picniq.uk/timetable
⚠️Top Tip:⚠️ Drafting a schedule is the easy part, the tricky part is sticking to it! That’s why we recommend printing it out and having it stuck up in the house! This way your children can see it every day and even make tick marks next to their completed tasks. Using colours and pictures in your schedule will make it fun and easy to understanding for younger children too. 💛
⏲ 3. Use timers to help stay on track ⏲
By setting timers this will help your children to stay focused on tasks longer and will most certainly help you all of you to stay on track during this new daily routine! Plus, setting weekly goals is a great way of encouraging little ones to stay focused especially when surrounded by so many toys in the house – distractions they won’t be used to at school. An example of a weekly goal you could set your child is: By the end of this week to have read 3 more chapters of your book.
📔 4. Workbooks to help focus learning📔
Getting in some workbooks is a great way to focus your children’s learning! Whether it is an English, Maths or Science workbook or perhaps one that covers a bit of all of them, a workbook will certainly help to keep your child on track with their learning. There are lots of brilliant workbooks available on Amazon all designed with different ages and abilities in mind! We’ve linked some of the best selling workbooks below for you to take a look at.
⭐️ Times Tables: 100 practise pages including timed tests, multiplication math drills and so much more
⭐️ Collins Handwriting Bumper Book: packed full with fun handwriting activities
⭐️First Word: Easy learning Preschool flashcards
⭐️Creative Writing Skills: Over 70 fun activities for children
⚽️ 5. Spend time outside ⚽️
Every day, no matter what the weather make sure everyone spends a little bit of time outside! It doesn’t have to be for long, especially if the weather isn’t on our side! But just 10/15 minutes a day, have your kids outside in the garden splashing in the rain and pretty much running wild. Of course, if the sun makes an appearance (fingers crossed) let the kids spend an hour or so outside playing football, hopscotch or any other of their favourite outdoor games.
🎨 6. Make it fun with Arts &Craft Activities 🎨
Arts and crafts are so important for a child’s development, not to mention super fun too! Get your children drawing, painting and making cool items too! It is a great cost-effective activity, you will be surprised how many craft materials you have just lying around the house! From egg cartons to milk bottles and so much more!
🏃 7. Leave time to just play 🏃
Remember kids learn from playing too! The following family activities can teach your children so many valuable skills (and will bring lots of laughter too):
⭐️ Play board games (For an awesome list of my family board games check out our blog here)
⭐️ Do some baking together – cupcakes, brownies, whatever you fancy!
⭐️ Grow your very own butterfly garden – Get yours here
⭐️Do a Jigsaw
📚️ 8. Enforce ‘reading’ time every day 📚️
Even if it is just for 5 minutes a day, enforcing ‘reading’ time is essential! It is a key skill and should be a priority in your child’s learning! Perhaps before bedtime as this gives you and your child a chance to connect and calm the atmosphere…before (fingers crossed!!!!!) a good nights sleep! I mean we can hope, can’t we!😜
📐 9. General topics for younger children and older children 📐
It can be hard to know what topics to focus on so we suggest sticking to basics! Take a look at some topics we suggest below!👇
For younger children:
✒️Numbers to 10/20/100
✒️Shape recognition
✒️Addition and subtraction
✒️Handwriting practise
✒️Key word reading/ writing
For older children:
✒️Times tables and division tables
✒️Spellings
✒️Reading
✒️For writing encourage them to keep a diary of the things they are doing each day!
❤️️ 10. DON’T PANIC… You’ve got this! ❤️️
What have you been up to? We’d really love to know! Someone else might love it, and really want to have a go! If you’ve got ideas, suggestions or reviews, you can shout all about it on whatever channel you choose!
Let’s go on a Picniq! Follow us on Facebook, Twitter or tag us on Instagram using #PicniqUK! 
