Home School advise for Parents
You will find some really useful links further down this page, but first…
Don’t get stressed over the idea of homeschooling. You are not a trained homeschooler, you are parents/grandparents/guardians trying to keep kids ticking over. You did not spend 4 years going a primary ed degree.
Every parent is in the same boat at the moment. You are not the only parent stressed or unable to help with every piece of homework. Don’t feel that you are.
If your child/children is struggling – try having a chat with their 
teacher/principal to work out a plan for your child.
The work being sent home is like a menu – you might just pick and choose pieces of it.
The work being sent home might not suit your child at all – again chat to the teacher/principal to figure out what works best. Also chat to your child about what they like/don’t like – if they feel they are part of the process they are more likely to engage.
Schools are learning too – if they have suggested something that isn’t working – its better that they hear about it and you work together to figure out what does work.
We Will Draw @WillSliney
@WillSliney is an Irish Marvel comic illustrator. He sets drawing challenges each day for kids on Twitter and Instagram (click on links to view).
Has tutorials on YouTube kids can follow. Imagination, fine motor skills, patterns, pincer grip – all these good things can be developed from drawing/colouring in.
For tech savvie parents – uploading kids pics on Twitter usually gets a reply and uploading them onto the RTE Homeschool hub might get them shown on tv later in the day (4.30 Homeschool extra). Can be an added incentive!
History
Don’t get too caught up in worksheets. Watch a few of the videos suggested below and chat about it afterwards.
If you are interested in tracing your Family Tree why not take a look at some tips and links that our Family History group has put together in their Dublin Lives piece “Top Tips for Tracing Your Family History”.
Horrible Histories
You can find Horrible Histories on YouTube.
They are funny and factually all true!
John D Ruddy
John D Ruddy (does short Irish history animations – videos are fast but can be stopped along the way).
You can find him on YouTube.
Give Up Yer Aul Sins
Give Up Yer Aul Sins (this might lead nicely into ‘interviewing Parent/Grandparent’ project – sample question sheet above).
You can find the Brown Bag Productions films of Give Up Yer Aul Sins on YouTube.
…more Home School advise for Parents
If you don’t have access to the internet – tell the school. Ring them. They will figure out a way to get some resources to you.
If you don’t have the skills to work your way around suggested websites or apps – ask the school for help, ask someone else in the house – the child/other family/neighbour/other parent. Again you’re not expected to know everything. Everyone is learning.
If you can’t find the exact page in the exact book or website that your child is being asked to read or research – get them to read something you have in the house – a magazine/a leaflet/ and answer a few questions on it. Look up something on youtube under that heading instead.
Even if they say they hate it – kids do need some structure to their day. Even an
hour a day (even broken into smaller chunks) will help engage the brain, and help keep up their skills. If all they are doing is watching RTE Homeschool every day – that’s fine. Again if you sit and watch it with them and chat about it – you’ve had the chats, they’ve had the craic and they’ve probably learned something accidentally! https://www.rte.ie/learn/home-school-hub/
Don’t get too caught up in doing worksheets – especially if the child is not able for them/bored with them etc. Use real live stuff the kids like – YouTube isn’t just full of funny cat videos. The key is probably sitting with them and having the chats while watching something. Pausing the video and asking them questions or their opinions.
Doing normal stuff like – baking, drawing, looking at the birds or counting the dandelions or the number of people you meet on your 2km walk is all learning. It doesn’t have to be book/website driven for them to learn.
