Homeschooling ideas?

Siobhan82

My six year old is terribly board with whatever's been sent from school. Would you have any advice or resources on how to keep him interested in stuff like maths and reading?

Coneygree

A maths trail would be lovely. Find circles, squares, rectangles, triangles outside and out and about. Draw pictures of them, label them and order them from smallest to largest. Could do the same with colours. Find thing in groups of 3s, 4s, 5s etc. Put things under, over, next to, in things and get him to find something that is under something. Count the number of doors and windows in the house, socks on the washing line etc. How many times can you bounce a ball in 30 seconds. Go to the park, draw a picture and count the number of trees, footballs, children, adults etc. It is a bit of prep work but they are great craic. When I taught infants they helped me make up some of the questions/tasks.

As for reading, it is tougher but there are lots of websites offering free audiobooks for kids as well as read a long books. It might be a nice change for him. There are plenty free phonics games too on websites like Topmarks and Starfall.

kandr10

What is being sent home?

wirelessdude01

Siobhan82 wrote: »

My six year old is terribly board with whatever's been sent from school. Would you have any advice or resources on how to keep him interested in stuff like maths and reading?

If you give us some examples of what's going home then we can help with some ideas.

Siobhan82

Oh, I love the idea of outdoor maths trail, we'll definitely give it a go. As for what's been sent from school, not much really, he just gets homework from his busy at maths schoolbook.
I'm looking for something more engaging than the usual homework. Any ideas are welcome

heldel00

Contact his teacher. They will be able to guide you with worthwhile extra work.

Millem

I am just chipping away at his books. I bought a maths copy and a handwriting copy and I make up a few sums and get him to make up a few sentences every day. I only do an hour a day.

I bought a box of readers which we are doing every day and also use folensonline.
You can set up an account and if you look up the look starlight (I think) and core readers you will get links where you can get the computer to read the book and then your child can play games for the sight words.

shesty

Ours (JI) is sending them Twinkl work sheets for shapes....build a dinosaur (cut out shapes and glue them into the dinosaur outline), build an obstacle course using a cube, a cylinder, a spheroid etc, play shop using 1c, 2c and 5c coins...that type of stuff.Also homeschool resources she found online, for patterns, counting, sizes (large, medium, small) using superheroes - Captain America, Ironman, Batman, etc. The workbooks have been long abandoned here thankfully.

Reading Eggs is recommended online reading site here, doing free 30 day trials, and it has a maths element to it too...5 year old loves it.

jlm29

Twinkl have some great resources if you root through them. My boy Is older, but they have them for all classes. My sons teacher was sending them home until we got their books last week. You can register online for oxford owl e-books too and access those.
Thank god its nearly summer hols

byhookorbycrook

For maths , you can do lots to engage him, go on a shape hunt , to make it more difficult you can ask him to find a big and a small circle , three squares etc. Give him a list so that he can read the names of the shapes . Don’t forget 3-S shapes . For that age , square, triangle , rectangle , circle , cube / cuboid , sphere , cylinder would be more than enough - just make sure the shapes are relatively easy to find around the house / garden
Get him to photograph all the various finds . You could print them out and then use the print outs for a “ go fish” type game to reinforce the concepts .

Cooking is great , use words like more than/ less than , almost , heavy/light as he helps you measure, temperature of the oven can also be introduced - too hot, not hot enough etc . He won’t hit kg/l etc. formally until later in school but it’s a great introduction to a concept that needs lots of practical work .



Does he have a free writing copy ? If not , I’d start one ASAP . Don’t worry about spelling and grammar as he writes - noting kills creativity quicker than someone telling you that you have omitted a full stop.

The good old “ My News” is a great way to revise high frequency words and can be used as a kind of time capsule , add photos again , if you can .

Shared reading is one of the best ways that your child and yourself can engage in books . Choose something that’s just at his level for a start . You look at the book, the title , pictures - use this time to introduce words he may meet -“ can you see the hippopotamus?” Agree a signal, a tap on your knee , knock on the table .
You both start to read aloud . If he wants you to stop, he uses the signal and reads on alone . If he hits a word he can’t read , just give it to him . Don’t torture him with “ sound it out/ you know this word .” etc. Then you both read on together again until he signals .
Set aside around ten minutes a day for this . Make it a special time , you can snuggle up on the couch or sit on a bean bag etc. Try not to let anything interfere with this time . Speaking of time , another maths strategy- show him what time you will be reading at - the big hand at x, small hand at y . ( Stick to hours at this stage , concepts like 5 to/ after etc . are not needed and may confuse him)


If you need any further ideas , ask away .

byhookorbycrook

Should have included both board games and card games - the humble snakes and ladders teaches numbers 1-100 , counting on and counting back and if you use two dice , quick addition .
For card games , “ Patience “ helps concentration and visual memory ( but for a 6 year old , I’d only use 20 cards , as it may be frustrating otherwise . You can make Snap a bit more interesting by changing the rules a bit - you “ snap” if the number is greater than the card played etc. Bingo is also great for number recognition, you can print cards with numbers up to 30 - or with a custom range of numbers . Again1-100 is going to take too long .
All kinds of counting games will be very beneficial, but you must count forwards AND backwards .

https://www.pdst.ie/sites/default/files/RSGM%20Counting%20Activities.pdf

These games would appear to be very simple but you’d be surprised at how useful they are . For the sweet jar games you can pick higher numbers .
The Humpty Dumpty games , if you use ten as a target number helps embed the tens and unit concept which will really stand to him.


Twinkl has quite a number of printable games .

SixtaWalthers

There are several games that you can use to increase his interest in mathematics and other subjects. As a mother of 2 kids, I have faced this issue several times in life and usually pick exciting games and videos about maths from here https://home.oxfordowl.co.uk/kids-activities/fun-maths-games-and-activities/. You can choose any maths activity according to age and use it.

Similarly, I also heard about blended learning, where computer-assisted lessons or tests are being conducted. You can read this article https://slate.com/technology/2015/02/teach-to-one-what-happens-when-computers-pick-what-students-learn.html to understand how automated learning sounds effective with the teacher's instructions. In these pandemic days, we can swap the role of teachers with parents, but I think it is useful. You can also pick 'Teach to One: Math' innovative learning approach as well.

On the other hand, if you think that technology-based games and approaches are not working, then you should see the DIY or handmade things to increase his interest in mathematics and other subjects. Hopefully, you will fruit of your efforts.