Archives for November 2022

The flexibility and bespoke nature of home-schooling can benefit many families, and can be adopted temporarily or on a permanent basis to suit your lifestyle and your child’s needs. There are many reasons families may opt to home-school their children. To help us explore a few of these reasons and some of the benefits home-schooling offers, I have enlisted the help of the best online school in the country to help you decide if this type of education would suit your family’s needs.

Increased Flexibility

For families who live nomadic lifestyles, such as military families or those who travel for work, home-schooling offers a level of consistency within a child’s education. It removes the anxiety and disruption that could be created by leaving and joining schools on a regular basis and allows children to remain focused on their studies. For families facing illness, grief or challenging personal situations that may make it difficult for a child to attend a brick and mortar school each day, temporary or permanent home-schooling enables children to keep on top of their grades regardless of their circumstances at home.

Improved Focus

School comes with a myriad of distractions, from playground politics, disruptive classmates, to all out bullying. Some children may be obstructed from focusing their energy on their education due to the trivial and disruptive elements associated with traditional schooling. Bullying in particular has a significant impact on a child’s academic success, making them reluctant to attend school and anxious when they do. In most cases, bullying is temporary and can be resolved, though in instances of long-term bullying a child’s mental well-being and academic progression may suffer deeply. Providing an environment where a child has the freedom to learn without stress and fear will help them achieve to their maximum ability and will allow them to rebuild their confidence and self-esteem.

Personalised Experience

Traditional schools generally follow a strict curriculum and focus on achieving specific targets rather than offering a holistic, individualised learning experience. Home-schooling allows you to focus on your child’s unique strengths and build an education plan which suits their personal learning style. Online schools have much smaller class sizes and offer 1-2-1 tutoring to ensure your child gets the attention and support they may forgo in a typical school setting. Those who might otherwise fall behind at school will be given the additional support they need, and the students who would typically excel aren’t left waiting for their peers to catch up, allowing for faster progress.

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From the earliest years, reading can have a profound effect on a child’s life. From an infant developing familial bonds whilst listening to a parent read a bedtime story, to an adolescent exploring challenging concepts and new ideas through the literature they digest, reading is an important part of development and should be encouraged throughout childhood. I have teamed up with a private nursery in London to highlight some of the reasons you should keep the bookshelves stocked and make reading a key part of your child’s routine, no matter what their age.

Infants & Young Children

Long before they can form a sentence or reel off the alphabet, babies and young children can benefit from literature. Even those who are yet to utter their first word have already embarked on the journey of learning to speak. As you read aloud, you expose your child to thousands of words, familiarising them with the sounds and rhythm that make up the foundations of speech. Studies have linked reading to children in infancy with improved vocabulary and literacy skills in later years. Between the stages of learning to talk and learning to read, children can begin to comprehend so much about the world from being read to. The characters they encounter can teach them about important concepts such as empathy, kindness, sharing and friendship.

Early Readers

For those who are learning to read themselves, practice is so important to help them gain confidence and master their new skill. Reading will help improve their literacy skills and broaden their vocabulary. Encourage reading at home and have your child read aloud to you, then ask them to explain what has happened in the text. This will strengthen their comprehension of the sentences they encounter, helping them find the connection between the words on a page and their meaning. Take turns reading each page and use different voices for each character to make the experience feel fun and interactive.

Older Children

Once your child has mastered their literacy skills it is just as important to encourage them to keep reading. Reading for pleasure has innumerable benefits, helping children learn about the world around them, develop empathy for others and gain a sense of self. Their general knowledge will expand, their vocabulary will continue to grow and they will learn to challenge their thinking by considering alternative perspectives. Making reading a habit throughout childhood will encourage a lifelong love of books, helping to reduce stress and maintaining cognitive alertness throughout their lives.

What are your thoughts on reading?

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Youth sports are an integral part of the school experience. Helping to boost mental as well as physical agility and teaching young people important life skills they can use on and off the field. Here’s a quick look at the benefit of sports in schools. READ MORE