Education at Home and Tips for Staying Sane

During Lockdowns at Alert Level 4 or 3 we know that as a grandparent or other whanau caregiver there is precious little opportunity to get a break as children are no longer at pre-school or school for a good chunk of the day

Information and advice for students, whānau, and the education sector is available at the Ministry of Education's website here.

The Ministry of Education also has this helpful page on helping children and young people while they are learning at home during the COVID-19 lockdown period.

Many other non-governmental organisations and individuals in the community provide activities and learning options for children that are also fun and will assist families during this challenging time.

Check out the following links and let us know if you come across any other good ones you would recommend as a grandparent/whanau caregiver to our members.

Some words of advice though from us at GRG first though...! Remember:

Mental health and wellbeing comes first.
Make sure you find a way of having some time for yourself. If it is all getting too hard to get the children to do online learning when school returns, leave it. Walk away and come back to it later.
Homeschooling experts recommend breaking up the day to do about two hours of "structured learning" over the whole day. (See the excellent tips the Pocket Tot site has on homeschooling) Break this up with exercise, or taking time out to read, do the gardening, baking, sewing, or just getting them to help you with some regular chores like folding washing or maybe play board games or cards. There might even be that box of old stuff and photos in the cupboard or garage that you have had stashed away to sort out on a rainy day that they can help you sort out.
Avoid social media posts from those perfect people who appear to have it all sorted. Do what works for your family instead.

And most of all, be kind to yourself and your whanau. This time, too will pass...

	Sparklers is normally a classroom wellbeing toolkit for teachers but it is also an excellent educational website for parents that is jam-packed with ideas for activities, learning and parenting. To help with the COVID-19 learning from home environment they have created a Sparklers At Home section that we highly recommend.
	Auckland For Kids' Online Classes page provides some great links to a range of online and virtual classes that kids can enjoy - whether they live in Auckland or not!
	JK Rowling's "Harry Potter at Home" hub for kids and parents in lockdown
	Audible by Amazon is providing free access to their audible books for as long as schools are closed. They have wide range of audible books for all ages including some of the classics and the first book of Harry Potter too. All stories are free to stream on your desktop, laptop, phone or tablet.
	Strategies with Kids \| Information for Parents (SKIP) has some great ideas and fun activities for whanau in tricky times like now as well as good advice, tips and strategies for parenting children.
	Youthtown is a nationally operated, not-for-profit organisation offering a wide range of outcomes-driven programmes in key communities across New Zealand for 5-18 year olds. For the school holidays during the lockdown they have brought their Youthtown Programmes online for all ages 5-18 into your homes for free. It is called Youthtown Connect via Youtube. They have lots of other helpful information on their website too.
	Save the Children NZ have some excellent tips and advice on their website about how to talk to the children about coronavirus and what is happening now to keep everyone safe. There are also some great learning activities that you can do in the home with them especially while the schools are closed.
	The Dad Lab is a Facebook page created by Sergei Urban who is a full-time dad to two boys. He also has a Youtube channel. His ideas and ingenuity is fantastic and if you have seen his page linked from our Facebook page you will know what we mean! His page is chock full of creative projects that you can do at home that are educational and fun - even for adults! Even just watching his clips demonstrating them is compelling viewing and bound to get your own creative ideas going.
	New Zealand Geographic has a dedicated page called New Zealand together at home. Every day of the lock-down they are posting a story or video that can be shared among your family. There are some fascinating videos and posts that are interesting and educational for the whole family.
	Nanogirl's Lab is great for children aged 7-11years hosted by Dr Michelle Dickinson. Nanogirl's lab is a 10 week STEM programme of instructional videos and worksheets for children. It also has cheat sheets and weekly webinars with Dr Michelle Dickinson for parents.
	Very Well Family's website has a list of good links to other good educational sites that are safe and fun.
	The Pocket Tot website is created by Cara Koscinski who is the mother of two special needs children diagnosed with autism. She is also an occupational therapist who co-founded the Aspire Pediatric Therapy, LLC in the US to cater to the needs of children with autism and sensory processing disorders. She has home schooled her children for several years and has some excellent tips and advice for families in lockdown on how to manage home-based learning at this time as well as other helpful information for caregivers.
	Kidspot has an excellent section on COVID-19 along with a range of online and at-home resources for educating children at home. They also have printable maths and spelling activities, videos and more.