A New Year is upon us and we are facing a new way of leading our lives for the foreseeable future. As families, we have adapted our lifestyles to accommodate the changes:  none more so, than how we educate our children. Education matters and there’s no doubt about that. If your child is doing well at school, you feel good and your child feels as if they’re achieving what they need in order to succeed. If your child is struggling and you’re told by the school that they are not going to pass the 11 plus exam, their SATS or their GCSE exams, neither of you is going to feel good about the situation. Particularly if they are taking place this year. 

Covid has changed many peoples’ lives, and in my opinion, parents are the group most affected; as suddenly as lockdowns occurred, they became educators, as home-schooling became the norm. 

As an educational consultant I received lots of emails from parents asking, for example: ‘am I doing this right or ‘I’m sure that my child knows that I’m not up to it!’ or, ‘I didn’t do too well at school myself and I really have no idea about what I am doing.’ A common refrain is; ‘my child throws a tantrum every time I try to help them but we end up arguing and, consequently, they do nothing.’ 

One unfortunate outcome of Covid, especially in families where the first language is not English, or where good quality computers/internet facilities are not available, is a gradual decline in learning. Some children, from the conversations I’m having with parents, consequently, are suffering from this learning gap.

Subsequently, parents are still having to help their children at home, if they are unable to send their children for additional tutoring on a daily basis, in order to help fill the learning gaps. Tutors, like us, guide parents through this difficult time. My most important piece of advice is to make learning fun. At this point I’d like to quote Jane Goodall, the ‘chimpanzee ethologist’: ‘One thing that I’ve learned from watching chimpanzees with their infants, is that having a child should be fun.’ 

Enjoy your children’s childhood years from 0-16, helping them collect vital general knowledge, that they need, not only in their school life but in their later years. You can do this through chatting to them, reading books together, playing spelling games, going on nature walks, taking a notepad everywhere when you are out with your family and creating projects together, which involve collecting specimens, making drawings and writing up observations. 

The question is how do we get our children to learn effectively so that it doesn’t ‘go in one ear and out the other’.  In my opinion, it is about finding a balance between fun, relaxation and formal learning. Engaging with our children and spending proper quality time with them will enable this.