September again!
Hello,
We're at the start of a new term and new school year! And also the end of the long summer holidays. This can lead to a lot of mixed feelings - for pupils and parents!
For many families it is time to get back into routines and boundaries. This can be tricky for many children who may have had a much looser structure to their days in the holidays. But it is so important to hit the ground running, earlier bedtimes, getting up promptly and finding all those things you need for a school day.
There's also the anxieties of many changes at school, perhaps a new teacher, classroom, peers or even school. Although teachers do their best to ease transition, it can still be a nervous time. Positivity, reassurance, identifying things that are the same or similar, can all help.
And then there's the learning... When joining a new year group, children will inevitably learn new things which can often mean, in a child's mind, trickier things! Again, spotting similarities and understanding that often, you're just building on prior knowledge can really help. For example, if they're going into Year 4 and are anxious about learning their new times tables, such as the 6s, then it can help to remember that just a year a go, they didn't know their 3s, 4s or 8s. And now they do! And the 6s have a lot of similarities to the 3s.
Building homework back into the home routine can also be tricky for children, and parents. But it's really important to do it quickly and to build the habit of doing little and often. You're better off taking things slowly. So for example, just start with 5 minutes a day, of reading, spelling or maths. Just choose one! Then rather than trying the following week to do 15 minutes a day, make the goal more achievable. Why not try 6 or 7 minutes? Set a timer and, if necessary, give rewards when this is achieved every day in the week.
If reading is a nightly battle, build in scaffolds to support the reading habit, which you can then reduce. For example, read a page (or even a paragraph) each. You, as the adult, reads a page, then your child can read the next. Or, you can read a section then they can repeat it. This is a really useful tool; they can hear the words before they have to attempt them themselves, which reduces the cognitive overload of them decoding the words. Audiobooks are also another great tool. Either they can just listen (which is still very useful as it still introduces new vocabulary and the story) or maybe they can have the audiobook and also read along with the text, if you have both (there are also some e-books that offer this). When you're child has done any reading (or listening), ask them a few questions. These should ideally be open ended questions (that don't just have a one word answer!) and questions that mean the child needs to independently infer what has happened. For example: How is the character feeling, what clues tell you that? What do you think will happen next, why? Why do you think the author chose that word? There are loads of questions online if you need some suggestions, or drop me a message for some top tips!
The main thing to encourage is a sense of positivity and excitement for a new school year. This can be easier said than done! But building those routines and habits will absolutely help.
Feel free to drop me an email or book a free call for any specific help you might want or if you'd be interested in booking tutoring or home-education lessons for your child.
I look forward to starting our learning journey together!
Alice
