Learning at home
Last updated: 13/12/2023
Supporting your children’s learning at home is important. Not just for their academic success but to enable them to become confident, inquisitive and able learners. Learning doesn’t need to mean sitting with their head in a book. There are so many opportunities for learning at home and it is a great way to bond with your child.
Online safety
To find out more about keeping your children safe online – NSPCC has advice, tools, resources, and training for parents, carers, children and young people.
Learning at home
Children learn so much from the world around them. They learn by observing, listening, exploring, experimenting and asking questions. Focusing on learning based on their interests can help them to stay motivated and ask questions. Play can be a great source of learning and can be easier to engage children of all levels and abilities. Cooking, gardening and many other activities you do round the home can become learning experiences.
Why not get your child involved in cooking dinner? Measuring and counted ingredients is a clever way to incorporate some maths without sitting with a maths book. Playing schools is a great way to get your child engaged in classroom learning while having fun. Nourish your child’s creativity and language and writing skills by creating some menus for their new restaurant. Crafts can be a fun way of talking about the things you are creating as well as helping motor skills.
Learning doesn’t need to be boring. It is about finding out what motivates your child and using that as a basis to let them develop their own learning. Ask them what they would like to learn about and see what areas they are interested in. Watch how they learn. We all learn differently. Some learners benefit from visual learning others learn through doing and participating. As well as learning through play, you may want additional resources to help support what your child is learning at school, nursery or at home. We have put together a few websites that may help consolidate what your child is learning.
Learning at home guidance and resources
- Parentzone: Education Scotland Learning at home.
- Parent Club: Supporting children and young people with additional support needs.
- Enquire: Coronavirus and additional support for learning.
- Twinkl: Parents resources
Preparing for learning at home
Routines, suitable space, and regular breaks all help when working and learning from home. Parent Club has lots of tips and resources including:
- Tips for supporting your child if they have to learn at home.
- Supporting your teens learning.
- Supporting children and young people with additional support needs.
- Working from home tips and ideas .
General learning
- Parent Club: play and learn pages.
- Learn with BBC Scotland : Bitesize.
- BBC Teach Live.
- Oxford Owl.
- TED-Ed – educational videos on various topics.
- Crash Course – educational videos on various topics for older kids.
- The Kids Should See This – smart videos for curious minds of all ages.
- Explore Suessville – Dr Seuss-based games, videos and more.
- Funbrain – games and videos linked to maths and reading skills.
- Twinkl produces printable home-learning resources, some of which are free to download.
Literacy and English
- Puffin Schools – resources and videos from favourite authors, and ideas to help children create their own short stories.
- Parentzone: Supporting literacy at home.
- Scottish Book Trust.
- Bookbug.
Numeracy and maths
- Sumdog – for ages 5 – 14, available on website and an app.
- Topmarks – games and resources for learning maths for ages 5 to 14.
- Parenzone: Supporting numeracy at home.
Science
- Crash Course Kids – science related videos for younger kids.
- Glasgow Science Centre – videos of science projects, some with instructions for you to do your own experiments at home.
Languages
- Duolingo – an app for learning languages with a child-specific version available.
- Mr Innes French class – French classes on YouTube.
- Languages online.
