24 Jan 2021
Gifty is a passionate educator and has a great zeal to help young children become who they are called to be by God.
How can parents keep their kids focused on schoolwork during this lockdown?
GOB: Home-schooling is not an easy task; therefore, I commend parents for all their hard work during this time. Although it is not easy, there are ways to make the experience easier and make sure our kids are focusing on their schoolwork at home. To help your kids focus on their academics, it is important to set routines. This helps kids understand your expectations for home-schooling. I always encourage a visual schedule positioned somewhere in your home where your kids can see it. This helps them to be accountable to your expectations. It is also beneficial to create the schedule with your kids. This makes your kids feel like they are part of the process of structuring their home-schooling experience. Additionally, as routines are set and expectations are met, it is important to make sure your kids are taking breaks to exercise or go for walks. Taking breaks from their learning helps them become productive and have more energy to complete their schoolwork.
What are some of the home-schooling resources available to parents?
GOB: There are many different home-schooling resources available to parents during these times, and most of them are free! Some websites that I admire a lot as a teacher are Twinkl, Classroom Secrets, Oak National Academy, Teaching Packs and Hamilton Trust.
Do you include music during your lessons? If so which artists do your kids gravitate towards the most.
GOB: Besides my students engaging in our structured music lessons, my students love music in general. I play music through our classroom Smartboard while they're completing their schoolwork and during their lunchtime. My students love singing and listening to KidzBop, CalledOut Music and CeCe Winans.
Hopefully these pointers prove useful in the coming weeks and if all fails, throw in a CalledOut music song to get the kids engaged.
Written by Akosua Dwomo-Fokuo, Premier Gospel Presenter
Mainstream news outlets have reported the difficulties experienced by parents struggling to juggle working from home and home-schooling. I thought it would be helpful to share some home-schooling tips for this season so caught up with Teach Nation and Righteous Kids Club founder - Gifty Owusu Bekoe (GOB), to get the scoop