Parents are a child’s first, and most important, teachers. Family learning programmes encourage and support parents in this role, giving them some tips, tricks and tools to help support their child’s development and learning. It also encourages them to work on their own literacy and numeracy skills. According to international research, parental involvement in a child’s learning has more of an impact on their educational outcomes than any other demographic measure including social class or level of parental income (click here to find out more)
There are all kinds of opportunities for learning in the home, and in the course of ordinary family activities. Family learning programmes help parents and carers to draw out and boost these learning opportunities, to help children along.
Parents are very busy people, and family learning programmes are also a chance to sit for a few minutes a week and talk with other parents about how things are going, what works and what doesn’t work around children’s learning. We try to schedule them at times that suit parents, whether that is mornings or evenings, on a local basis.
Family learning programmes cover a very broad range of topics, including:
- Helping with Reading
- Helping with Writing
- Helping with Maths
- Helping with Homework
- Cookery
- Crafts
- Storysacks (a creative way to make reading fun)
- Sports
If you would like to find out more about family learning in your area, or how to train as a family learning tutor, contact your local literacy organiser. Details are found here
Some good sites to visit:
www.helpmykidlearn.ie – NALA’s family learning page, with a great range of activities for primary school children
Schooldays.ie maths resources page – a great source of info, including a video on how the new methods of subtraction work
Mathsaid Really good interactive maths website for parents and tutors
Kids activities blog – Storytelling activities – a great way to boost a child’s love of reading
Neil Griffiths presents Storysacks – find out more about this useful and fun programme for parents
Find your child’s Learning Style – This can be very useful information for parents
Parents Numeracy Toolkit – Hands on ways to improve children’s maths
Are there any sites you find useful that should be on this list? Please email them to your organiser for submission to the Webmaster Committee
Some shared resources from Kerry ETB tutors – coming soon! Watch this space!
We would like to encourage Kerry ABE tutors, past and present, to share tried and tested high quality resources that could be of use to other tutors, both for one to one classes and for groups. Please download the following three documents to find out how to do this, and get in touch with your local organiser when you are ready to share your best work.
Our tutor website is a place for you to share the fantastic work you do for Kerry ETB. It is a place for the Adult Literacy and Basic Education Service of Kerry ETB to support you in the following:
- Learning from your colleagues about how they do things in their classrooms and benefitting from their knowledge and experience
- Accessing a range of resources to suit different teaching and learning styles and abilities, all of which have been developed here in Kerry for our learners
- Challenging yourself as a tutor by going beyond your comfort zone and your habitual teaching style to try something new that has worked for someone else
- Saving time – there’s no need to start with a blank page when someone else has delivered what you need to deliver. You can use their work as a starting point for your own.
Guidelines for tutors on sharing resources on Kerry ABE Tutors website
The design of learning materials is just as important as the content – NALA guidelines
