Home-schooling: Keeping kids up to speed during school closure

Posted this as a thread on Twitter to help parents at this time of Coronavirus, COVID-19, school closure. Schools are struggling to cope with the demand for online learning. Parents are worried about what else their kids are missing from school. 

There are lots of things that teachers at schools do that parents cannot replicate at home. Well, that is why parents send their kids to schools in the first place.

Competency levels: Numeracy, Reading and Writing

The concepts taught at schools (elementary, primary and secondary) are related and increase in complexity as a child passes through the education leader.

Identifying the basic skills and knowledge and relay them effectively is what teachers are known for. That is why you can not replace a teacher unless you know exactly what you are doing when it comes to 'teaching'.

At this unprecedented time, there is no choice but to help the children learn as much as they can before moving on to the next grade-level at school. 

That means that the children must learn, know and apply the basic skills and knowledge at the current grade-level.

School syllabus

There is a way to identify what the kids are expected to know at school, specifically at the grade-level. And, that is through the school syllabus. 


PNG National Department of Education has a good collection of PNG schools syllabi from elementary to primary and secondary schools.

10 tips to help kids learn during school closure

Here are 10 tips to identify the skills and knowledge kids are expected to know. 

1. Get a school syllabus and find out what your child is expected to know at grade level.

2. Talk to your child's teacher about what s/he is learning in class this term. Or check the child's exercise books.

3. Identify a few key areas.

4. Focus on Numeracy and Literacy key areas - avoid introducing ideas outside of the school syllabus.

5. Introduce they 'key areas' from the school syllabus at random, during plays or when having casual chat with kids..make it fun

6. Emphasis on downtime and reading.

7. Find out fun ways to introduce the timetable. Challenge kids to learn 6, 7 and 8 tables by the 'recall' method.

8. Introduce life skills like making bilum, sewing, gardening, painting, etc

9. Have a list of things to do and reward system.

10. Chat with them. Get to know your child.