An image of a school notebook with the headline saying "teach you kids from home: top 10 tips".

UQ's Deputy Head of the School of Education, Associate Professor Rhonda Faragher, shares her top 10 tips for parents who are feeling anxious about teaching their children from home as the COVID-19 crisis forces schools to close their doors.


We love our kids – that’s a given – but do we really want to be their teacher as well?

As schools close their gates and we’re forced to keep our kids at home, it seems we have little choice. Still, we’ve been here before, right? We were our children’s first teachers, and we can do it again.

However, it’s important to remember that every family is different and every home has different configurations, so these tips are just suggestions for you to adapt to your own situation.

So, before we start, let’s think about you.

  • Be kind to yourself. This is not the time to try to be perfect at everything. There are likely to be times of stress, anxiety and pressure – not to mention times when we just lose it. They are times to reset, and refresh. There will always be another time for school work, it doesn’t need to be today.
  • Your work is important, too. If you are required to work from home, you will need to prioritise your time and energy for that important role. But, make sure your employer is aware of your parenting needs as well.
  • Keep your social contacts. It’s just as important for you to keep in touch with your work colleagues and other friends as it is for your child to keep in contact with their friends.

So, strap yourself in for teaching. It’s going to be a wild ride, but it’s probably going to be great fun as well.

Getting ready

1. Set up a place for school work. A place for school work helps set the routine and expectation that there is learning to be done. This might be the corner of the dinner table, a desk in the study or a table in the garage. Ensure there is good lighting. If you are using a desk lamp, it should be positioned on the opposite side to the student’s dominant hand – if they are right-handed, the light should be on the left.

2. Gather materials that are going to be helpful. Stationery and other equipment are great fun to gather. Here are some suggestions for things to have on hand: marker pens, mini whiteboards, a calculator, notebooks, sticky notes, a packet of index cards (great for writing key words on), a timer, and counters. Keeping the materials you’ve gathered close at hand (and not swiped by others in the family who also love stationery) will help learning time flow smoothly. Baskets, attractive boxes (boxes your child decorates), or a bookshelf are all recommended, while a different box/folder/basket for each subject is helpful.

3. Check out the learning materials. Teachers will provide lesson details and will be able to guide you in the approaches to take. If you need to ask for more detail or an explanation, don’t be hesitant. Teachers don’t expect parents to know everything. It helps to look over the materials before working with your child, in case you need to seek help.

The day begins

4. Yep, it’s a school day. Some children may settle into a school routine if they follow their usual habits in the morning. For example, set the same wake-up time, the same breakfast ritual, the usual bathroom routine (with extra attention on handwashing), and insist they get dressed for school, perhaps even wearing their school uniform.

5. We’re in this together. Involve your child in planning the day and allow them to decide the order of their lessons. Set a time for each activity. The timer could be used here, or you can find different timers on the internet to change things up. If your child is older and doing some independent work, you can work on your own activity at the same time. Setting a timer for you both can make you both very productive. A popular strategy for writers is the Pomodoro technique – peer pressure to stay focused is powerful.

Image: Getty Images

An image of a father teaching his son from home.

Getting ready

1. Set up a place for school work. A place for school work helps set the routine and expectation that there is learning to be done. This might be the corner of the dinner table, a desk in the study or a table in the garage. Ensure there is good lighting. If you are using a desk lamp, it should be positioned on the opposite side to the student’s dominant hand – if they are right-handed, the light should be on the left.

2. Gather materials that are going to be helpful. Stationery and other equipment are great fun to gather. Here are some suggestions for things to have on hand: marker pens, mini whiteboards, a calculator, notebooks, sticky notes, a packet of index cards (great for writing key words on), a timer, and counters. Keeping the materials you’ve gathered close at hand (and not swiped by others in the family who also love stationery) will help learning time flow smoothly. Baskets, attractive boxes (boxes your child decorates), or a bookshelf are all recommended, while a different box/folder/basket for each subject is helpful.

3. Check out the learning materials. Teachers will provide lesson details and will be able to guide you in the approaches to take. If you need to ask for more detail or an explanation, don’t be hesitant. Teachers don’t expect parents to know everything. It helps to look over the materials before working with your child, in case you need to seek help.

The day begins

4. Yep, it’s a school day. Some children may settle into a school routine if they follow their usual habits in the morning. For example, set the same wake-up time, the same breakfast ritual, the usual bathroom routine (with extra attention on handwashing), and insist they get dressed for school, perhaps even wearing their school uniform.

5. We’re in this together. Involve your child in planning the day and allow them to decide the order of their lessons. Set a time for each activity. The timer could be used here, or you can find different timers on the internet to change things up. If your child is older and doing some independent work, you can work on your own activity at the same time. Setting a timer for you both can make you both very productive. A popular strategy for writers is the Pomodoro technique – peer pressure to stay focused is powerful.

Image: Getty Images

An image of a fathers teaching his son from home.

The day continues, but not at the desk

An image of a dad playing basketball with his son in the family yard.

Keeping your kids physically active is important while teaching from home. Image: Getty Images

Keeping your kids physically active is important while teaching from home. Image: Getty Images

6. A whole day? You’ve got to be kidding! You don’t need to spend the full day at the desk. The ‘little bit, often’ rule is helpful here. Long lessons are not as effective as short, focused lessons with repetition. TV ads have used this approach for a long time because it’s effective. I’ve written more about this here. Thanks to the staff at West Beach Primary School in Adelaide, here is an example of a home-school schedule (note the emphasis on physical activity – that’s going to be very important):

An image of a suggested teaching from home schedule.

7. Learning opportunities abound. Keep your focus on key concepts for each subject for the week. Everyone in the household can join in with focusing on these ‘big ideas’. Some of these are likely to come up naturally throughout the day.

8. There’s more to learning than the curriculum. If possible, spend some time outside. Study plants close up: take photos of interesting ones, pull up weeds and study the roots. Look for insects or other animals. Watch water from a bucket flow downhill and build dams to move the water where you want. Listen to bird calls, and learn their names and the patterns of their feathers. Find places to climb, play hide and seek, or sing songs loudly for fun. Some of these activities will spark interest, which you can follow up with internet searches. P.s. these topics are in the curriculum, too!

An image of a parent showing their child how to plant herbs in the garden.

Teaching your child about plants in the garden can be a fun and interesting change from traditional school work. Image: Getty Images

Teaching your child about plants in the garden can be a fun and interesting change from traditional school work. Image: Getty Images

9. Friends, friends, friends. One of the best things about school is the time spent with friends. Maintaining relationships when we are all confined to home is hard. Some families use applications such as Skype or FaceTime to stay in touch with family members overseas. This might be a way to stay in touch with friends closer by. You may even involve your children in group conversations.

An image a mother teaching their daughter from home.

Image: Getty Images

Image: Getty Images

The day ends

10. Tomorrow’s another day. Not every day is going to be a great learning day. Sometimes little progress seems to have been made; sometimes our children seem to have forgotten everything they knew a day ago. Don’t worry; learning is like that. Sometimes what has been learnt is not what we’ve noticed, and yet will emerge as time goes on. Learning is a lifelong process and our kids have years ahead of them. Sometimes it is easy to think that if kids don’t learn their lesson today, it will compound problems into the future. Fortunately, that’s not the case: the curriculum spirals around so topics are never covered once only. Keep a good record of what you have done and what you have noticed. The progress made in the weeks to come may surprise you. Photos and videos of learning become lovely memories.

The key message from these 10 tips is that learning together should be enjoyable – challenging, but still enjoyable. If it becomes a battle, retreat! Your relationship with your child is more important. Slip in surreptitious learning along the way – a key word at dinner, a story at bedtime – and enjoy this precious time together.


For more information about how UQ is making a difference in child education, visit the School of Education website.

About the author

Dr Rhonda Faragher is Deputy Head of the School of Education and Associate Professor in Inclusive Education. She has internationally recognised expertise in the mathematics education of learners with Down syndrome. In her research and teaching, she works to improve the educational outcomes of students who have difficulties learning mathematics, for whatever reason, including through educational disadvantage. Beyond mathematics education, she has expertise in inclusive education in a range of contexts, including secondary classrooms.

Dr Faragher is also the Director of the Down Syndrome Research Program within the School of Education. She is an appointed Board member to the Academy on Education, Teaching and Research of IASSIDD (the International Association for the Scientific Study of Intellectual and Developmental Disability), Chair of the Down syndrome Special Interest Research Group of IASSIDD, Trustee of Down Syndrome International and an Independent Director of Down Syndrome Australia. She is the Co-Editor in Chief of the Journal of Policy and Practice in Intellectual Disabilities.


Dr Faragher also offers advice on how to teach your child with Down syndrome at home.