Online activities

Brainpop

Brainpop offers a number of educational videos for students in grade K-12, covering the subjects of science, social sciences, arts, music and many more. Alongside animated movies, the site incorporates quizzes, challenges, and worksheets to help your children study with fun. It is a great resource to learn with ease from the comfort of your home.

brainpop.com

DOGO News Kids

DOGO News provides timely age-appropriate news feeds for children. Topics include science, social studies, civics, world, environment and sports.This kid-friendly website makes it easy for children to get involved in current events discussions. dogonews.com

Epic

To distract your children from smartphones and iPad, consider signing up for Epic. From social studies to math to science, thousands of popular, high-quality books are available for kids under grade 6. This awardwinning platform can feed the curiosity of every child and help them build the habit of independent reading. getepic.com

Rich Kid Smart Kid

Financial literacy is becoming increasingly important for future leaders and entrepreneurs. Rich Kid Smart Kid is a website that teaches children basic financial knowledge through engaging and interactive games. When your children get bored from textbook learning, you can show them how finance, business and investment works. richkidsmartkid.com

KinderArt

Kinder Art offers a wide range of art lessons and activities for children, from studying painting to taking a tour in art history. Different ages and grades are welcome – it caters to children from preschool to high school and beyond. This weekend, prepare some watercolors and crayons, and let your children unlock their creativity by creating art. kinderart.com

Khan Academy

One of the most well-known educational websites, Khan Academy delivers classes in different subjects from grade one to nine. Originally focusing on math and science, the website now also offers courses in arts and humanities, test preps as well as economics. With over 6,500 video lessons available, it is a great education platform for children to learn and grow. khanacademy.org

Code Studio

Code.org is a non-profit organization aiming to make sure that every child has access to learning computer science. The platform offers different courses for grades K-5, 6-12 and beyond grade 12. By learning JavaScript, CSS, HTML and other programming languages, children are encouraged to build their own games, apps and websites. studio.

code.org

Camp Wonderopolis

With travel restrictions in place, Camp Wonderopolis offers an alternative – online summer learning camps. In this interactive learning environment, children can easily immerse themselves in the world of STEM and literacy. This is a fun way to gain knowledge of science, develop critical thinking and acquire other literacy skills.

camp.wonderopolis.org

A professional perspective British Tutors on the benefits of one-to-one, bespoke tuition

In a year of tumultuous back-and-forth changes, children have had to adapt to learning online. For kids as young as four years old, this has meant hours plopped in front of a computer screen, struggling to stay focused and engaged with lesson plans that their teachers have persevered to deliver. Students have had limited ways to collaborate, share and reinforce what they’ve learned online in the last year.

We spoke with British Tutors, a bespoke tuition company that hones in on the importance of a child’s attitude toward learning. Founded in 2008 “with the mission of creating independent critical thinkers who are able to see the connections between subjects, disciplines, cultures and ways of thinking, rather than the divisions,” British Tutors is based in Hong Kong and Singapore.

Drawing on the best of the UK education system to enhance and complement schooling for international students, they prioritise the wellbeing and mindsets of their pupils. “We go beyond the school curriculum to instil in our pupils a love of learning through reading, discussion and debate. Above all, we encourage them to think critically and to have both the confidence and skill to express their own ideas and opinions. With confidence comes a motivation to succeed and an improvement in results.”

When it comes to tailored learning, British Tutors is all for creating bespoke lessons to keep students passionate about their education. “One-on-one tuition, especially that which takes place in a student’s home, changes the dynamic of learning completely. It takes learning away from being top-down classroom instruction and instead creates a collaborative environment between student and teacher that is entirely focused on the individual,” explains Yolanda Miller, Director of British Tutors. Taking a close look at the reality of what learning has been like for lots of students around the world during Covid, it’s clear that pivoting a child’s avenues of education can only help support them through the repetitive nature of Zoom lessons.

“Tutors are able to deep-dive into what makes their student tick, their ways of learning, interests and any gaps in their understanding,” said Miller. “They can then use this to create a bespoke curriculum of lessons that fills in any holes, creates enthusiasm for the subject, inspires their tutee to see the endless possibilities in learning and encourages discursive, broad-thinking that steps beyond the confines of a strict syllabus.”

We all remember what it was like to feel as though things were either going too fast or too slow in a classroom setting. Our teachers may have sped through something we didn’t fully grasp yet, or maybe they spent much too long on a topic that we perceived as easy to digest. Tailored tuition ensures that learning is done at a pace specific to the individual, giving them the best chance of success. “Foundational learning skills can be missed or not fully understood in a classroom and this can create a rocky platform to build ongoing study. A huge benefit of bespoke tuition is that it can isolate these problems, which may have even occurred years before, and correct them.”

If you’re wondering what you can do as a parent to give your child the best chance of success, the answer is to provide opportunities for them to actively learn and participate. “Your child’s mental wellbeing is as important as their academic development. Ensure that they have enough variety in their learning and activities. They need people to talk to, to bounce ideas off, and to guide them.”

Yolanda Miller, Director at British Tutors