**If you really, really don’t like to read, then you can listen to the more colloquial, version of this article on The Plumley Pod here: https://sarahplumley.substack.com/p/getting-your-stuff-together
Hello everybody and welcome to what is probably the world’s first International Parent-Teacher Training course. We are circa 200 strong and cover at least 5 different nations.
What unites us is a desire to see our children educated rather than indoctrinated!
First of all, I want to say a massive well done to each and every one of you for taking the first step on what will be a challenging, but immensely rewarding, journey into professional standard teaching in the home.
I think you have made the right decision for 3 key reasons:
1. You will decide what goes onto and into your child’s body, or not!
2. Your child’s education will not be continuously disrupted by ‘testing’, ‘lockdowns’ or other spurious excuses to exclude some or all children from school.
3. You do not run the risk of your child being at an unregistered school which will easily be shut down by Ofsted*. (Unregistered schools are where groups of parents, children, and teachers get together, hire a venue, and think the authorities won’t come knocking on their door!)
*My best friend from school has worked at Ofsted for over 15 years, so I very much have the inside line on this and will continue to draw on this person’s expertise for our benefit.
My mission is to help you to remember that parents are a child’s first teachers and that with a bit of advice, guidance, (and some cajoling) you can step back into this role and own it.
Here are the 7 basic components of successful parent-teaching:
- Designing your child’s curriculum
- Maximising your learning space(s)
- Maintaining schoolroom etiquette
- Creating your teacher persona
- How to plan, execute, and assess learning
- Setting and maintaining academic standards
- Finalising your timetable
I will be here to help you every step of the way and will be on hand to answer any questions you may have.
Most training will be for those parents/grandparents who wish to teach any age group from 4 years to 16 years. Where training is specific to Infant, Primary or Secondary it will be clearly labelled so that you can pick and choose as you see fit.
Course delivery will be a mixture of: video, audio, reading materials, and live workshops (via Zoom). All training can be done at a time that suits you - the live (Zoom) workshops will always have at least 3 options (different days/times) for you to choose from.
It is possible to succeed without the Live Zoom workshops, but those who attend will likely fair better in the long run.
For now, my over-arching message is DO NOT PANIC, we’ve got this.
The most important thing is that we have healthy, happy, relaxed, and engaged children. The finer points of lesson planning, resources, and target setting can all be ironed out later.
If you’re not stressed, they will also not be stressed. Children always do better when they think the adult in charge has a plan… even if they don’t. Make sure to tell them confidently that you have a plan and are on a programme to train up as a proper parent-teacher.
IMPORTANT: If you’ve already decided to *NOT* send your children back to school, then you must take steps to officially de-register or unenroll them. The way in which this is done is different in different counties, so visit your county council website, go to the ‘schools’ section, and find the home school/home education section and follow the instructions for de-registering there*. This does not affect those who haven’t enrolled their child in a school.
*If you are struggling with the above instructions contact me with DE-REGISTER in the email subject heading, and I will help you.
So, your HOMEWORK this week, (yes, there will be homework and yes, I WILL be checking up), is to source as much of the following as you can:
1. Beg, ‘borrow’, or buy some exercise books - file paper is okay, so long as you have a nice folder to put it into. Worksheets or single sheets of paper are vastly inferior.
2. Collate; pens, pencils, colouring pencils, erasers, rulers, and a fountain pen and ink (for Primary age children upwards). This is highly recommended, as learning proper handwriting is excellent for the development of fine motor skills, and a fast and fluid technique that will last them a lifetime… also A.I. can’t read cursive!
3. A whiteboard (can be a small tabletop one) some whiteboard markers, and a board rubber (or cloth) would also be a good investment. Red and green biros, for marking, too!
4. A deck of cards, an egg timer (or digital timing device), some card, permanent markers, scissors, dice, and a box to keep it all together. Use a cardboard one if the budget is tight!
This is really about you pulling together your teaching tools and beginning to think more like a classroom teacher rather than a cover supervisor - you know those ones who can’t control the class and just hand out some worksheets they printed off from a free website (!)
For those who had HORRIBLE experiences of ‘home schooling’ during ‘lockdown,’ it is more than likely because your son/daughter was staring at a screen for most of the day, and/or filling out hastily constructed ‘one size fits no one’ worksheets.
If you’re willing to put the work in we shall make it a totally different experience for all, and I stress that you CAN fit the training and prep around a full-time job. You will, however, have to treat being a parent-teacher like your favourite hobby. You must invest time into it in order to be successful, this is not a ‘cheque-book’ solution to education.
Now, don’t be too hard on yourself, you cannot train to be a teacher in a handful of weeks, but you can acquire and develop a broad range of skills that will stand you in good stead during these first few weeks of term. So, take a breath, focus on collecting your stationary and begin to think about the vital parts of education, namely the so-called 3R’s:
- Reading
- wRiting
- aRithmetic
It is of the utmost importance that all children master these basics and the chances are you are already rather good at these things yourself.
Think about a trip to the local library to source reading books, you may also find a textbook that could be of use to you if, for example, mathematics isn’t your favourite subject. Students of all ages benefit from drilling these skills and, in particular, after a very long summer break. There are lots of free teaching resources available online - some links will follow on during the week - later you will find that the best ones are the ones you make yourself but to begin with it’s perfectly fine to use these… on ONE CONDITION:
The crucial part that is often missed is that if you are serious about teaching properly then you will need to do the exercises that you set for your children FIRST, by yourself. This is for several reasons. Number 1 you need to be sure that the resource (textbook, worksheet, game etc.) actually does what you want it to do. Number 2 you will be able to find the places where the student might fall down and plan for how you could provide extra opportunities for them to grasp the concept, or think about how you might explain it to them. Number 3 you want to ensure that the resource isn’t riddled with errors as this will be very off-putting to the learner.
“I don’t have time to do the work I set for my children.”
If that is the case then you have three options: make time, this could mean long Sunday afternoons of study for you, or you could nominate someone else like a grandparent or spouse to do the work. The final option is to send them to school (or hire at least 3 hours per day of high-quality private tuition).
Brutal truth: constantly throwing unamended/untested worksheets or online courses at your children is not teaching them. Many online educational courses or “schools” are glorified computer games, and whilst some of them can demonstrate your child’s “progress” do you have any idea what exactly they are progressing in and to what real-world standard? You are simply removing your trust in your local school and handing it over to a private company whose main goal will be to make as much profit as possible, not to educate your child to the best possible standard.
Be careful who you allow to ‘teach’ your children. The person who is most interested in your child’s academic development is you.
I know this is a lot to take in and I am shortly going to wrap up for this week but not before I say this: have courage, back yourself to put your child’s education first, and don’t worry at all about this first week.
Many schools won’t even be going back yet, and if the truth be told the first week of a new academic year is a write off in most schools. A huge amount of time is wasted during week 1 of term; new timetables, uniform shenanigans, lectures from the new teacher(s), a new set of ‘classroom rules,’ assembly, registers, and all kinds of other things that relate to a large number of young people sharing a building.
Use this time to gather your thoughts and your resources.
Next Steps:
Information about and sign-up links for the LIVE Zoom Workshops will be out soon.
I shall be in your inbox EVERY SUNDAY evening with the week’s parent-teacher training focus and your homework.
There is also a drop-in called “Teacher Talk Thursday” which is for all parent-teacher members every THURSDAY evening 19:30 - 21:00 UK this will be a private thread for those who wish to ask questions, share ideas, give feedback on experiences, and I will be there in the thread to assist you.
“Teacher Talk Thursday” is an optional part of the course and as such I have put it behind a paywall (£3.50 per month/£35 for the year) to keep out the bots, trolls and 77th - all of whom I have already had problems with this year.
I went on The Richie Allen Show on the 3rd June - which I really enjoyed and I was super-grateful to Richie, for the opportunity to speak out about what is going on in our schools - however, I haven’t had a moment’s peace on social media since!
I think it’s fair to say my name is on ‘the list!’
Anyhow, I’ve hidden us behind the cheapest paywall I could find. Substack set £3.50 per month as their minimum charge.
There is no need to sign up to the “Teacher Talk Thursday” you can absolutely do the course without it, however I have a feeling it will be an excellent way for those of us who really want to raise our teaching game to do business in private.
I have also produced additional materials of interest, assistance, and support that will be published behind the paywall in the members only section for those who have taken the red pill. I am able to speak more freely when we have privacy, and therefore will be able to help those of you who are further down the rabbit hole more effectively.
Click below to sign up and let’s get this show on the road!
Sarah Plumley BA PGCE (Maths)
Thinker-Teacher-Truther
N.B. Comments can only be posted on articles published in the members-only section to prevent the bots, trolls, and the 77th from wasting our time. I hope you understand.
Sarah Plumley BA PGCE (Maths)
Thinker-Teacher-Truther
Mission: to train an army of high-quality, hard-working parent-teachers.
Sarah Plumley has a first-class honours degree from The University of Manchester (a Russell Group University), a Postgraduate Certificate of Secondary Education in Mathematics (PGCE) with Merit, and holds Qualified Teacher Status (QTS). She is a former deputy head of maths, a current GCSE Mathematics Expert Examiner, and a fully independent private tutor.
Sarah has been teaching Maths (11-18yrs) for over ten years, has been an independent private tutor since 2012, and switched to 100% ONLINE Tuition in 2015 when she saw the writing on the wall.
In 2018 she received an award from the Joint Council for Qualifications (JCQ) for services to examining.
Most importantly, her teaching has been continually rated as ‘Outstanding’ by both Ofsted and the LEA (Local Education Authority).