As the teachers' strike drags on parents throughout the Sea to Sky corridor are searching for ways to help their kids keep learning.
Some have turned to tutoring, others are using reading and math courses offered in the community, but many are still at a loss about what their students should be learning.
The most important thing said Gail Wynston of the UBC Faculty of Education is to make learning fun for kids at the elementary level and to encourage kids in high school to get together and work on the upcoming curriculum.
"I think rather than look at this time as substituting for the child being in school for five hours a day, look at it as a time to enrich," she said.
Take your kids on field trips to museums, art galleries and places such as Science World, said Wynston. Head into the woods and collect leaves then come home and work together to identify them.
And don’t watch TV and stay in your pajamas until dinnertime.
Parents should go the Ministry of Education (www.bced.gov.bc.ca.) website and check out the curriculums for their kids and use those as a guideline for work. For example Grade 7 students quite often study mythology so take a trip to the library for resources or supervise them on-line to enrich their understanding of the subject.
Looking at the curriculum and studying ahead is also the key for high school students.
For elementary students, Wynston said parents could buy workbooks for math or make their own sheets, encourage students to write in a journal, or do some writing everyday, and keep reading.
Parents should sit with their young children and make sure they understand what they are being asked to do, help them and then set them a task they can complete.
Kids under 10 years old can only work in short time-blocks so learning should be spread out over the day and incorporated into everyday living.
Many of the required textbooks may be available from www.textbookscanada.ca or Western Campus Resources in Vancouver.
Parents are allowed to go into the school and get some books – just phone ahead.
There are several excellent websites which can help parents including: www.sd.48.bc.ca , www.homeschoollearning.com, http://www.kidsdomain.com/down/pc/mathfactorylite.htm , http://www.kidsreads.com/index.asp ,
http://teacher.scholastic.com/lessonrepro/teachnow/index.htm , http://www.handwritingforkids.com/handwrite/cursive.htm , www.howstuffworks.com, www.enchantedlearning.com, www.eduplace.com (has worksheets),www.tlsbooks.com, www.edhelper.com, www.schoolexpress.com and www.cln.org, and > >www.castlerockresearch.com (provincial exam samples).
