June 2020

Advice Column, Education, Online Education, Parenting, Tween & Teen

Online education a viable alternative

The school placement chaos at the beginning of this year highlighted a very scary reality – we simply do not have enough good schools in Gauteng. A number of schools faced a very high enrolment demand as parents clamoured to ensure their children have a place in a school of excellence, while many schools, particularly in townships, were virtually empty. The result is that oversubscribed schools are forced to make use of mobile classrooms which are barely conducive to quality teaching and learning. These schools’ resources become constrained, with the average number of learners reaching 60 per class. This puts additional pressure on our teachers, and makes it a near impossibility that our learners will be provided with the strong foothold they so desperately need if they are to succeed in high school and beyond. It has been predicted that by 2020, Gauteng will still be short of 1373 classrooms at existing schools. This means that even at the accepted ration of 40 pupils per class‚ almost 55 000 pupils will be in over-crowded classrooms in three years.

Advice Column, Baby, Parenting, Pregnancy & Baby

Introducing solids: First foods and textures by Happy Family Organics

Starting solids is an exciting milestone and huge transition in your baby’s first year. When your baby seems ready (for most babies, at around six months), it’s important to let them lead the way with food. Allow them to decide how much and even whether they want to eat. Keep in mind that erratic eating patterns are perfectly normal. Just like you, your baby may be very hungry one day and less hungry the next. By being mindful of your baby’s hunger and fullness cues, you’ll both learn together.

Advice Column, Health, Lifestyle, Parenting, Tween & Teen

Manage Teen Burnout: Try Resilience Coaching

To break-through these struggles we need to build our motivation and self-esteem from the inside out. This means that at the beginning of each day you should take a conscious look at how you are doing. For example, you should score yourself out of 10 on physical energy, emotional wellness, mental sharpness and connection to purpose or a greater cause. Where you score lower, you can ask yourself what you need to make happen in your day ahead that will raise that score. What are you grateful for right now? What is your intention for today? What affirmation can you choose or create to frame your day ahead?

Done with compassion and genuine curiosity, this “checking in” morning practice will not only get you conscious, but will also support you in building and staying true to healthy personal habits.

Advice Column, Education, Home Education, Parenting, Tech

Fun educational activities to do with your children during lockdown

Having to stay at home is hard for everyone, especially children who would otherwise be at school. When they’re not doing their lessons or homework, they might get frustrated or restless. This is tough to contend with, especially when the alternative is often hours spent on smartphones, tablets or game consoles. But we’ve rounded up a few fun and educational activities you can do with your children at home, regardless of how old they are, or at what stage they are in their learning journey.

Advice Column, Child, Education, Online Education, Parenting, Tech, Tween & Teen

Learning in the time of Corona

The spread of the Covid-19 pandemic and the resultant closure of schools, has led to a new educational crisis. While school closures are important to contain the coronavirus in South Africa, a comprehensive catch-up plan for learners has yet to be devised by the Minister of Basic Education, Angie Motshekga. The Minister on the other hand, is leaving it up to each province, district, circuit and school to develop their own comprehensive catch-up plan. Currently only ten schooling days will be lost, which will be caught up by shortening the mid-year break, but the length, and extent, of the disruption to schooling is hard to predict at this stage with some experts forecasting that schools will only reopen at the end of April, or even May. The reality is, that very few schools in our country are able to administer e-learning, and critically, to ensure that learning material is adapted to alternative platforms such as tablets.

Advice Column, Health, Lifestyle, Nutrition, Parenting

Affordable, nutrient-dense dairy is the star of tighter food budgets

As countries around the world, like South Africa, grapple with easing lock-downs and rebuilding economies, COVID-19 remains part of everyday life. Protection from the novel virus is likely to remain a high priority for the foreseeable future. Maintaining our health and supporting our immune systems has probably never been so important for our families. Many South Africans are also tightening the purse strings on their household budgets as the financial consequences of the pandemic response become starker and global recession looms.

Advice Column, Education

Treverton

Since schools resumed for terms 2, we have providing online education throughout lockdown from Grades 000 right through to Grade 12. Our teachers are well equipped to continue with the syllabus and have use the opportunity to be creative in providing a platform that is informative, interactive and fun through the learning process.

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