Sugar Bay Holiday camp is in the business of entertaining kids, and they have shared some tips of how to entertain your kids during the lock-down. Redirect your kids from screens and create a fun, holiday environment at home.
For generations, we have grown up in classrooms where we learnt the same information at the same pace, regardless of our interests or needs – the ‘one size fits all’ approach. But the dawn of the 4th Industrial Revolution, and more recently the Coronavirus pandemic, has shone a light on the need to take a different approach to learning and teaching. For example, E-learning, which refers to the use of information and communication technologies to enable the access to online learning/teaching resources, has the benefit of flexibility; convenience; cost effectiveness and immediacy. In addition, a dynamic e-learning platform not only meets the needs of different students, but it also enriches learning in classroom settings. The Western Cape government, for example, has committed to spending R1.2-billion to implement e-learning in 1 250 local schools, which is a significant step toward bridging the education gap in South Africa.
With COVID-19 following us into winter we are going to have many more other viruses to worry about. Viruses that cause the common cold and Influenza are going to peak over the next few months. Since many of these respiratory illnesses share common symptoms it can become confusing trying to figure out which virus is responsible for your symptoms and even cause you to panic unnecessarily every time you get a tickle in your throat thinking it’s Corona.
Parents play a critical role in providing learning opportunities at home and in linking what children learn at school with what happens elsewhere. The term ‘academic socialisation’ refers to certain kinds of parental behaviours which have a positive impact on learning and academic outcomes. When parents reinforce learning at home by incorporating learned skills into everyday routines and activities, they become a critical factor in their child’s overall learning and education. Research has found that learning becomes more meaningful when the lessons are applied to real-life situations; it has been suggested that the influence of parents on learner achievement is 60-80%, while school accounts for 20-40% per cent.
As parents we worry a lot about our children’s health and most especially now, with this new coronavirus (SARS-Cov-2). With so much information currently available online about COVID-19 it can become difficult for us to sift through the real from the fake news. I hope to simplify things a little in this post and share some of the more convincing theories we have on COVID-19 in children.
We at Brainline understand that some of our students and learners may be experiencing more stress than usual – due to fears about COVID-19. We would like to share some ideas and tips on how we as adults and caregivers can assist our students, learners and children during this time.
Home Education provider, Brainline, says it is very optimistic that a pragmatic solution will be found to the implementation of the Basic Education Laws Amendment (BELA) Bill, which is set to include some changes to the home education landscape in South Africa.
Opera, one of the world’s leading browser developers, together with international non-profit organisation – Worldreader, are keeping young South African minds stimulated during the country’s lockdown, as a result of the coronavirus outbreak, by giving them access to an expanded range of eBooks via the Opera Mini browser. Starting this week, Worldreader will offer a new selection of eBooks to Opera Mini users as well as a brand-new web app designed to offer reading material tailored specifically for young adult readers.
Knowing your living values are important because they inform the truth of who you are at your core! We are more valuable than we have given ourselves credit (not in an egotistical narcissistic way) but truly as an individual you bring something beautifully unique to this world – that is you – and it has been alive in you since you were a child. By staying true to our living values in our personal lives, we are able to maintain a high level of integrity in our relationships, health, career and finances.
It is no secret that practice is a crucial element in the learning journey and is effective in many different educational contexts. Proverbs such as “practice is the best master” and “practice makes perfect” all contain a grain of truth, and in this article, we discuss why this is the case.
As we start our online learning journey, there are so many things to consider. Schools are social environments and as such function on the interaction between all the role-players, the pupils, parents and the staff. This has been disrupted, so we are working hard at ensuring that everyone remains positive and embraces whatever may come our way.
The world is reeling! Panic buying due to the lockdown on Thursday has left most people feeling overwhelmed, helpless and a little frightened. It is unprecedented and we are all trying to cope with the uncertainties of our current reality as best as we can. Cindy Glass, Owner and Founder of Step Up Education Centres explains, “We are all in the same boat and it is essential to understand that, at this time, there are things that are out of our control – the virus itself, other people’s reactions and government’s decision to lock down institutions, borders and other activities. The GOOD news is that there are many things that we CAN control – our own attitudes and reactions, personal hygiene, social distancing and of course, homeschooling!”
Well I used to look at those parents who chose the home school option and thought wow that is impressive. I would never be able to do that. This is a lesson indeed, excuse the pun, but homeschooling has come knocking at my door very quickly. Well it was pretty much the only thing knocking at my door for weeks, so I had no choice but to reluctantly let it in.
Setting goals and knowing what you are working towards, is always a good idea. Younger students need to understand the difference between a wish and a goal – I wish to eat ice cream everyday – but My goal is to drink enough water every day.
It is unarguable that education in this country has, for the most part, largely been stuck in a rut. Until now. There are signs suggesting that Covid-19’s disruption of the education sector could have a lasting impact on the way we teach and learn. Our current education model is very much top-down in its approach, where a teacher instructs and provides information, usually only utilising one teaching modality. Yet Educational Psychologists have always contended that children learned best when they constructed their own knowledge, and learnt tasks that are culturally relevant.
In the previous article, some arguments regarding socialisation were investigated. Home education, as an alternative approach to education at a school, has become a progressive development in South Africa and across the world. Homeschooling, however, is also often criticised regarding the social skills and socialisation opportunities of the home educated learner.
After the announcement of school closures by President Cyril Ramaphosa, many parents are worried that their children might fall behind with their schoolwork. This as public schools closed two days earlier and are likely to only reopen after the Easter weekend.
“Looking at the year from the vantage point of January, Matric finals seem a long way down the road, and eight months feels like ample time to get to grips with your work before you have to sit for your finals,” says Natasha Madhav, Senior Head of Programme: Faculty of ICT at The Independent Institute of Education, SA’s largest private higher education provider.
With all eyes directed at 2020’s first-year students as they start their journeys at various tertiary and higher education institutions across South Africa, it is also important to remember those tens of thousands of students who are starting out on a learning journey of another kind — studying from home via distance learning, an education expert says.
For a learner to get information from the textbook into their long-term memories requires many cognitive functions. In this blog article, we’ll explore the role of a dedicated study space for a homeschool learner and try to answer why this is important. To answer this question, we look to cognitive load theory.
Sugar Bay is a luxury holiday camp in Kwa-Zulu Natal, for children between the ages of 7 and 17 years old. We offer over 100 activities, including surfing, skate boarding and ropes courses. Our newest activities are airsoft (which is similar to paintball) and tie dye. None of our activities are compulsory and children are given the freedom to choose what they would like to do. We have qualified staff known as camp counselors, who look after the children 24/7. No child is ever left alone and we have a strict supervision ratio of one counselor to every three children.
Allergic reactions are becoming more prevalent around the world, especially in more developed countries. This heightened sensitivity may be due to increased exposure to harmful environmental factors, such as air pollution and cigarette smoke, as well as cleaner living environments with fewer micro-organisms and bacterial exposure
TikTok is taking over the world, or so it seems! It’s an app that allows users to share short videos. It enables the user to be incredibly creative with the use of stickers, music tracks, filters and augmented reality. As a result, so people find the creative side really enjoyable and because videos are only 15 – 60 seconds long, they’re incredibly consumable from a viewers perspective. This is why it rocketed to being the most downloaded app worldwide at the end of 2019.
Socialising is often a big concern for prospective home schoolers as well as the family of home schoolers. However, these students often get to socialize with a greater variety of age groups when compared to learners who attend mainstream schools.
With an automated future ahead of us, the workplace will require a different way of thinking with an emphasis on problem solving, through mathematics as a vehicle, we can cultivate this skill in children from an early age.
‘Innovation has paved the way for an alternative form of education and with the latest technology, Brainline is bridging the gap to accommodate the digital age. In 2019, the focus was on masterclasses to prepare learners for tests and tasks. This year saw the introduction of Brainline Cloud School, the hub of teaching. Here, the focus is on the learner and innovation regarding teaching and facilitation,’ says Coleen Cronje, Brainline Chief Executive Officer.
Even if your child sometimes tests your patience, the point of being their parent is to help them grow. Everything that you teach your child should come from a place of love. Children need affection. Show your kids that you love them with smiles and hugs. While love is not enough to be a good parent, it is a vital part of raising happy and emotionally healthy children.
According to Cindy Glass, Co-Founder and Owner of Step Up Education Centres, “Teaching is one of the most under-rated and under-appreciated professions in our country! Most teachers do not recognise the value of their skills and even less so, the possibility of becoming financially well-off business owners! Teachers have been scraping the bottom of the barrel for so long that the idea of using their skills to achieve business success may seem quite impossible!” Why is this? Cindy offers the following reasons:
At Impaq, we know that every child is unique. Every learner studies at his/her own pace and some might need to spend more time on certain subjects to ensure they grasp the basic concepts. We aim to help learners, who have unique academic needs, achieve their goals.
With South Africa’s Matric pass rate at an historical high, many thousands of learners are in the unexpectedly happy position of having received a Bachelor’s pass, and therefore qualifying for further study. Those who didn’t make provision for this eventuality, may now find themselves in a situation where they no longer need to settle for their Plan B, but can in fact go for Plan A – realising their dreams of pursuing a degree – but with no place at university yet.
