As we face weeks, and perhaps months, of uncertainty during the Covid-19 crisis, Martin Large explores the ways in which Hawthorn Press’s titles can help with home schooling and staying at home:
“Over a million UK families were thrown suddenly into the deep end of home schooling on Friday 20th March, the day the government closed schools as a Covid-19 public health action. So, families now have an unexpected but unique opportunity to try out home schooling – to make creative use of the time, and to counter cabin fever.
Hawthorn Press has practical books that can help with home education such as educational text books, crafts, seasonal projects, storytelling and literacy.
Early learning and movement?
Sally Goddard Blythe offers stories, songs with 2 CD’s, rhymes and exercises for early years brain development, attention, co-ordination and balance in Movement, your child’s first language.
Learning to write and read?
Parents of children aged 6-8 years will find Writing to Reading the Steiner Waldorf Way a creative, fun way of introducing literacy, from drawing the letters, to movement, telling stories to then writing and reading. Creative Form Drawing For the Four Temperaments with Children aged 6-10 years offers colourful pre-writing exercises.
Every family is a storytelling family and every child a storyteller?
Interested in telling nature stories? Then The Natural Storyteller has stories for telling orally. Using the story maps, you can easily tell the stories without reading and become a family storyteller. You can build up a repertoire of stories to tell your family, and impress your teachers on returning to school. You can find world stories in 147 Traditional Stories, for children aged 7-12 to retell, and storytelling tips.
Seasonal Nature and Craft
Books such as The Children’s Forest offer stories and songs, wild food, recipes, crafts and celebrations for all the year round. Families can enjoy these, with seasonal things to look out for on your one walk of the day, even without going to the woods!
If you have ever wanted to try a new craft but never seem to find the time, now is your moment. Crafting is a great way to spend time with your family, or to lose yourself in to counter feelings of anxiety or loneliness. Making with your hands is a great way of giving children the creative life skills for navigating this age of disruption. We have the books, including Making the Children’s Year, Making Simple Needle Felts and Making Peg Dolls and it is still possible to buy supplies online, such as felting things from The Makerss. There are also countless online tutorials springing up where you can join like-minded folk and make things together.
Something for parents
Lastly, grown-ups may enjoy our online monthly Meet Make Mend darning circle. We meet online on the third Monday of each month at 7 p.m. Registration is free, through Eventbrite. The next workshop will be held on Monday 27th April – keep an eye on our social media for details.
We hope that you and your family will not only survive but thrive on this home learning journey. Keep well.”