Supporting Teenagers from Lockdown to Back to School

As adults we have found lockdown and living with Coronavirus a struggle at times, so for our teenagers it has been even worse. If they are like my two sons, they have been on a rollercoaster of different emotions. The initial reaction was one of happiness; exams cancelled, less work, the perfect excuse to self isolate in their bedrooms. Then the new routine, endless school work being set, not being able to see friends set in and as time has passed by, they have found it all a lot harder to cope with.

As parents of teenagers, it has been a tricky old time. They are old enough to regulate their work and get it done each day but the lure of the lie in and the late nights chatting with mates on social media totally messes with their sleep patterns and soon, you are starting to wonder if you are ever going to see them during the hours of daylight.

I am, of course, talking from my experiences very much here. But I know and chat lots of other parents of teenagers and there are similar stories coming from them. Some were being told by their teens that all the work was being done when a phone call from school revealed that wasn’t the case. Many are really struggling to get more than a couple of hours work each day. Some have given up the battle. There are many students that will have worked their proverbial socks off. My son in Year 10 has driven me to distraction at times, moaning endlessly about the amount of work he is set every day, doing everything to avoid doing it and starting his work later and later each day as lockdown has progressed, but he has done the majority of his work and I am so proud of him. There have been no online lessons up until last week, he has simply worked through the work set each day on his homework app.

For parents of teens in Year 10 and 12 it is an incredibly worrying time. Even if they start back in school this week, it will only be for very limited times and by the time September comes around, many will have missed six months of time in school. With exams that come around all too quickly next year, this is a big chunk of time missed. And as both a teacher and a parent, it is a real concern as to how they are going to catch up and be in a position to get their best possible grades next summer. There are so many questions.  How will they catch up?  Will there be lower grade boundaries next summer to allow for the gap in learning? Will there be lessons over the summer? And whilst we know that the government has pledged a lot of money to bridge the gap for these students, we don’t yet have any exact answers to these important questions about our teen’s education.

But can you support your teenagers through the end of lockdown and to back to school? Absolutely. There are lots of things that you can do to help and support them.

Try Online Tuition

I work as a face to face tutor (well I did before lockdown started) but working one to one might not be an option for a while yet, but have you considered online tuition. MyTutor is an online tuition website where you can find highly qualified tutors for students in Key Stage 3 through to university level.  There are so many advantages to online tuition; you don’t have to drive anywhere or have to invite a tutor into your house, the times are flexible, students are often more relaxed if they are in their own homes and of course, as a parent, it is easy to monitor from a distance what is happening in the lessons. 

MyTutor is slightly different to other tuition websites as all of their tutors are university students. This is such a great idea.  Not only are they experts in their subjects, but they have just been through GCSEs and A Levels themselves, so they are in a really good position to offer advice on how to be prepared for the exams.  But also, they are young and approachable. We were able to try MyTutor for ourselves with my son who was supposed to be doing GCSEs this summer.  He is a bit lost and I thought that a few tutor sessions on one of his subject choices for A level would be a good idea.  I was really surprised how well much he got out of the sessions. He really liked his tutor and they chatted not only about the subject but about his experience of A Level and university.  

The sessions take place on the MyTutor website and there is a designated tutor space where you can talk and see the tutor but also there is a large interactive whiteboard which can be used by both student and teacher.  The teen said that he really liked the fact that if he didn’t understand anything, it was easy to go back over and he liked the fact that the tutor was patient and only a few years older than himself. 

We have made the decision to carry on with the tuition throughout the summers as my son has found it to be such a rewarding experience and it will really give him a positive start to this new subject at A Level. 

With MyTutor, you can sign up for continuous lessons or simply have a one off lesson.  There is no long term commitment necessary. 

Emphasise the positives of the situation

Yes, there is lots of uncertainty about their education at the moment and the amount of time in lockdown can be demotivating in many ways.  I tell my own A Level students that they are in a good position in many ways as they have time on their hands  Time to study, time to research, time to practise.  Normal teen life can be a juggling act of school work, part-time jobs and social lives.  At least things are calmer at the moment, giving them much needed time to focus on school work and do the extra reading and research that they might need to do. Try and encourage your teens to take advantage of this time as soon enough, lives will be back to their busy normal. 

Aim to have some sort of routine

I know that this is a tough one to enforce, especially after the number of weeks we have been in lockdown. In this house, mornings are starting later and the teens in particular are really struggling to get back into a decent sleep routine. This of course has a knock on effect on everything else. Whilst it is still term time, try and encourage them to get to bed at a reasonable hour and get up the right side of midday, maybe even get them to follow their usual school timetable as best they can and do work for each subject as they would if they were in school.  This will really help them when the time comes to go back into school, plus it enables them to get the work done and have their evenings and weekends to chill out. 

Encourage exercise and extra-curricular activities

Part of the reason that teenagers struggle to sleep at night and get into bad sleeping habits is due to inactivity during the day.  They might be working hard academically and that is brilliant, but there still needs to be a balance.  Exercise with friends at an acceptable distance is fine and going out for a walk, a bike ride or even a kick around with a ball, has a hugely positive mental impact as well as a physical one. However fond of self-isolation they might be, try and encourage them to get out and exercising.  They don’t even need to go out if they don’t want to with lots of amazing online videos to turn your bedroom into your very own gym. 

Give them a space and resources to support their learning

Again, I know this isn’t always possible, but bedrooms aren’t really the best place for studying.  If possible, a desk in a separate room where it is quiet is the best option.  Ideally, a laptop or tablet will be useful for research and accessing schoolwork.  It is possible from a phone, but a bigger screen is better. If you don’t have access to a computer, speak to the school to see if they can help with this.  Some schools will have resources that they can offer to help. For Year 10 and 12 students, revision guides can be a brilliant way to revisit, revise and relearn topics.  Most offer strategies, exam and revision tips and space to practise.  Most guides are not hugely expensive but it can mount up with all of the different subjects.  Why not look for secondhand copies of guides, as long as they are only a couple of years old, they will still be relevant and really useful?  

There are also lots of online sites that are free to use, interactive and tap into the teens love of technology. BBC Bitesize is one of my favourites.  Seneca has been really popular with my two sons and there is a free or a paid for option. 

Remind them of the end goal 

This sounds like an obvious one but I think it is really important.  With all of the uncertainty surrounding GCSEs and A Levels next year, it is still important to keep reminding them that this is what it is all about.  Talk to them about what they are aiming for after, if your teen is in Year 10, take the opportunity to think about what comes after Year 11.  Look around for information on sixth forms, colleges, A levels or apprenticeships.  With Year 12s, there are lots of virtual open days going on for universities around the country.  Keep the focus on looking ahead and remind them that by keeping working now, this is still achievable in a years time. 

Whatever happens over the next few months, even those students who have time back in school will only be in part time and a lot of the learning and schoolwork will be going on at home.  If you are worrying and want to help your sons and daughters with their education at this time, there are a number of things that you can do to help support them.  But above all, they do still need your support, they might be teenagers and embarking on life as independent young people, but they still need guidance from their parents moving forward. 

Disclaimer – We were given six free sessions with MyTutor and payment in return for this post but having worked as a tutor myself, I genuinely feel that MyTutor is an excellent service.  If you sign up using this link, you will get £10 off your first lesson and I receive £10  credit.