Help your child learn at home with videos

Technological advancement has come with learning Apps that help pupils to learn better the concepts learnt in class. Net Photo

Gone are the days when teachers took their time to ensure that all their students or pupils understood concepts of whatever they were teaching. Today, it is about how many first learners a class has and as such, pupils are pumped with information with barely time to digest it.
Paul Ssekamate, a parent, decries the method of teaching lately, saying, “Our children are always exhausted from the long learning hours yet a small twist in a simple question makes them stare at you blankly because there is a particular way their teacher had phrased it for them. It leaves me wondering what will happen when they meet such questions or those that need logic to answer in exams.”
Clarissa Mawanda, a mother of four, decided to start home schooling her children because all she saw was cram work whenever she interacted with her children.
“There seemed to be a way their teachers had taught them some aspects and anything deviating from it was perceived as wrong or something they did not know. I thought that I would take over the reins to change this.”
But yet this is an era of technological advancement where learning can take place anywhere else and not the classroom. In fact even satellite television service providers know better to introduce education channels where children can learn.
“Both adults and children get a serving of edutainment with learning channel Da Vinci. This channel is inspired by its namesake, groundbreaking artist, scientist and inventor, Leonardo Da Vinci,” Joan Ssemanda, the DStv spokesperson, says.

Educational videos
For Vickie Kisa, a mother of a one-year-old, using educational videos to start her child on learning has become a gainful solution. “We started with rhymes before moving to phonics and I have seen increased interest in learning by the day. More to that, his speech improves daily with amazing articulation.”
While Kisa is not sure about what the future holds, she is thankful for these videos because without going to a daycare, they are helping prepare her son for pre-school. “The beauty is that I do not force him to watch them, he actually demands them.”
Both Ssekamate and Mawanda resorted to introducing educational videos to their children to go over the things they learned at school during weekends and holidays. “I had seen a few of my friends do it for their children and thought I would give it a try,” Ssekamate shared.
Moses Bulamu, the director of Ollies Daycare and Kindergarten, says for a parent to take the initiative to get videos to supplement their child’s learning is commendable as it shows concern. Most parents, he says, do not have the time to know what their children learned in school but blame teachers when things do not work out as they envisioned.
“A video enforces what the child has learned. However, there is no one-size-fits-all video to help with all subjects as some children are fast learners and all they need are a few pictures and voices to pick the gist of the topic while others need writing for them too. So the issue here is the type of video and the onus is on the parents to choose the right one.”

Link words with action
For example, if you are teaching a child about traffic lights, there are several simple videos such as those with songs so that a child aligns a song to a particular colour or action. “I also use videos for words, so that they can learn how to write three or four-lettered words as it ties an exercise with a voice.”
Bulamu thus says with the video, we are looking at the movement of pictures, colour of pictures as well as the voice. “Being able to address all these in one go is what makes videos very important in your child’s learning.”
Some people may steer clear of using videos with the excuse of needing expensive devices to access them but Bulamu says people can use smart phones to get these videos which are readily available on the Internet such as on YouTube.

Relatable learning
Having resorted to teaching his children, Ssekamate is as thankful that he discovered this a way of making learning easier. “They no longer have to strain by cramming concepts as these videos breakdown issues to their level. Some have animated characters which also help draw the children to learning without pushing them around.”
Similarly, Mawanda uses the videos to help her children better understand some concepts. “I follow several homeschool resources and these videos help to harmonise concepts for them, which makes learning more interesting. That is also because the children realise that what we are learning is similar to what several children around the world are learning hence do not feel alienated,” he says.
At the end of the day, if we are to get the best out of our children, thinking out of the box is necessary because they all have different learning abilities.

Tips for content
Some sites that have educational videos include Homeschool pop, Mathantics, Teaching without frills, Dstv’s Da Vinci channel, NatGeo Kids, Sci Show Kids, and School My Kids, among others.