Learning in Lockdown: Our 5 Top Tips for Learning From Home

Learning in Lockdown: Our 5 Top Tips for Learning From Home

Jun 2020 Medium Read: 4 Min

It sounds ideal, doesn’t it? Learning from the comfort of your own home, feet up and music on. Truth is, learning at home can be a tricky thing to get right, but it all relies on two things: routine and balance.

One of the biggest keys to success for learning at home is accepting that a few things need to change. As much as we wish it was easy, there’s more to it than bringing your books home and working effectively from your bedroom.

Although it’s easy to slip into the routine of home life, learning is still really important and it would be a shame to let all your hard work and effort go to waste. Plus keeping your brain active is great for your mental health and can help to keep you feeling inspired.

Here are our 5 top tips to learning from home:

1. It’s all in the setup…

This might sound simple, but honestly, it’s true. Try to keep everything as familiar as it can be. Mirror your school routine and try to keep to a similar schedule of lessons, this will help keep your mind in learning mode.

If virtual lessons are available, try to attend those as often as possible and give them as much attention as you normally would in the classroom.

This one is easier said than done, but, try to keep your school and home life separate, this means, not working from your bed and trying to avoid your bedroom (which should be your safe haven). Create a learning environment that is purely dedicated to learning and then keep your home environment purely dedicated to relaxing and creativity.

2. You’re not alone in this – Reach out 

It might feel like you’re alone, but everyone is in the same position and experiencing the same teething problems as you. Stay in contact with your friends and share your experiences, share what’s working for you and what isn’t – that way you can learn from other peoples experiences and share tips. 

There are some really useful online tools like zoom and google hangouts that make it really easy to have group calls and share ideas with your friends. 

If you are looking for additional Maths support outside of school, why not reach out to us on Twitter? Just use the #AskCasioCalcs and a member of our team will be happy to help you.

3. Think long-term and take the positives 

Developing strong independent study skills and managing your time well are two great skills that will not only help you in your school career but throughout your life too. 

The skills you develop now are all skills you will need for working independently in further education and throughout your career, whatever you choose to do.

So, this is the perfect opportunity to become great at these things and enjoy them.


4. Never feel guilty for taking breaks – they are essential!

It might sound like a contradiction, but to be at your most productive you need to take breaks. If you were at school you wouldn’t be jumping straight from one lesson to the next for 8 hours with no breaks. Apply this same schedule to your school day at home. Get up have a walk around, go on a walk to get some fresh air, make a drink – whatever works for you. 

Taking a break every 30-60 minutes will help you to remain focussed and stop your mind wandering to other things too quickly. 

5. Reward hard work

Positive reinforcement is such a great way to stay motivated and remain inspired. Set achievable and tangible goals and when you achieve them, reward yourself with something you love. This doesn’t have to be anything extravagant.

Reward yourself with things like an episode of your favourite series, your favourite snack or half an hour to look at youtube or social media. 

Again, it seems simple but if you find rewards that you really love, this should be a good incentive. 

With these 5 tips in mind, remember that learning from home doesn’t have to be boring or uninspiring. It is all about taking a different approach and experimenting to find what routine and tactics work best for you.

Hopefully, you find these tips useful and can apply at least a few of them to your learning from home routine.