Blog

You’ve had your child’s eyes checked with a free NHS eye test, so that’s that.  Sorted.  No eye disease and no refractive error.  20/20 vision. But they lose their place, … Read More

Most estimates put approx. 10% of the population as dyslexic: that’s about 700 million people.  Most of us will doubt ourselves and our capability.  If we are lucky, we get … Read More

It was a dark day when I realised that everything I had ever been taught about how to revise was WRONG!  Over the last century, neuroscience has proved what I … Read More

If you’re the parent of children who have taken to homeschooling like a duck to water, bring you their finished assignments with a satisfied smile on their faces and then … Read More

I firmly believe that learning to touch-type is as close to a silver bullet as you can get if your teen is dyslexic. It can be the perfect (non-patronising) way … Read More

If the answer is not yet, then they would probably benefit from a little targeted practice learning to spell the most common words we use.  Just 300 words make up … Read More

Because 90% of words in English follow the rules, children ideally need a structured, phonic-based approach to learning to spell. Click here for my guide to the other three crucial … Read More

Children learn Maths via concrete (hands-on) progressing to visual (pictures) and then finally to abstract (numbers and symbols on the page).  The problem with most maths teaching is that there … Read More

It’s a little known fact that there are lots of (normally undiagnosed dyslexic or dyspraxic) teens and adults who struggle to read a clock face. It isn’t really taught much … Read More

I love reading new research that confirms the therapeutic effect of certain physiological practices from around the world.  But during emergency homeschooling what we need as parents is easy stuff … Read More

Does your child/teen cross their thumb over when they hold the pen?  Write the bare minimum? Grip too tightly?  Press hard?  Write slowly?  Complain of pain?  Shake their hand?  Hold … Read More

Are you concerned about how slowly your child writes?  Here is a very rough way to find out if they are writing as fast as their classmates. Step One: Ask … Read More

Emergency homeschooling is HARD! Let’s get that out there, first of all. I find teaching my eldest, Conrad, ten times harder than any of my other pupils!  But each day … Read More

One of the advantages of children from countries like China and Japan is that they tend to be taught to use chants and rhymes to learn their times tables. My … Read More

If you’re dyslexic, then spelling is one of those areas which remains dodgy, no matter how much time passes. The reason tends to be due to issues with phonological awareness … Read More

A massive part of being a confident writer is being able to automatically spell the most frequently occurring words you regularly need. Just 300 words which make up half of … Read More