Kids are learning at home too!

We've been working on a small activity to help twenty eight Cambodian pre-school kids Study At Home Too. Survey results just in show that the resource packs we distributed are being used by parents to help educate their children at home! In fact, almost half of the recipients are helping their kids to study at home between five and seven days a week!

On January 14, we gave out 28 Study At Home Too resource packs to children from 26 families. Each contained: alphabet flashcards, number flashcards, Grade 1 Khmer textbook (for reading practice), Grade 1 mathematics textbook, 2 story books, a writing board, chalk, an exercise book, pencil and a sharpener. Over the past ten days we've been able to survey 25 of those families and hear how they are using the books and materials to teach their pre-school aged kids.

Our survey found that 64% of the families could name five or more of the items they received. A further 28% could remember four of the ten items. When asked how many times per week they have been using the items: 28% said they used the resources 7 days per week; 20% used them 3-4 days per week and 24% used the items 1-2 days each week. (Two families didn't respond.) CCFC Poipet was surprised that over a quarter of the families say they use these resources every day!

The recipients were asked about what items they use to teach their children. 62% said that they use the alphabet cards. 52% use the Khmer textbook, 44% use the story books, 44% use the flashcards and 32% said they use the exercise book.

The question was repeated in a different way, with families being asked to give reasons about which products are the most useful. Some of the responses are as follows:

- The Grade 1 khmer textbook and the maths book are useful. The books are clear, simple and they make it easy for children to understand and to learn quickly.
- The story books with the pictures help children to be interested in learning. My child also likes the stories because the language is interesting.
- We use the exercise book, number flashcards and alphabet flashcards the most because they help my child to quickly learn the alphabet and numbers.
- The most useful were the maths book and Khmer book because these have lessons in the books that we can use. These books also have chants we can remember.
- I'm very pleased with all of the items, especially the Grade 1 Khmer book.

The next stage is to choose another 28 pre-school children and give them the same Study at Home Too packs next week. The results from Phase 2 of this activity should be out at the end of April!