What do you get when you bring together 12 mums, 12 kids, autumn leaves, paint, toys, books, games and a magical extra chromosome?
A 21 day Learnathon packed with giggles, signing and fun.
A group of parents and their children have started a 21 day Learnathon on social media. The team come from across the globe and all have one thing in common – they are keen to play and learn.
Over 21 days they will be releasing short videos of their learning at home, using some of the techniques shown in the Teach Me Too online resources, to raise money for the project, which aims to make the video library free to access for all.
Debs Thompson, mum to Poppy, has a passion for Teach Me Too that is palpable. She has been instrumental in driving the project forward, and has recruited a team of mums and children to take part in her International Learnathon throughout November to fundraise.
‘I came across the Teach Me Too video resources in the summer and couldn’t believe how much Poppy interacted with them. It got me thinking that all her friends would really benefit from them. I got chatting with Jo from 21 together and we realised we had the same vision – to make these freely available for all children.
‘The idea for the Learnathon came about when the second lockdown was announced. There are so many parents out their doing a fab job making every day family life about learning and fun. I wanted to capture that energy and share it with the world. To show how creative our kids are and how inquisitive they are about the world.’
‘I can’t believe where we are now, just a month after that initial sleepless night. The support from our community has been amazing, Wouldn’t Change A Thing have helped us spread the word and recruit people to be involved in our Learnathon and film our fundraising video. We have a growing team of parent champions who are helping make Teach Me Too happen. I’ve also had the privilege to work alongside Claire May Minnett who edited our video and has been our filming guide. It shows the power of what we can do when we work together as a community.’
Join the team on their Learnathon and spur them on. Give their videos a like, a share, comment and let them know where you are and what you love to learn! Maybe you know a mystery guest that would like to join the team on their Learnathon? Contact the Learnathon page if you know someone who would like to join in.
Most importantly if you’re enjoying the videos, DONATE!
Debs says ‘Just imagine if we could reach out to 1,000 people every day across the world. And if every person donated £1 for each video they watched….we would smash our fundraising target and be a step closer to making early skills resources available to all children, free, forever.’
Another champion of the project, Vikki’s son Joe is walking 26 miles in 26 days to fundraise for Teach Me Too. Despite the cold dark nights he has kept going and is smashing his fundraising target.
She says; ‘During November we will walk a mile a day for 26 days. The equivalent of a marathon over the month. it will most likely be in the dark, probably cold, maybe raining but we all know that Joe will march on stoically (with the lure of our route being planned to turn around for the homeward leg at the local shop and a packet of chocolate buttons will no doubt be procured) Its not going to be a quick mile, have you seen how short his little legs are? But we’re used to putting in the effort to ensure Joe and his little buddies get the best education possible so onwards we march!’
We are cheering you on Joe! If you’d like to follow Joe’s journey check out his instagram page.