Home schooling or additional support for your child at home

Home schooling or additional support for your child at home

Craig’n’Dave create resources for teachers to provide them with appropriate classroom activities to support their teaching. They are not intended for parents or students to use independently, although this is possible. Outlined below are our 5 products and how they might be used for additional support or home schooling together with an action plan.

Student Stream: free

The Student Stream are our videos on YouTube here: https://www.youtube.com/craigndave

  1. Knowledge Bytes & megabytes playlists: think of these videos as background reading in video format. They are not necessary for the course.
  2. Craig’n’Dave Unscripted: these are our monthly update videos to inform students of new material.
  3. Course playlists: these are our essential knowledge videos. Students only need to watch the playlist that is relevant to their course. If the course being studied is not listed, we do not recommend using our videos as the coverage will not be comprehensive enough.

At GCSE students should watch the video and pause it when they see the blue “take notes” icon at the top of the screen. Students should copy down the notes on the screen using the Cornell method of note-taking. See more about this method here: https://craigndave.org/cornell-note-taking/

At A level there is no “take notes” icon, students should be discerning about what information is essential to record using the Cornell method.

One frequently asked question is, “do your videos cover everything I need to know?” The answer is yes, but students need to remember that exams are not just a test of memory. They are also a test of understanding. So questions may be asked in a way that requires application of knowledge, using what students learned in the video with a new lens.

Another frequently asked question is, “can I get the top grade just from watching your videos?” The answer is theoretically yes, but this is a very passive approach to learning and is not effective for memory retention. You must use the Cornell method, Smart Revise and other traditional approaches to revision like mind-mapping and real past-paper practice too.

Resource Centre: £179+VAT

Our Resource Centre provides teachers with everything they need to teach the theoretical aspects of the course. It is only available for OCR GCSE J277, AQA GCSE 8525, Pearson Edexcel GCSE 1CP2, OCR A level H046|H446, AQA A level 7516|7517. If your course is not listed here, do not buy access to the Resource Centre.

The activities are for students to undertake using their notes from watching the videos. They are presented as PowerPoint workbooks at GCSE and micro activities at A level. At A level students use the micro activities to create their own workbook we call a student learning record.

The activities are intended to be directed by a teacher who will support their delivery with additional explanations, fun activities, Q&A and discussions. At GCSE students could complete most activities independently as the basic instructions are included in the notes section of each slide of the workbook. At A level this is not something we recommend.

These resources can be used for home schooling or additional support at home, but we do not offer a discounted price for parents. The price reflects the time we put into creating the resources, not a product you might buy from a shop. If you are looking for supplementary materials to use at home for a child that attends a school, check that the school is not already using our Resource Centre first. If the school is already using them with your child, you do not need to purchase them. As a parent you may find the resources a little overwhelming as they don’t come with extended guidance, because they are intended to be delivered by classroom teachers who already know how to deliver content to students, they just need resources to help them.

The activities assume prior knowledge before they can be completed, either from a teacher, or through watching our Student Stream videos and a student's Cornell notes. It would not be sensible to attempt to complete the activities without this knowledge. The Cornell notes will be especially useful in completing the activities as the videos directly support them. Be aware there are many other resources included in the Resource Centre for teachers that won’t be relevant for students or their parents.

All the activities are provided with model answers, and you need to ensure these never enter the public domain as they would undermine what teachers are expecting students to do in class. It won’t help students to be provided with the answers; they must engage in the learning process, so parents should also withdraw all the answers from their child initially.

The Resource Centre also includes our free interactive apps to support learning some Computer Science concepts: https://craigndave.org/product/interactive-apps/

Access to the Resource Centre lasts for 12-months, so we suggest you download what you need in this time although you can use the resources beyond this. You cannot share the resources with anyone other than your children.

There are some sample units you can download for each course before you purchase. Use the search facility at craigndave.org to search for “OCR GCSE free sample” for example.

Smart Revise: free to start, up to £12.50

Smart Revise is our assessment and revision platform, and we believe it is essential for all students, both in school and at home. It is available for:
  1. OCR GCSE J277
  2. AQA GCSE 8525
  3. Pearson Edexcel GCSE 1CP2
  4. Cambridge IGCSE 0478|0984
  5. OCR A level H046|H446
  6. AQA A level 7516|7517
  7. Cambridge CIE (International A level 9618
  8. OCR, AQA and Edexcel GCSE Business courses.
If your course is not listed here, do not buy Smart Revise.

Research has shown that the best preparation for examinations is frequent knowledge recall over the entire course, coupled with plenty of practice with exam-style questions and mark schemes. This is exactly what Smart Revise provides. It is not a revision guide, and it is not intended to teach the subject matter. It is intended to assess it and should be used after a student has learned the first topic of the course, and throughout the course, not just at the end.

Smart Revise includes 3 modes for students to use independently of their teacher/parent:

  1. Quiz: multiple choice questions that assess understanding for memory retention.
  2. Terms: digital flashcards that assess knowledge of subject-specific terminology.
  3. Advance: written answer exam-style questions that assess application of knowledge.

Set the topic filters only to what has been learned so far. Not topics that are yet to be learned and not to one topic that your child is currently learning.

Each week Smart Revise will set students goals based on their data. A goal will include answering a number of Quiz, Terms and Advance questions. Students can track their progress on a flight path and through summary analytic reports.

We recommend students complete their goals every week to have the best chance of success.

Parents can create a free teacher account, set up a class with only their child in it, share the class code with their child and ask them to join. This will allow a parent access to track progress and set tasks like topic tests with AI marking if they want to.

Get started for free today with a small number of topics and upgrade to full course access later: https://smartrevise.online/

It should be noted that teacher accounts are really intended for teachers so they don’t provide support for parents in how to use the system, but you can’t break anything, so have a play!

Time2Code: free

Time2Code is our programming resource. Computer Science courses include both theoretical knowledge of the subject and practical programming skills. Our Time2Code website provides a comprehensive solution to learning programming at GCSE level, but it is challenging. Everything a student needs to be able to do for examinations is included in the course.

You can find Time2Code here: https://time2code.today/

Students should be spending as much time practicing programming as learning theoretical knowledge.

You must check which programming language your centre will be entering your child for. For OCR it won’t matter. Pearson Edexcel is always Python. AQA could be one of 4 languages.

Time2Code only supports Python and C#.

Students should be aiming to complete levels 1-9 for OCR and AQA courses and also level 10 for Pearson Edexcel.

Student should have a go at all the programs in the “Programs to learn new techniques” section of every level. There are then differentiated programs each labelled with a star. One-star programs are easy. Students should be able to complete the medium, two-star programs. For extra challenge try the three-star programs. We advise students to complete a combination totalling four to six stars of programs before moving to the next level.

Time2Code is designed for students to learn and complete without the need for a teacher. Typically, a student should complete the entire programme of levels 1-9 in year 10 and then do additional programs in year 11.

Festival of Computing

The Festival of Computing is our annual professional development conference for teachers. It is not suitable for students or parents.

Our recommended plan for parents

  1. Find out which course and examination board your child will be entered for. Knowing the course code will enable you to find appropriate resources.
  2. If your child is not already using Smart Revise, get them going for free with that today.
    Complete the goals each week. We strongly suggest you purchase the full course content.
  3. Use our Student Stream videos on YouTube to learn or revise the course content.
    Make sure you are using the Cornell note-taking method with lined paper or an exercise book.
  4. Use Time2Code at least a few times a week.
  5. If your child is not already using CraignDave workbooks and activities at their school, download a sample for the appropriate course to see if they would be a good fit for your child.
  6. If you think they are suitable, you can purchase access to the Resource Centre as a parent, but we will ask you additional questions after placing your order to ensure the resources don’t enter the public domain.



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