3 years ago, Danyal, became the youngest person in the 30-year history of the Physics GCSE (UK 16+ exams) to have achieved an A*. He was 10. His sister, Maryam, also managed an A*. She was 12.
This is them with their cousin.
So, neither had studied any physics 5 months before their exams, a two-year course, and they cleared the A* boundary by ~20%.
WAIT! WHAT!?!
This is how they did it…
I got 3 past papers, grouped questions by topic – so 5 mechanics questions, 4 electricity ones, etc…
I then told them to do the mechanics questions. They thought I was mad. I told them to work it out from their textbook or YouTube.
Them struggling was crucial – it’s the best way to learn – and if they couldn’t do it after trying hard enough, I’d eventually explain.
Progress was painfully slow early on.
The alternative, being spoon-fed like at schools, doesn’t stick and later on in life that’s not how you learn. Besides, I didn’t have time to teach them!
Anyway, they did the mechanics questions and then went on to the next topic’s questions, and once they’d done all the topics they just did complete past papers.
Erm, that’s how they did it, and it is essentially the same method that I learned physics at university.
And both went on to get A’s in their Physics A-levels (18+), still aged 10 and 12, which they taught themselves in 5 months.
During this lockdown why not encourage your kids to learn one of the most powerful and empowering life skills of all? The ability to self-teach.
The Wonder Years 