A STOURBRIDGE author has penned a new book to help parents with home-schooling during the coronavirus outbreak.

Catherine France uncovered the positives and negatives of home-schooling as part of research for her masters degree dissertation and she has since turned the project into a book.

The 46-year-old, who completed an MA in education at Wolverhampton University before recently completing a post-graduate certificate in education, said: "When the lockdown began I was completing university training to teach primary school children as my earlier training had been in teaching older children.

"My course went online and my agency work was no longer available due to schools shutting.

“As a result I wrote two books - one to support home-schooling as this was my masters dissertation topic, and evidence showed that home-schooling could be a positive approach to education, particularly in terms of mental health support for children."

With most children now not set to return to the classroom until September, Catherine hopes The Handbook of Home-Schooling will prove useful for parents still struggling with trying to educate their little ones at home during the COVID-19 crisis.

She said: "Schooling at home can be difficult for parents who have not got a background in academic areas.

“This book hopefully offers the knowledge that skills learnt in the home can be equally as important as those learnt at school as they are often life based.

“Home schooling also offers the chance for more experiential schooling and an individualised education."

The Handbook of Home-Schooling is available to buy on Amazon.

Catherine, who is step-mum to four grown-up children, has also written a book on wellbeing and healing techniques, such as mindfulness, breathing techniques, yoga etc.