A North Canterbury mum and primary school teacher has reached millions of people online after creating a free Facebook page to help parents support their children’s learning at home.

Jen Eastwick, who has been a primary school teacher for 14 years, started sharing simple literacy and maths activities on Facebook and Instagram two months ago as a small passion project – ‘The Teacher Mum Next Door’.

Since then, the Facebook page has grown to nearly 15,000 followers, with one literacy reel reaching more than two million views.

Eastwick said the response had shown how many parents were looking for practical, accessible ways to help their children learn.

“I’m simply a teacher and mum who started sharing ideas because I could see so many parents wanting to help their children but not knowing where to start,” she said.

“This isn’t a business or a tutoring service. Everything I create is completely free because I know not every family can access tutoring.”

Eastwick said the activities were designed to be screen free, worksheet free, and easy to do using everyday household items most families already had at home.

She said while the page had attracted unexpected international interest, her focus had always been on supporting New Zealand families.

“The activities I share are designed with Kiwi parents in mind and align with the learning happening in our schools,” she said.

The timing is particularly relevant as many schools prepare to send home end of term reports under refreshed curriculum expectations.

Eastwick said while schools had worked hard to prepare families for the changes, achievement information may look different for some children than it had in the past.

“For some parents, that may still feel confronting and prompt questions about how best to support learning at home,” she said.

“The message I’m trying to share is that supporting learning doesn’t need to be complicated, expensive, or time consuming.”

Eastwick said many of the messages she received were from parents who felt overwhelmed or unsure about how to support their child’s learning.

One parent wrote, “Your posts are brilliant. I have an eight year old boy who loves maths. However, he’s dyslexic. He struggles but never gives up. I’m always looking for ways to make things fun for him because he works hard at trying to keep up. So from a mum of three, thank you for this page. I appreciate you.”

Eastwick said messages like that reflected what she saw both as a teacher and a parent.

“Parents want to help, but often just need a starting point,” she said.

She said social media had allowed her to put practical, evidence based literacy and maths ideas into the hands of busy parents for free.

“It has highlighted just how much demand there is for simple, accessible literacy and maths support,” she said.

Eastwick said she hoped the page would reassure parents that small, simple activities at home could make a difference.

“Supporting learning at home doesn’t have to be expensive or complicated.”