Parent's Guide to Home Schooling During COVID-19
Parent's Guide to Home Schooling During COVID-19
Parent's Guide to HomeSchooling During COVID-19
Whatever way you look at it, the quarantine period of COVID-19 is a challenge for all of us. Your children, in particular, will feel a lot of confusion about why life has changed so dramatically. And if they're used to going to school and being around other kids all day, this will be a new challenge for them. While schools are closed, it's essential to keep up with their education as much as you can. Their school may have provided them with tools to work remotely, but there's the added challenge of them not being in the school environment, so engaging them in their schoolwork isn't going to be the easiest if they're not used to learning from home already. Here are some top tips to turn you into a thriving homeschool family and encourage your kids to be receptive to learning.
Break the subjects up into manageable bitesize classes:
Apparently, the human brain needs to take a break from learning every 50 minutes to absorb the knowledge it has just gained. With this in mind, timetable your kid's subjects into manageable 50-minute slots. Not only are they more likely to retain what they are learning, but knowing they get a recess in under an hour will be a more achievable goal for them. Don't try to achieve too much in one day: Your children will not have the focus they do at school, especially if they are younger. You can't expect them to put in the same number of hours they do on a regular school day. Create a timetable for the week where they study 2-3 subjects per day. Three 50-minute classes will most likely be plenty. If they are particularly high energy and easily distracted, then you might want to aim for two classes per day integrated with learning games.
Find fun and alternative ways to learn:
You don't necessarily have to stick only to work set by the school. If you've achieved the basics, find other more interactive methods to help your children learn. There are several ways to help them learn math and improve language and reading skills online.
Here are a few links to get you going:
Check out our YouTube channel playlists. We have created kid-friendly educational playlists about everything engineering to history to emotions. Check our playlists by clicking here.
Educational brain breaks. Help your children review essential literacy and math skills while getting in some exercise. The site is best for ages 4-8 years. https://fluencyandfitness.com/school-closure-plans/
Learn about the weather, moon phases, history highlights, stories and much more at The Old Farmer's Almanac for Kids: https://www.almanac.com/kids
There's a wealth of stuff on Google Earth. You can Choose Your Own Adventure taking a guided tour around the globe, draw on maps, add your photos and much more: https://www.google.com/earth/
Test your kid's geography skills online using images from Google Street View. Six-year-old Aubrey loves to pretend he is driving to his favorite places using Google Street View. https://www.google.com/streetview/
If you have very young kids who aren't even in school yet, these preschool activities could be a complete lifesaver: https://www.education.com/games/preschool/
Is one of your kids good with their hands and have a technical brain? Then try out these science and engineering challenges using stuff you already have at home. https://billnye.com/home-demos/
*Some of the above-listed sites are offering free or deeply discounted rates to support families during the COVID 19 crisis. These prices are subject to change after COVID 19 circumstances change.
Create a Structure:
As we know, children need structure, rules, and boundaries in order not wholly to lose the run of themselves. Use an arts and crafts activity to create your chart with the weekly timetable on it that you can put on the wall. Allow your kids to help you decorate it and color it in. When they achieve a learning goal, class, or activity on the timetable, they earn a sticker that can be added to the calendar. If they collect all their stickers for the week, they earn a reward at the weekend. It may not always work, but goals and structure help to motivate many children.
A Chance to Learn About the Environment Together:
This virus outbreak has brought with it a lot of questions about how we treat our earth and what we can do going forward to be kinder to it and prevent another pandemic. To do this, we need to educate our children so they can grow up understanding the importance of caring for the earth they live on. There's a lot of uncertainty and fear around COVID-19 but work as a family to find the positives in it by teaching your children about the value of the earth and how it lives. Encourage them to care about looking after it when they can return to go outside again. Find interactive ways to teach them about why the earth is so important as our only home and why we all need to work together to protect it.
Remember to have fun:
This is a unique situation to find ourselves in. If you're also trying to work from home, you'll know how much more heavy focus and motivation is. The same goes for your kids. So, give everyone a break physically and mentally and remember that you're all in this together. If some days your kids aren't feeling it, so what? There's always tomorrow, and this is a marathon, not a sprint. Homeschooling may be new to you and your family if you've not done it before, but rest assured countless families do this as a matter of course, and they do it very successfully. It can take time to adjust, but using the above tips should help set you on a path to success. Remember, this is a time for engagement with your kids and reinforcement of skills where you and your kids remember how to work with each other positively. If you're struggling, then there are plenty of online communities for homeschooling parents, so sign up to some and chat with the experts who have been doing this for years.
Regardless of whether you're new to homeschooling because of COVID-19, or you've been teaching your children from home for years, the isolation and lockdown will be a unique experience for everyone, with the lack of outdoor time likely to be a challenge regardless of your education system. So, remember that patience is vital and to listen to and support each other on a day-to-day basis.
Speaking of Fun
We’ve created a Free Family Fun Calendar to help you map out some fun, relaxing down time with the kids.
