Psych Yourself Up for Some COVID19 Homeschooling
Preparedness and realistic expectations will go a long way
Let’s face it, the news out there is one big fat bummer after another. With all kinds of canceled events, remote work recommendations, travel bans and other grim news in place, many of us have been wondering about what seems like the inevitable closure of our schools. Will we get work packets sent home? Will our teachers offer some kind of remote learning option or do a Facetime Live? Will I end up strangling my own offspring? In my never ending quest to stay positive and solution-oriented, I believe the best course of action might be to “expect the best and prepare for the worst” when it comes to the real possibility of homeschooling our kids for a bit soon. Here are a few suggestions I have so you can grab the bull by the horns and psych yourself up for a bit for some extra, extra, extra time with your kids in the coming weeks.
Set Up Some Clear Ground Rules/Expectations
Right before this pandemic reached our shores, a principal friend of mine posted a cheerful update on the success of her daughter’s sleepover party. She attributed much of it to leading the kids through a few “agreements” they came up with together and signed at the very beginning of their night together. I thought this was genius. A proactive conversation with your family can definitely set the tone for some smoother sailing ahead. They also held a “mid-party check-in” and the girls gave one another appreciations for following their agreements. This is what some child-created agreements for getting along together at a sleepover looked like:
I am going to adopt this idea with my own kids as we face the next three weeks of school closures. The end result might look a little different, since homeschooling involves academics and probably no other kids besides her brother. I might ask the two of them questions like, “What rules do you follow in your classroom? What do you need from everyone to be able to work independently? What can you do to make sure others get to work independently? How do you learn best? How can you help others learn best?” We will write these out together on a poster and sign it. I anticipate some language like…
Stay focused.
Ask for breaks and help nicely and when absolutely needed.
Make good choices.
Be kind to each other.
Say please and thank you.
I might also ask my kids what their daily schedules in school looks like, how they would like their schedule to look like at home and break it down in time chunks. We will write this out as well and post near a clock. Each day we will probably close with seeing how we did with our agreements and schedule. My daughter already asked to wake up an hour later than usual. With the cut in commute time and since her school has an earlier start than most (7:50AM!) I think I’ll let her have this one. That’s the beauty of writing this all out beforehand, hearing one another out and getting expectations clear from the beginning.
Plan on Not Having Work Packets/ Remote Learning
I have a feeling, at least with our public schools, we might not see a uniform response from our district, school or even individual teachers in terms of distant learning expectations. There is the question of access, and whether or not it makes sense for public schools to assign learning without being able to guarantee all public school students have a device or Internet connectivity where they reside. We are in unchartered territory here.
Unlike colleges, universities and even some private and charter schools, many public schools don’t necessarily have uniform requirements or infrastructure across all classrooms and students around technology use in general. So if you haven’t necessarily had the most plugged in experience so far with your child’s teacher, it may be a while before you see things things like Google Classroom or Khan Academy coming from them in response to school closure. As it is now, some teachers take full advantage of different learning and communication software already in the classroom and others don’t. Some schools have a one:one laptop program in place with their students, some don’t. Some teachers will have the ability to get work packets together in a timely manner, others might not. Each one will have their reasons and we need to be flexible and patient. The sooner we get very real and practical about it, the sooner we can prevent disappointment when parents start comparing what was sent home with their child and our own expectations around this aren’t met.
Come Up With Your Fantasy Chore List
Do you dream of having your kids make the bed every morning? Have you thought about how great it would be if your kids could actually fold their own clothes and put them away? Having a few age-appropriate chores at home and learning how to contribute to the day to day functioning of the household is incredibly beneficial not just for busy parents, but for the kids themselves. Experts say the earlier we start our kids on chores, the better. It teaches them life skills beyond the chores themselves, like being a team player, self-sufficiency and responsibility. Unfortunately, getting kids to do chores is a chore in and of itself. When push comes to shove in the morning rush panic, we are all often too busy to care if the beds are made or dishes found their way to the sink. Take advantage of this time at home to focus a bit more on chores with your children. Teach your kids a few things you want them to start taking responsibility for in the morning and start your day this way. The biggest key I found in getting my kids to do ANYTHING is to figure out what it is they want and making them earn it. This starts with breakfast, their favorite meal. In our house, no one eats breakfast until beds are made, clothes are on, pajamas put away.
Daily “Must Do/May Do” List
Many teachers set their classrooms up with a T-Chart that has specific learning activities lined up in two columns: a “must do” and a “may do” column. The idea is that kids pick from the first “must do” column and decide what order they complete the items in this list. If and only if they complete the items on the “must do” side can they move on to the “may do” side. So in the case of some homeschooling activities that my kids can do independently, the “must do” side might have some math worksheets, reading for 20–30 minutes, completing some spelling practice etc. The “may do” side might have some of the more fun learning activities we’ll have lined up, including art projects, apps, educational programming etc.
Embrace Educational Screen Time
Given the lack of precedence, and the fact that many of us still have to work full time jobs from home as well, it’s okay to go easy on your screen time rules. There are so many educational shows, apps and programs out there, which can do a great job exposing our kids to things they might not have been exposed to before. Do you have any books at home that were also made into movies? Now might be the time to let them watch the movie version of something they read and then have a discussion about the similarities and differences over dinner. Undoubtedly your child may already have a few favorite educational apps she likes to play, but maybe you can take advantage of this extended time to actually get an ABCMouse Account or Khan Academy account fully set up to start tracking your kid’s progress. I plan on maximizing our subscriptions to language immersion programs like Muzzy and Rosetta Stone, since my daughter is at a Spanish Immersion School. Muzzy will be a great activity both my kids can enjoy together, as it’s entertaining enough to feel cool, but slow enough my son will follow along. Also, television can be a great “substitute teacher” in the coming weeks. Common Sense Media went ahead and compiled a library of educational TV programming, complete with the subject matter addressed and age recommendations. Consider diving deep into one of these series during the next few weeks. You can even have your child keep a little journal and write a few sentences about what she learned after each episode. Also, as a bonus, you can have your kids “earn” some of this educational screen time by completing a bit of good old fashioned pencil-to-paper work first.
Workbooks!
There are so many workbooks out there in places like Target, Office Depot or even Walgreens, already broken down by grade level. There’s no harm in picking one of these up while hunting down some more toilet paper or hand sanitizer and having your child work through a few of the pages at a time that might be review. One is really all you need. Don’t forget to grab a few pencils and sharpeners too. Elementary-aged kids also love things like stickers and stamps, so you can get some good mileage out of these by having your child work independently on a few pages at a time and then “stamping” or placing a sticker on each completed page throughout the week. Its just a little bit of extra “accountability” for them that will keep them going all week long.
Cooking Together
These new uncertain and socially distant times have given us potentially hours upon hours of time together for meals. Take advantage of this by seeing how much of the actual food preparation and cooking you can show your kids and have them do themselves. Make them read the recipe on the box out loud, crack the egg themselves and even chop up a few veggies under your supervision. Aside from the measurements and mathematics involved, kids love anything hands on and cooking is a skill they likely won’t have as much access to in schools as we might have in the past. Remember Home Economics class in school? Unfortunately, Home Ec classes across the country have been slashed left and right. How great would it be if you could actually ask your kid to make you some scrambled eggs next time you’re in a morning pinch or prepare his own lunchbox for the next day? Think of all those future Mother’s Days where breakfast in bed could actually include something other than cold cereal.
Get Out Into Nature
Our kids don’t spend nearly as much time outdoors and in nature as we’d like them to. Now is the perfect time to start getting them access to extended time in the woods, on trails, climbing trees. If you have work on a laptop to do that doesn’t require Internet connectivity, consider driving out to some hiking trails or woods and having your kids spend time just exploring around where you can see them, building forts or collecting natural items. They can glue and label these to some paper when you get home, or make leaf rubbing art out of collected leaves. The less structured the time outdoors, the better. Easiest lesson plan ever!
What’s happening right now is quite possibly one of the most baffling and hardest things we have had to come to grips with as a society. The above list is meant to be helpful. So much of what is being asked of us is to think of others. Social distancing is partially for our own safety and protection from this virus, but mostly to stop its spread to others and not overwhelm our hospitals. I do not mean to downplay the seriousness of this global pandemic or the tremendous loss and hardship being experienced by those most vulnerable around the world. However, with the right attitude, some preparedness, some patience and remembering to go easy on ourselves and others, we may experience a bit of silver-lining within the long days of togetherness ahead of us.
