(Home)School during lockdown
When it comes to educating your child, there have always been choices: public school, private school, or home school. Unfortunately, the COVID-19 pandemic crisis has just forced every parent into homeschooling.
Ready or not ? It doesn’t matter anymore ! That time has come.
Moms and dads all over the world organize quarantine online lessons for isolated children and most of them are confused: how to convince kids to learn while not having to suffer from their own work.
This is why during this period of ‘’imprisonment’’ it is important to share tips and experiences on how better adapt to the new educational format. And who knows, maybe at the end of this experiment many may not want to go back to classic school…
How is homeschooling actually going on in different countries over the world ?
Regularly, 1.7 million children get homeschooled every day in the United States (mainly as a result of huge distances home to school). Meaning for them it is not unknown waters.
Most Americans believe that young people have a basic socialization and information set up and online is a great way to deepen what a particular child is interested in. Parents think homeschooling has enabled kids to be more independent and creative. With a perfect balance for study and leisure. They also have at their disposal an impressive online homeschool study material: available resources and tools that help to make homeschooling fun for kids in the USA. It is not just about studying, the list includes virtual tours and fun activities to make learning fun for the homeschoolers.
Singapour is the country that has been able to succesfully control the coronavirus while keeping schools open. How are they ensuring safe schools ? Each morning they are not just checking the temperature of every kid, but asking how are they feeling, if they are having a caught or sore throat. If they are, they are sent home and should rest for 5 days.
Australia seemingly wants to follow the succesfull Singapour example. Schools are still open to everyone. Nevertheless, the gouvernement recommended that only the essential workers should send their kids to school.
If schools were ordered to shut it would be likely that learning would be available online. But in Australia it’s all about maintaining a degree of balance so there will definitely be screen work, but also a lot of fun learning. It is the moment when we are discovering how powerful technology can be as a connector for communication, learning and entertaining.
Most parents in the UK may have wondered what it would be like to homeschool their kids – and now they’re finding out the hard way.
After schools shut across the country, they are now trying to teach their kids at home – with varying degrees of success. Stressed out parents are sharing hilarious (read sarcastic) posts as they try to homeschool their unruly kids during coronavirus lockdown.
While in France, things are taken seriously. It is not a vacation!!! While teachers are ensuring educational continuity through dedicated digital platforms in this exceptional period of containment, it is also possible to access other learning platforms open to the public.
Some practical advice on how to homeschool during Covid 19 crisis:
How many hours should homeschooling be? The answer to this question will depend on state laws regarding homeschooling as well as the age of the child, but on average homeschooling could take between 2-4 hours per day. Some elementary school teachers advise that children should spend about 30 minutes a day studying each subject. Remember, when it comes to receiving a quality education, this is not a race. This is a marathon.
How to homeschool with multiple children? You don’t have to homeschool them at the same time. The beauty of homeschooling is that it can be done around the needs of the entire family. If you can work with both children at the same time, great! If not, send one child off to another part of the house to play quietly while working with the other child. Or set them up in two separate rooms of the house. Whatever it takes to get the job done!
How to homeschool with full time job? Taking frequent breaks and determining a schedule that works for your family is the easiest part of learning how to homeschool. Give yourself and your children time throughout the day to decompress. Younger children will need frequent breaks anyway. Let them run and play for about ten minutes while you hide in the pantry and eat cookies. Or meditate. Whatever works.
Make a schedule. Many well-structured schools have provided the homework schedule and related content. Therefore parents should make a daily schedule chart and ask kids in the morning that these task he had to complete at the end of the day.
Call a family meeting. Parents should hold a meeting with all the family members and make their kids well aware of the situation going on across the globe.
Motivation and appreciation is the key. Talk with them about their achievements and make sure to appreciate them even on every little good work they have done.
Wrap up meeting. Just like a morning meeting, also call a wrap up meeting at the end of the day and ask the kid what they have learnt / achievd during the day.
Give incentives. This will motivate your kid to focus on his work because he will also be getting something in return.
But MOST OF ALL make your kids learn with fun. Apart from just giving them books and notebooks, engage your kid in fun-based activities. Talk about the interest of your kids, use paints or visual materials to make them engaged.
Keep in mind it should never be all work and no play!
Author: Adriana Munteanu, amunteanu@juniorcity.fr
