TEACHING STRATEGIES

We're All Homeschooling Now

4 Practical Tips from a Teacher

COVID-19 has meant that school-age children are home for the forseeable future and this has put many parents in the role of (temporary, reluctant?) homeschooler. Read this advice on what you need to know now about scheduling, recess and why you should focus on maintaining academic skills.

Tip #1: Routines Are Your Friend

I've worked as an educator for over 14 years, and the one thing I know for certain is how reassuring routine is for children.

It wasn't until I became a teacher many, many years ago that I learned just how structured the school day really is. Students arrive, have recess and eat lunch (and snack!) at the same time every single day. They know exactly when to expect certain subjects and we teachers are careful to let them know about changes in advance.

With schools closed, a major source of stability in our children's lives will be missing. Consider how you can structure their day and provide much-needed consistency. In a difficult time, it will ease anxiety and uncertainty if children know what to expect.

Routine isn't just good for your kids, though. Some kind of schedule is a necessity if you are looking to provide both academic support and time to get your own work done. (We teachers have practice at this balance, as well.)   

Tip #2: Focus on Maintaining Skills

When parents ask me what they should focus on teaching their children right now, I suggest that they aim for activities that maintain their child's current skills. If you can get in a couple focused hours a day where students practice their reading, writing and math, then they will keep what they have learned so far in the year. And that's great!

You don't need to recreate the last four months of 3rd grade math, but instead support your kiddos by ensuring a solid foundation to build on when they return to school. Sheltering in place is hard enough without also trying to teach your kid fractions.

If you are looking for math games and activities to do at home with your children at this time, click the link below to get 5 free mini-lessons that will build number sense and fact fluency.

Tip #3: Kids Need to Move. A Lot.

Don't forget to build in time for children to move their bodies for at least 10 minutes per hour. Even if you can't send kids outside, you can have a dance party or do some jumping jacks and wall push ups. I promise you it will make a big difference in everyone's day!

Also, consider your child's age and attention span. Kinders have about 10 minutes of work time in them before they are ready to move on to the next thing. Add an additional 5 minutes for each grade they reach. (So 1st graders can sit and work for 15 minutes, 2nd graders for 20 and so on.)

One way we teachers add movement into the school day is to frequently have students move from one part of the classroom to another. So you might read a story on the couch for 15 minutes and then move to the kitchen table to play some math games for 15 minutes. Pro Tip: Moving to another place for the next activity is like hitting a magical reset button on student energy and attention.

Tip #4: Schedule Any Academics Before Lunch

When we teachers plan out our schedules for the year, we always made sure to put as many academic subjects as we can at the beginning of the day (i.e. before lunch).

We do this because we know morning is prime learning time. Students are at their most-cooperative, and most-attentive first thing. That goes away as the day wears on, making teaching anything after lunch is SOOO much harder. That's why schools typically put math, reading and writing at the beginning of the day and subjects like Art, Music and P.E. in the afternoon...

Above is a sample schedule, where you can give students some choice and switch around the academic subjects. I put lunch at 11:30AM because most school lunch times are quite early, but you can move lunch to when your children typically eat when they are at school. (Yes, kids also love knowing exactly when lunch will be.)