As many of us prepare for another school year involving at least some virtual or remote learning, I’d love to hear any tips - big and small - that helped make the experience easier on your family the last time around. Whether you adopted a special schedule or seating arrangement, discovered any particular products or school supplies that made distance learning easier, or found any educational resources or activities that helped support or supplement at-home learning, I know we’d all appreciate any e-learning tips our fellow parents would be willing to share!
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For more reliable internet speeds, upgrade your WiFi plan to account for an increase in usage. Consider purchasing a hotspot or 2nd floor extender, too. I know that our internet struggles to provide high quality speeds when everybody in the household is on a device, streaming all at once. This helped.
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We actually upgraded to a business plan which ended up being faster and saved money in the long run.
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If they're old enough for the responsibility, let your kids take ownership of their assignments and schedules. It can be tempting to micromanage everything when you're right there and some things will likely fall through the cracks without your supervision, but this is an excellent time for kids to learn accountability and organization skills.
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We made sure the kids went outside every day, either to play in the backyard, ride bikes, or go on a family walk. The fresh air and getting away from screens helped recharge everyone’s energy and gave us all a mental boost.
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This is super important. If they can't get outside due to bad weather, another option is a dance session or a streaming yoga video. Anything to break it up a bit.
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We did our best to set one room aside for the kids to do their Zoom calls so as to minimize interruptions to them and the rest of the family.
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Encourage your kids to wear actual clothes to virtual school as opposed to last night's pajamas. When kids are dressed *too* comfortable, they may want to fall back asleep!
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We had to submit a form every day as a way of confirming attendance. We asked our kids prepare it, and to have their completed assignments ready for us to look at by the end of the day. Then we could quickly scan their work and submit the pre-filled form. It was a nice way to give them ownership over their assignments and save us some hassle!
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I think this is super valuable. I don't think kids do it on purpose, but we found turning in assignments more of a challenge elearning. So an extra set of eyes or some supervision is helpful.
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Some of our friends are using tutors to help younger kids learn as they have households with two working parents.
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My kids are entirely virtual for the start of the year, so they are in front of their computer the full length of the school day. When they have a few minutes in between classes, we require them to leave their work space and walk around the house to make sure they move their bodies and give their eyes a short rest.
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If parents are open to it, my oldest daughter will have group study sessions once a week with a few close friends. They will be hosting these outdoors as the weather is still nice and practicing social distancing. But it will be a nice way to still see a few classmates even though she will be elearning.
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If you have older kids, check with the teacher to see if you can be informed when they are turning in their assignments. My daughter thought she was turning them in but didn't understand the Google Classrooms submit system so they were not registering. Maintaining a good relationship with teachers can help.
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Just because you are learning at home, try to treat it like school. Setting regular bedtimes, times for homework and getting up getting a good breakfast will help the process run smoother.
