Surviving (and Thriving!) While Learning at Home

With students at home because of the coronavirus threat, social media feeds quickly filled with parents dialoguing about how to stay ahead while staying at home. For most, that’s become a challenge, without the structure and community of a school environment. But the sudden shift to work-from-home can actually provide a good kind of disruption, opening up a golden opportunity for students to grow as active learners.

 

Here are three tips to ensure your child stays ahead while staying at home:

 

1) Individual touchpoints can be game changers

What your students will miss the most is the human connection that is cultivated in the classroom. The little interactions with teachers in the hallways, before and after class or during breaks in lessons, are hard to replace. Without that natural accountability, some students struggle. Online schooling challenges students to take more ownership of their learning.

For their long-term growth, that can be exactly what they need. One great response for a parent is to tell you child that every day at a specific time, you’re going to ask them what they learned and ask them to teach it back to you. Ask them what’s coming easily for them and what’s become harder to grasp. Most importantly, ask them what their own personal goals are for the rest of the semester and what they think it will take to get there.

It’s important to bear in mind that cultivating an engaging distance learning experience is hard. It takes time and an incredible amount of patience. Acknowledge that with your children and stay positive. You can do this!

 

2) Keep kids in a routine with a home work space

Even though children are now at home, it’s important to stick to their normal routine as much as possible to keep them busy and motivated during this time away from school. Try and keep your children to a schedule and as close to the school day as possible.

If you can stick to the 9am – 3pm time for working, with a mid-morning break and a lunchtime break, that will help keep kids motivated. It’s also important to get them outside for some physical activity during this time if you can.

 

3) Use online resources

While there are great websites like Times Tables Rockstars and online maths games or YouTube clips, we at Aspire have also switched to 100% rem

ote learning, utilizing tablets and online whiteboards to continue the same effectiveness Aspire has always had. If you need extra help, don’t settle. Contact us to improve your student’s grades today. This doesn’t have to be a time when you feel like your child might fall behind.

 

Warmly,

Drew Sokol, Executive Director