As schools around the world are closed, millions of parents now find themselves playing the role of a substitute teacher.
For some mothers, it may be hard to accept that their children are not at the same pace as they were before the coronavirus pandemic.
Parents, teachers, and administrators need to understand the unique nature of education at home. Every family looks different and has different needs. Some children have no siblings; some have many.
Some children have parents who don’t speak English as a first language, but who could provide instruction much more easily in their native languages. Some families have two working parents trying to fit in school with their kids. Some families have an out-of-work parent because of the financial crisis that has resulted from this pandemic. What would be the best use of a kid’s time in the next few weeks and months? If an out-of-work restaurant chef is now home with his kids, will they gain more if he helps them do busywork problems in math, or if he teaches them how to cook?
What to do in order to proceed with this homeschooling?
- Ask yourself: what is absolutely critical for my children to learn? Now more than ever, we have to think about how to prepare our children for an unpredictable future. Our children are our greatest hope for the future. If we equip them with a growth mindset, perseverance, critical thinking, focus, a love of learning, love and compassion for themselves, others and the planet, they will thrive no matter what the circumstances.
- Check in with yourself — and with your kid. Each day, build in some time to assess how you’re feeling, Remote learning is new for everyone involved, and so checking in for just five minutes with a partner or friend, or even writing a note to yourself, to process what’s working for you and what’s not, can help you take a step back.
- You also want to check in with your child each day. If your child wakes up on the wrong side of the bed, don’t expect them to be a writer today. Just adjust yourself – on grumpy days, don’t force your children to strictly follow a set schedule.
- Preschool-and elementary-aged students need a lot of parental support to complete their distance-learning obligations. But in many families right now, that kind of oversight is impossible. So, check with your primary teacher, what is just essential for your child to master by the end of the school year.
- Get your child excited about learning. Perhaps the most important skill your kid can develop in the early years of her education is a love of learning. So, follow his passion, give him tools and martials that he is interested right now into. Rather than worrying about attending every single Zoom class, think about your kid’s interests and try to cultivate them.
- Give your child another chance: It is not necessary to sit down and do some math problems; instead, parents can make learning more enjoyable. For example, they can practice conversions while baking or talking about area and perimeter of their dining table or their bedroom. Many students are finding particularly challenging writing at home. You can have your kid write about how to build a pillow fort or how to prepare a plate of pasta for dinner. That writing doesn’t have to happen on a computer or on a piece of paper. A sidewalk chalk and portable white boards are also tools to get kids writing on the fly.
- Remember the big picture – we are ALL in this together. Even teachers (who very often are parents, too). Reach out to yours to have a conversation with them about your stresses and problems with homeschooling your child.
Experts say that it is important to accept that a student is never truly falling behind and that he is just moving at his own pace. The next few months will radically alter how parents think about the education of their children. For the time being, they are responsible for it. That’s why it’s time for parents to take charge of their kids’ schooling.
Parents, not teachers or administrators, are the ones in the trenches—and so parents, not teachers or administrators, need to set the schedule and priorities.
