Schooling Kids at Home

If families can keep a predictable schedule and continue school work in some fashion we can reduce children’s anxiety, according to psychologists and educators. Children respond, well to ten- to twenty-minute segments of active and quiet activities similar to a school day with rest, meals, and snacks rather than passively sitting in front of media.

Young Children

Very young children can play with their toys, be read to, play ball games and other games. There are hundreds of suggestions at grandparentsteachtoo.blogspot.com and wnmufm.org/Learning Through the Seasons podcasts. These are easy science, reading, math, writing, social studies, art, music, active and quiet activities for children. If families start out with a plan for doing schooling, now it will be easier than no structure and then after a week realizing that watching Netflix or gaming is not going to work.

Online Resources

There are lessons and guides like khanacademy.org for kindergarten through college lessons on all subjects, teacherspayteachers.com, Scholastic.com “Learn at Home,” Google “home school sites,” or “online homeschool programs.” Your schools may also have suggestions.

Setting Up

Keep schooling simple. You will need a work area with a flat surface, comfortable chair seating, good lighting and bins or bags for storage. You already have these at home. A kitchen table works well. Children can be close to adults or older children who will be helping younger children. Avoid working on the couch. That area can be kept for reading. Turn off the TV, computer games, and cell phone during school time. Gather paper, pencils, crayons, markers, glue, scissors, and other materials as needed.

Preparation

Have a plan and a schedule before meeting as a family. Children can get up like a regular school day, wash, dress, make the bed, eat breakfast, and clean up. Then it is time to start.

Children’s attention spans vary by age and child. Early elementary activities often are 6-10 minutes. Then change activity. You have many choices. You can have a variety of quiet and active activities, snack, playtime, reading/writing time, break/food, play outside for twenty minutes, reading, math, science, social studies, board games, cooking, art, checking, redoing, and cleaning up.

Every family’s situation is different. We do what we can in our own circumstances. The important thing is to have some schooling in place so children have an experience of normalcy.

Family Meetings

Sit down as a family to set up a realistic schedule in your situation. Some families do a little bit every day. Some setup rewards of smiley faces on a refrigerator chart, give free computer time and free time outside as rewards for doing school work. Some families use rewards of Facetime, Skype, or Zoom time with grandparents.

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Grandparents Teach, Too is written by a group of teachers and former teachers who contribute ideas and resources to help educate children and grandchildren. For more GTT articles and resources, visit them online at http://grandparentsteachtoo.blogspot.com.