With school cancelled for the rest of the year, schools are now enforcing online schooling for their students. Would this be enough? Here are some helpful supplemental learning tips.
Making Online Schooling Work This Year
All over the nation parents and students alike are losing sleep over what will be one of the most interesting years of schooling in the history of the United States of America. We have never tried anything so bold as to take so many kids out of school and leave them out for an extended period.
Whether you believe it is the right move pales in comparison to what kids will think one-month in. Will this type of online schooling work? Will kids make a connection with teachers? Can teachers discipline kids online? Will there be retention? There are so many questions.
We are preppers so, at the very least, we must be prepared if it doesn’t work. If it turns out our kids are just not cut out for online learning, we need to be able to pivot rapidly to assure our child still gets an education.
Open Communication
The single most important thing you can do to prepare for this strange school year is to open a clear line of communication with your child. Be sure they understand what they are getting into and that you are a person they can talk to when they don’t understand a subject.
Kids can get really confused about this because we praise them for good grades and punish them for bad ones, at least we do in my home. However, we are also truly clear about the value of effort and communication.
“If you are trying your best and you just cannot get your head around it, we can handle it together. You are not in trouble for not understanding.”
If kids feel comfortable and are aware of what is asked of them, they can be much more effective even in an online capacity.
Workbooks
Sale
180 Days of Practice for Second Grade (Set of 3), 2nd Grade Workbooks for Kids Ages 6-8, Includes 180 Days of Reading, 180 Days of Writing, 180 Days of Math
- Christine Dugan (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
Supplemental workbooks are one of the things you should have on hand. If you don’t own some you need to buy them ASAP. Remember what happened to things light free weights when lockdown kicked off?
Well, the same thing is going to happen to home learning tools. We have found the 180 Days workbooks to be an effective supplement for learning. They both reinforce things our son already knew from last year and present new material deeper into the books.
Our son has been out of school since March, so we are using this time to assure he gets caught up on everything from last year. Having workbooks means you can also promote independent learning without a screen around.
Also, 180 Days also features an answer key. I am just saying.
At-Home Testing
While an online school will include some degree of testing you may also consider testing at home to get a better understanding of where your child sits.
Remember, the big takeaway from online schooling and this bump in the road of education is that your child’s education is your responsibility above all. That should be your mantra through all of this.
You can write your own tests or generate tests. Websites like Proprofs give you access to a number of different tests that span many grades.
Home Schooling
All this change is pushing many families to jump right into homeschooling. Rather than deal with the ever-changing decree of your governor and the teacher’s union, you might be able to homeschool your kids or have someone help with it and take total ownership of your child’s education.
Check out Simple Homeschool for a great resource if you are on the fence or beginning your own homeschooling journey.
While most parents aren’t going to have the time or will to teach their children one on one, you might be the exception. No one will pay attention to your child the way you will. No one will appreciate their struggles like you. For the right family, homeschooling can be the best learning experience.
Play Time
Most people are worried about the level of education that is possible with this new model of schooling. What we often forget about is the priceless social interaction between our children and their friends at school.
You could argue they learn more from the fights and arguments then they do from the friendly play. With online schooling, those opportunities are gone. It would make sense to supplement that recess time with playdates and meetups.
It Is Only the Beginning
We are only at the beginning of this journey. It is the journey of the pandemic, of the outcry and of the great cultural revolution of our time. It is hard to say how this will all shake out but if you have children who are looking to you for answers, you better have them.
The idea of public school has mostly removed parents from the equation when it comes to academics. Most parents are happy to help with homework and reward for good grades and maybe reprimand for bad ones.
Everything is shifting. Are you prepared for the shift? Don’t be reactionary that is not how preppers operate.
Do you have other concerns with online schooling? Share us your thoughts in the comments section!
Up Next:
- School’s Out For the Unforeseeable Future: Resources for to How to Homeschool & Stay Sane (At the Same Time)
- Quarantine Survival Tips | Part 2: Creating A Coronavirus Homeschool Schedule
- Quarantine Survival Tips | Part 3: 5 Lessons To Teach If Homeschooling Is A Nightmare
