Raise your hand if you have become a teacher overnight?
Perhaps you are also working a full time job, maintaining a household, cooking around the clock, and keeping some normalize in your life at the same time.
We are in this togeth er. We have asked a few teachers in the district for their best homeschooling tips to get us all through the rest of this year. Remove Distractions By now you have set up a learning space in your home. Maybe your dining room table is now the new classroom. Turn distractions off like a TV and use headphones if you are teaching multiple children at a time.
Set Up Schedules: Set up a schedule with blocks of learning time, reading, free time, snacks and exercise. If anyone is stressed move to a different activity or take a break all together. Research shows that giving children freedom to choose how they learn and what subject they want to start with can increase their motivation.
Reading Time: Read every day at least 20 minutes. Reading counts as anything your child is interested in. (magazines, comics, books, recipes).
Keep A Journal: A daily journal is a great way to keep up writing skills. Educational Activity If you have elementary age children fill in time with fun. Brainpop and Prodigy is a great site for this.
Got children interested in animals? Check out Cincinnati Zoo FB Live “home safari” every weekday at 3:00pm. Smithsonian National Zoo hosts a 24 hour live view of their giant pandas Tian Tian and Mei Xiang and The Georgia Aquarium also does a 24 live stream on its jellyfish, beluga whales, piranhas, and more.
Do you have younger children who may know how to use a computer but maybe not how to type correctly? How to hold their fingers? Try www. typingclub.com It’s not only for tutorials on typing but will give you your accuracy and words per minute and makes it fun. Khandacademy.org is a free online learning site that offers teachings on a range of subjects with short video clips and interactive excercises to practice their new skills.
Got Teenagers? How about a virtural stroll through the Dali Museum or the National Museum of Art in Washington D.C. Lastly, take a deep breath, do your best, and don’t be too hard on yourself. Remember this too shall pass and life will return back to normal. We can do this!
